Havanese potty training problems & Solutions

 In the situation of the Havanese, the simplicity with which they'll be trained offers a major justification for the continuing overwhelming acceptance of this breed. But there is one major exception in the rule that we will briefly address in more depth here. Let's dive right now into the question, "Are Havanese easy to handle?" So you know what you'd like to know in order to determine if it's your dog! The short answers to these questions, happily, is yes. The Havanese is a dog type with a data dating back over 300 years, providing breeders and owners exposure to a vast archive of data on the character, attitude and overall highly trainable of this dog breed. 

The Havanese are particularly inclined to people-pleasing, a characteristic that is often displayed by other globally famous dog breeds including the Labrador Retriever. Overall, dogs with higher people-pleasing ratings appear to be better to handle than dogs bred specifically for the aim of working (the Basenji and Akita are great examples of dogs who frequently obey their own advice over their people's advice). What apparently makes the Havanese happy to please you? This dog was never raised to do any job at all, to begin with! In Havana, Cuba, the city which provides its breed name to this dog, the Havanese breed came into existence. 

The happy little Havanese adorned the royal laps for more than three centuries, enjoying pats, gratitude, treats and more in exchange. So, for the current Havanese, the canine variant of a no-brainer is practically appealing to you. For several households, one of the greatest joys the family can experience together is training the family dog to do tricks. There are advantages for all, but particularly for the youngest family members, who build confidence, teamwork, interpersonal skills, and leadership expertise from the experience of training a pet to do tricks and execute them. 

It will leave you wondering if this dog breed would want to train to do tricks to hear that the Havanese was raised to be a lap dog. Interestingly, the response here is yes, too! There is, however, one problem that can make your Havana dog less willing to learn and perform tasks, which is what we're going to talk about next. The days (decades, really) of using teaching techniques of "pack mentality," also referred to today as training methods of "negative reinforcement," are well and gone. Negative reinforcement or punishment-based training techniques really never performed too well, to begin with, and unstable dogs were frequently developed that was completely unsuited to family and young children's lives. 

Positive reinforcement training is far more effective in treating dogs that would make excellent beloved pets as well as great working canines, also called "rewards-based" training. In particular, Havanese are smart, emotionally expressive dogs who are naturally tuned in to their individuals. Your Havanese would be able to feel your emotions and desires, and that's why this breed is chosen as a therapy dog so often. A Havana dog would react very negatively to anything other than the most optimistic methods of training. "Rewards" here can imply treats and can also imply attention, pats, game time, lap time, and other rewards that Havanese dogs love and award. Utilizing positive reinforcement training strategies (clicker training with rewards or pats is a great example of one common method) can help you easily and efficiently train your highly sensitive, intelligent and willing Havanese dog. 

"One basic thing frequently asked by new prospective Havanese owners is" Are Havanese easy to train for potty? We stated in the introduction to this article that there was one exception to the reputation of being easy to train for the Havanese breed. Potty training is an exception, but not for the reasons you would anticipate. Usually, a fully-grown Havana dog weighs between six and Thirteen pounds. This weight range keeps the Havanese firmly within the group of toy dog breeds. " "Even as much as a small breed puppy likes, a Havanese puppy won't be able to" keep it. 

This would mean more mistakes on the way to the completion of toilet training. In addition, everything about a Havana puppy, including its belly, is smaller. This implies more regular feedings, more regular beverages, more frequent visits to the puppy pads. When you spend your story with a toy breed dog, this is just par for the course. Havanese puppy breeders advise getting these additional steps to reduce the possibility of mistakes when your puppy clearly can no longer hold it (these events are likely to annoy you and your puppy simultaneously and, if possible, are better prevented as such): Use a sufficiently spacious puppy training crib so that your dog has space at one end to sleep and space at the other end to potty all the way. 

Make it quite clear which place is the bathroom spot "to go" both inside the training crate of your puppy and out on the lawn. Each time your puppy goes appropriately, give an assortment of praise and rewards. Feed smaller meals more often to prevent too many incidents. Stop feeding (and probably removing water) at least a few hours each night to decrease the risk of incidents at night. Study the puppy so that you understand the signals that it is time to go there. 

Since the Havana dog breed is otherwise so easy to train, with this dog breed, you have some potty training choices that might not fit with most other dog breeds. One choice is to train the Havanese with a litter box. If you live in an urban area or in a high-rise where it would be hard to get your puppy out fast enough, this is an especially great choice. You should use supplies that are necessary for a big animal. 

To allow your puppy to use it, make sure to keep the litter box exceptionally clean. Some Havana owners have been very active in teaching their puppies to ring a bell as a gesture to go out to the toilet. 

For this reason, any large harmonic bell should work-just make sure you hang it near a door and within sight of your puppy. Sum up, a Havana dog's potty training phase will take between 6 and 10 months. 

This is approximately the length of time it takes for the bladder and bowel systems of your puppy to finish forming, stabilizing and assisting your dog in managing both activities. So for this training phase, you will need to be prepared to exercise a little bit of extra patience than you would for any other activities you want your Havanese puppy to understand and know.