HAVANESE Coats:

 

The classic looking Havanese has a curly outer coat with a cottony double coat or undercoat. The undercoat is insulating for warm weather and will keep the dog cooler. It doesn't work that way for the winter however and won't keep the dog warmer in the cold. The coat should not touch the ground but be a few inches short of it. Regular grooming is required. This is a long haired dog and is meant to have their hair long though many will cut it short as an adult. A Havanese's look is long, wavy and naturally tousled. It takes 2 years for their hair to grow long. It is recommended not to cut their hair until that age. A longhaired is meant to have long hair and requires refular grooming.

 

The Havanese Silk has a long wavy coat with little or no undercoat. The Silks are considered by some to be most closely linked to the originals of the breed, the Havana Silks or Havana Blanquito and are usually smaller as in Toy breed size. Currently, there are efforts to distinguish the Havana Silks as a separate breed with their own genetic composition. Their coat also is meant to be long and is easier to manage with grooming having no undercoat. 

 

The Satins are the Short-haired or Smooth coats. Just as there are long and short haired German Shepherds, Chihuahuas and Daschunds, etc, there are also short-haired Havanese. Because they are lesser known by some people we have included more info about them here. Originally not included in Dog Shows but still registerable as a purebred, they are now accepted in Dog Shows for skill events like agility etc. but not Conformation yet. Short-haired exist in many lines of the breed. Dog Show breeders for years didn't breed them because they didn't go into Conformation events due to varying hair length. So there are simply less of them. This doesn't however deter the gene pool. A long haired Havanese can give birth to both long or short-haired pups and likewise a short-haired Havanese can have long-haired or short-haired pups. They are in every way healthy and standard dimensions.

 

The length of coat varies for short-haired with a smooth muzzle/face and wisps along the bottom of torso and back of legs, some have longer hair on the body. Smoothcoats have hair that is short all over. With a thick crest (chest), slightly wavy haunches, and the plumed tail. Some people simply prefer the look of a smooth-coat dog plus there is no grooming required. You cannot have a shorthaired Havanese without two purebred parents because they each must have the short haired gene to produce one. A short haired gene means it is a recessive gene only because it is not a long-haired one. Which is not a biological deficiency, it's the same as two brown eyed people having a  blue-eyed child who doesn't possess a brown eyed gene which would mean recessive. Therefore they are sometimes referred to as going back to an earlier version of the breed. The term "flaw" is a Show Dog term which simply means not conforming to an established standard, this doesn't mean physical/medical flaw. With for example Chihuahuas, the short-haired were classified first for shows and it took many years before the long-haired were. Short haired are not hypoallergenic because they don't have the undercoat but are still light shedding. 

 

When Goodales's was reviving the breed at she diversified the gene pool with Bichon with her later litters. The original litters had shorthaired. All Havanese today came from those original dogs even european ones because Havanese of original cuban descent were almost extinct until Goodale revived the breed. The Havanese are still fairly young as a breed being only classified for approximately 25 years as opposed to some breeds that have been around for many decades or hundreds of years.

 

Many people like a Havanese for the long hair then get it cut short when adult dogs so please consider a shorthaired, in every way the same other than the coat. They are a delightful Havanese.

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A Havanese is a Havanese is a Havanese,  the characteristics are the same and people choose them because of their affectionate and fun-loving character, lively gait and very smart, sensitive and devoted temperament. Compact and sensational they are truly an intelligent, remarkable dog. The way to tell a purebred Havanese is the black eye rims and eyes, almond shaped.

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Hypo-allergenic are long-haired. Short-haired are not considered hypo-allergenic because they don't have the undercoat, but are light shedding and low dander. Non-smelling are both long and short haired.

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The champagne color is unique. Depending on the lighting the pigment will reflect a tawny color like pink champagne, the indoor lighter pigment will be warm tan, peachy, or darker pigment champagne.

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