GENERAL APPEARANCE : The Havanese is a small, strong, short-legged dog with long and abundant soft and preferably wavy hair. Its movement is free and elastic.
 

Personality:  kind, charming  and playful.
 

Energy Level : Very Active.  This dog is active and energetic, and needs daily exercise.  
 

Good with children:  Yes.

Good with other dogs:  With supervision.

Grooming:  Weekly.

Life expectancy : 10-14  years old.

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Bark level:  Moderate.

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• HISTORICAL SUMMARY  
   

The breed comes from the Western Mediterranean region and was developed along the Spanish and Italian coasts. It appears that these dogs were imported early from Cuba by Italian shipping captains. Mistakenly, the more frequent brown color of these dogs (tobacco) gave rise to the legend that they originated from Havana, the capital of Cuba. Political events led, however, to the disappearance of the old bloodlines of the Havanese in Cuba; apparently some dogs were successfully smuggled from Cuba. Their descendants survived in the United States.

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Country of Origin: Cuba.

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BEHAVIOR AND TEMPERAMENT:  Exceptionally bright, it is easily trainable as an alarm dog. Affectionate, of a happy nature, he is kind, charming, playful and even a little “clown”. He loves children and plays with them tirelessly.
 

HEAD:  Of medium length; the ratio between the length of the head and the length of the trunk (measured from the withers to the root of the tail) is 3/7.

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• CRANIAL REGION  
   

Skull: Flat to slightly rounded, broad; forehead slightly elevated; viewed from above, it is round on the back and almost straight and square on the other three sides.

Stop: Moderately checked.

• FACIAL REGION

Nose: Black or brown.

Muzzle: Narrowing progressively and slightly towards the nose, but without being pointed or truncated.

Lips: Thin, thin and tight.

Jaws and  Teeth: Scissor bite. A complete set of teeth is desirable. The absence of premolars 1 (PM1) and molars 3 (M3) is tolerated.

Cheeks: Very flat; not prominent.

Eyes: Quite large, almond shaped, brown in color, as dark as possible. Kindly expression. The edges of the eyelids should be dark brown to black.

Ears: Set relatively high; drooping along the cheeks, forming a discreet fold that raises them slightly. Its ends are slightly rounded. They are covered by hair in long fringes. They should neither be like “helix ears” (attached laterally) nor attached to the cheeks.

NECK: Of medium length.

• BODY : Its length is slightly greater than the height at the withers.

Back: Topline straight, slightly arched over the loin.

Croup: Remarkably sloping.

Ribs: Well sprung.

Bottom line: Well tucked up.

TAIL: Carried high, either in the form of a pastoral staff, or, preferably, curled over the back; fringed with long silky hairs.  

• MEMBERS

FOREQUARTERS: Straight and parallel, thin; good bone structure. The distance from the ground to the elbows should not be greater than the distance between the elbows and the withers.

HINDQUARTERS: Good bone structure; moderate angulations.

FEET: Slightly elongated; small; closed fingers.

• GAIT/MOVEMENT: In keeping with its lively nature, the Bichon Havanese has remarkably agile and springy gait; forelegs with free strides and straight forwards; the hindquarters give the impetus and move in a straight line.

• COAT

Coat: Woolly undercoat and not very developed; often completely absent. The covering coat is very long (12 to 18 cm in an adult dog), soft, flat or wavy, and may form curly locks. Any type of grooming, the use of scissors to match the length of the hair and trimming are prohibited. Exception: Cleaning the hair on the paws is permitted, the hair on the forehead may be slightly clipped so that it does not cover the eyes and the hair on the muzzle may be slightly trimmed, but it is preferable to leave it at its natural length.

COLOR: It is rare completely pure white, fawn in its different shades (slightly smoky admitted), black, havana brown, tobacco color, reddish brown. Spots in the listed colors are allowed. Brown marks in all shades are allowed.

SIZE: Height at the withers: from 23 to 27 cm. Tolerance: from 21 to 29 cm.
 

• FAULTS  

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Any deviation from this standard should be considered a fault and penalized in exact proportion to its severity and its effects on the health and well-being of the dog.  

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DISQUALIFYING FAULTS

• Aggressiveness or excessive shyness.

• Any dog that shows any sign of physical or behavioral anomaly must be disqualified.

• Atypical dogs.

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