HAVANESE - OFFICIAL BREED STANDARD - C.K.C.

 
ORIGIN & PURPOSE
The breed comes from the Western Mediterranean region and has developed along the Spanish and Italian costal region. It would seem that these dogs were imported early to Cuba by Sea Captains. Erroneously, the most frequent brown colour of these dogs ( tobacco) gave birth to the legend which would mean it to be a breed originating from Havana, capital of Cuba. Political events led to the total disappearance of the old bloodlines of the Havanese in Cuba; apparently a few dogs were successfully smuggled out of Cuba whose descendants have survived in the USA.

GENERAL APPEARANCE
The Havanese is a sturdy little dog, low on his legs, with long abundant hair, soft and preferably wavy. His movement is lively and elastic.

TEMPERAMENT
Exceptionally bright, he is easy to train as a watchdog dog.  Affectionate, of a happy nature, he is amiable, a charmer, playful and even a bit of a clown. He loves children and plays endlessly with them.

SIZE
Height at the withers from 23-26cm. Tolerance from 21-29cm.

COAT & COLOUR

Hair: Undercoat wooly and not very developed, it is often totally absent. The topcoat is very long(12-18cm in adult dog), soft, flat or wavy and may form curly strands. The usage of scissors to cut the length of the coat and all trimming is forbidden. Exception: tidying up the hair on the feet is permitted, the hair on the forehead may be slightly shortened so that it does not cover the eyes and the hair on the muzzle may be slightly tidied up, but it is preferable to leave it in natural length.

Colour: There are two varieties of colour. Rarely completely pure white, fawn in different shades of light fawn to Havana brown ( tobacco colour, reddish brown); patches of those colours in the coat; slight blackened overlay admitted. Permissible colours and patches ( white, light fawn to Havana brown) with black markings. Black coat.

HEAD
Of medium length, the relation between the length of the head and that of the trunk ( measured from the withers to the base of the tail) is 3/7.

Skull: flat to very slightly rounded, broad, forehead rising; seen from above it is rounded at the back and almost straight and square on the other three sides.
Stop: moderately marked. 
Nose: Black Muzzle narrowing progressively and slightly towards the nose but neither snipey nor truncated.
Lips: fine, lean, tight
Jaws/Teeth: scissors bite. A complete dentition is desirable. The absence of premolars (PM1) and molars (M3) is tolerated. Cheeks: very flat, not prominent.
Eyes: quite big, almond shape, of brown colour as dark as possible. Kind expression.  The eye rims must be dark brown to black.
Ears: set relatively high;  they fall along the cheeks forming a discreet fold which raises them slightly. Their extremity is in a lightly rounded point. They are covered in hair in long fringes. Neither propeller ears ( sticking sideways) nor stuck to the cheeks.

NECK
Of medium length.

FOREQUARTERS
Forelegs straight and parallel, lean, good bone structure. The distance from the ground to the elbow must not be greater than that between the elbow and the withers.

BODY
The length of the body is slightly superior to that of the height at the withers. Topline is straight, slightly arched over the loin. Croup noticeably inclined. Ribs well sprung. Belly well tucked up.

HINDQUARTERS
Good bone structure, moderate angulation. Feet of slightly elongated shape; small tight toes.

TAIL
Carried high, either in the shape of a crozier or preferably rolled over the back; it is furnished with feathering of long silky hair.

GAIT
According to his happy nature, the Havanese has a strikingly light-footed and elastic gait; forelegs with free stride and pointing straight forward, the hindlegs giving them the impulsion and moving in a straight line.

FAULTS
Any departure from the forgoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.

General appearance lacking in type.
Truncated or snipey muzzle, length not identical to that of the skull.
Bird of Prey eyes, eyes too deep set or prominent; rims of eyelids partially depigmented.
Body too long or too short.
Straight tail, not carried high.
French front ( pasterns too close, feet turned outwards).
Deformed hind feet.
Coat harsh, not abundant; hair short except on puppies, trimmed coat.

DISQUALIFICATIONS
Depigmented nose.
Upper or lower prognathism.
Ectropion, Entropion; rim of eyelids of one or both eyes depigmented size over or under the
indicated norms of the standard.
N.B. Male animals should have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.

Cubans hold that their little dogs were first brought to shore by sea captains who raised them aboard ship and used them as presents to the women of the household, gaining entry to wealthy Hispanic homes otherwise closed to outsiders. Eventually the captain would be able to arrange lucrative trading with the men of that port. the captains of different vessels traded dogs with each other so that they could return to each port with a variety of coat colors to delight the families. They must have done this extensively, because modern Havanese carry every color and nearly every variant of markings seen in dogs! There are many creamy whites, often with pale champagne markings on the ears and back, many solid blacks or blacks trimmed with white on face, chest, or toes, some silvers, sables, fauns, apricots, golds, champagne, and blues, tangerine, or pure white. All of these coats are accompanied by a black nose; but there are also chocolate coats on Havanese with brown noses. That just covered the basically solid, one-color coats, but there are also particolor combinations of color-in-patches on purest white coats (like a long-haired pinto horse would look), particolor coats with the tricolor pattern overlay of silver or faun (similar to some Border Collies), and regular tan-pointed patterns on a solid coat (as seen in the short-fur version on a black Doberman). If all this wasn’t enough, many of the deeper colors fade with age to lovely silvers or creams, sometimes leaving black tipping on ears or elsewhere.

In old Cuba these delightful dogs, Bichon Habaneros, lived exclusively in the mansions of the highest social class. This breed was never raised commercially or sold, but dogs were given occasionally as precious gifts to a friend or someone who had performed a valuable service. Like the Victorian-age wealthy Hispanic women who owned them, these dogs were not seen in the streets or public places; they lived in the rooms or interior courtyards of their tropical homes and occasionally rode in carriage. These dogs were also called the “Havana Silk Dog” because of their profuse soft coats. Only 3 families were know to leave Cuba with their dogs during the turmoil around 1960. These few exiles worked alone in Costa Rica and the USA for over a decade to preserve this breed.

After raising Irish Wolfhounds and Soft-Coated Irish Wheaten Terriers for many years, Dorothy and Bert Goodale of Colorado began looking in the early 1970’s for a small breed to raise which would have the calm temperament and intelligence they cherished in the larger breeds. After a few years of investigation, elusive references to the “Havanese” had their attention, but no one knew how they might obtain some. They chanced across an advertisement which resulted in the purchase of 6 pedigreed Havanese. With this start, the Goodales advertised in Miami’s Spanish-language papers. After months without any response, an elderly Cuban man who needed to move from Costa Rica to Texas arranged, through an intermediary, to entrust his youngest five Havanese to the Goodales. This second group had the same look and gentle temperament as the first! All these dogs, as adults, averaged around 10 pounds and stood about 9-10 inches tall at the front shoulder. Using the 1963 F.C.I. Breed standard (the only Standard available) and her years of breeding knowledge, Dorothy carefully began a breeding program to prevent the possible extinction of this breed.

Since many fleeing people expected to return in a few months, much-loved dogs may have been left in the care of a friend, a trusted maid or gardener; but not until 1991 were we sure these dogs still existed in Cuba! Then the new Havanese Bichon Club of Cuba contacted us in 1992; these people are working to determine the “purebred” status of indigenous dogs as a start to preserving this breed and its unique contribution to the Cuban cultural heritage.