Training
Havanese obedience training needs to start early. Your dog needs to know the rules of your home and how to get along with other pets and humans. Let’s look at what you can expect from your dog and when.
Housebreaking should begin when your dog is a puppy. This is especially important in training a Havanese to control his bladder since it usually takes longer to housebreak a dog of this breed. Our next article discusses Havanese potty training in detail.
Establishing a daily routine helps structure the day for your young Havanese so that he knows what to expect. Having predictable nap times, play times and meal times can be reassuring.
As your puppy gets older you can expect more out of him in terms of obedience, and he can learn simple commands like stay, sit and down and can become comfortable walking on a leash. But try not to expect complete obedience overnight; remember, he’s only a puppy once. Try to enjoy his amusing—and sometimes disobedient—behavior when it comes to minor issues that don’t endanger his health or safety. Also remember that Havanese training doesn’t have to be harsh, and that an overly harsh tone from you may upset your pet. Try to stick with positive reinforcement as it works very well with most Havanese.
You can enroll your Havanese in obedience classes once he is about a year old. Although formal obedience training is by no means a requirement for your dog, he—and you—may benefit from the experience. Often, an owner may have issues with one or more behaviors in his dog but is unsure about how to correct it, and an obedience trainer can be a big help. Sometimes it may seem that the Havanese obedience trainer is also trying to correct your behavior! (in terms of relating to the dog that is); to a certain extent this is true. Dogs follow commands when they are presented authoritatively, so the more sure you are about your role as the dog’s master, the better behaved your dog is likely to be. Where can you find obedience training? Check with your vet or with local kennel clubs. Even if the club is into another breed they will likely accept any paying participant and dog to take part in the classes.
Housebreaking your Havanese is definitely important, and it may require some extra patience on your part to get the job done. Like most small dogs, it takes a little longer to effectively house break a Havanese. It goes to figure: a small dog (and especially a small dog as a puppy) has small organs, including his bladder and digestive tract. So as your dog matures, his organs develop and he is able to go for longer periods of time between potty breaks. If you got your puppy from a Havanese Rescue or Adoption centre, then extra care and patience may be required. Following are some tips to make your Havanese potty training go more smoothly.
Patience My Friend
Your dog will have accidents. He may go several days without an accident only to suddenly have an accident for several days in a row. Keep in mind that he is not peeing on your carpet or floor on purpose or out of spite; he is still learning the rules of where to go and how to interpret his body’s signals telling him that he needs to go. Be patient and consistent in how you respond. If he has an accident, don’t rub his nose in it. Simply tell him in an authoritative voice (without yelling) that he does not go to the bathroom inside, then take him outside or to his pad (some owners use an absorbent pad sold in stores for this purpose).
Like any other learned behavior, Havanese potty training should be reinforced positively. If your dog uses the bathroom successfully outside or on his pad, praise him, pet him and maybe give him a special treat. He’ll associate his behavior (going potty where I’m told to go potty) with a positive consequence (treats or praise). Once this cycle is repeated enough times (this will depend on the individual dog) then you won’t have to make such a big deal about every poop because he’ll have internalized the behavior.
Crating is a Havanese housebreaking method that some owners use. If you’re not familiar with crating, basically it goes like this: you place your Havanese in a cardboard box or small animal carrier during the period of time that you want him to “hold it”. Crating is based on the assumption that animals like dogs will not contaminate their living or sleeping quarters; your Havanese will wait until you let him out of the crate to go to the bathroom. But you must remember to base your expectations of how long your dog can hold it based on his developmental level. A puppy simply cannot retain for an entire day. Some people recommend that owners should not expect a dog to be able to hold it longer than the number of hours that equates to the dog’s age in months. For example, a 4-month-old Havanese should not be expected to wait over 4 hours between trips to the bathroom.