Grooming Your Brushed Coat Havanese
Grooming Your Havanese Pet



Grooming Your Brushed Coat Havanese

The Havanese is shown in a natural coat with very minimal trimming allowed. "Natural" does NOT mean unbrushed.  While less trimming than many of the toy breeds have, makes the Havanese an easier breed to care for as far as clipping goes,  the long coat can still be quite time consuming to maintain.

Knowing some standard grooming techniques will help you greatly in achieving the beautiful show results you see in the Breed Ring. Admittedly, this can in no way replace the knowledge you can garner from your dog's breeder, or other Hav owners,but  hopefully it will help you along when no one is present to ask.

Bathing:
Always brush out your Havs coat prior to bathing. If you do not, any tangles already started will become larger and impossible to work out.

A full-coated Havanese will probably need to be bathed twice a week. The climate you live in and your dog's coat are what will determine the shampoos and conditioners you use. Until you are able to question other Havanese owner's in your area, you will want to use the product's your breeder recommends work best for their bloodline.

Dilute the shampoo as recommended. Never pour the full concentrate over the dog!! A small hand-lotion squeeze bottle works great for applying the diluted shampoo. (I get these at the grocery store in the section next to their travel items.) It is also handy to keep this bottle full next to your sink, for those "poopy bottom" episodes. You might want to write on the outside of the bottle with a magic marker, what the dilution ratio is, and what shampoo is in that particular bottle.

Always bathe your Havanese with free flowing water. Spray heads can actually tangle the hairs making your job harder and possibly even damaging the coat.

Try to bathe the coat only, not the skin. The frequent bathing that is required of their lush coats can be detrimental to skin health and the production of oils if you aren't protective of the skin. One way to do this is to bathe the hair almost like you would a sweater. Kneading the shampoo into the coat, but away from the skin.

Rinse and towel dry your Havanese. Make certain to always work WITH the lay of the coat.

Drying:
To dry your Havanese properly you will need a blow dryer. Do NOT use a blow dryer designed for people. These use heat and will damage your dog's coat.

Never brush the coat wet. You must be drying it WHILE brushing to avoid over-stretching and damaging the hairs. The airflow from the dryer helps the hairs maintain their elasticity.

First you will need to mist your dogs coat with conditioner. You will comb this conditioner into the coat as you work around your dog.

Drying a full-coated breed works best if done in a specific order.

Comb the conditioner into the coat as you work. Always blow the coat the direction you want it to lay.

Begin by drying the stomach hair.

Next you will dry the front and insides of the back legs. Then the backs and insides of the front legs. You will then finish the back legs first and then the front legs.

By now, your Hav's tail may already be dry. If not, you will dry it next.

You will then move to the back. You can actually blow a "natural" part from withers to tail if using a hand held dryer. When the back is done, move on to the chest, which like the tail may already be dry.

The last part of the dog you will dry will be their head.

If you get into the practice of following this same order with all of your grooming routines, your dog will know when it is almost done and this can often help eliminate grooming stress.


Brushing:
To achieve and maintain the beautiful natural shine of health you see in the show ring, you need to remove all the dead and loose hair from your dog's coat. The only way to do this is to teach your dog to lay on it's side. You can do this by grasping the dog's outside elbow & knee as you pull it in towards your body. It is the control of the far limbs that gives you leverage. Once you have them held firmly, gently lower your dog onto its side. Maintain light pressure until your dog relaxes.

Mist the coat with water or a light conditioner as you work. Never brush a dry coat, and never use plastic or nylon brushes or combs. Both of these things will create static, which breaks hair.

You are going to part the hair, and working a section at a time use your pin brush to go AGAINST the lay. In caring for your Hav this is the only time you go against the hairs natural growth pattern. The reason is to remove the underneath hair that is beginning to shed. This in turn stimulates new growth from that follicle. Work your way along the dog, parting and brushing a section at a time until each individual hair has been brushed.

When the entire dog has been brushed against the lay, stand them up. Now rebrush the hair the way you want it to fall. You may also comb through it at this time to get any loose hairs the brush did not pick up. If the coat has dried, don't forget to lightly mist it as you work.


The Finishing Touches:
To show your Havanese in the breed ring, a few very minimal final touches need to be done.

HEAD:
Your dog may be shown with its hair falling forward over its face, or with it falling naturally to each side. With a flea comb, part your dog's hair from inside corner of eye to inside corner of eye. This will designate the hair that goes up, versus that which falls to either side of the muzzle. A center part down the muzzle will make the final differentiation of this line for you. For a final touch, just brush the hair back from the eyes and you are done.

BACK:
The Havanese is NOT to be shown with a manufactured part down the back.

FEET:
You may trim the hair BETWEEN the pads. Scissors work much better for this than clippers, but either are acceptable. Do NOT trim up to the stop pad. You may also "tidy" the hairs that are hitting the table by scissoring around your foot (just beyond the toenails) in a circle, just off and parallel to the tabletop. It is better to take off to little than too much.

ANAL:
You will want to take thinning scissors and trim a small area around the anus, starting at the base of the tail. This will help prevent "poopy bottom".

And that's all there is too it. A lot of work, but you can do it. Just keep practicing, and don't be afraid to ask other Hav owner's if you need help.

One word of warning: Unfortunately it is NOT uncommon for a show Havanese to go to the groomer's for a bath only... and come home with a haircut that is not allowed in the breed ring. If you are going to be showing your Havanese, you really need to groom them yourself or find someone who is exceptionally trustworthy.

Authored by © Cynthia Rust



Grooming Your Havanese Pet








If you are not showing your dog in the breed ring, you have a few more options in coat maintenance other than just leaving it long & natural. While a pet clip will require a trip to a dog groomer every four to six weeks, it will be much easier for you to maintain on a day to day basis.

One popular pet clip option is to clip the body hair to about 1 ½ inches. Careful shaving around the eyes may help prevent tearing problems with your Hav. Keep some of the topknot length as bangs, and retain some of the facial hair for balance. Normally with this cut you will also keep approximately 2/3 of the length on the tail, as well as most of the length on the ears. The nice thing about this particular look, is it still features one of the primary Havanese traits of hair falling forward over the eyes. It is also a good in-between cut to keep you from becoming shell-shocked the first time you cut down your full-coated Havanese friend.  
Starkette's Jewel of Janizona- "Jazz"

There are many variations on this basic cut. Many people remove the bangs and sometimes the facial hair, clipping the top of head to match the body hair length. Some shorten the ear and tail length further, others prefer not to clip their length at all, opting for the more natural look in these areas. Even the length of body hair varies, and can look nice at 1 inch or even longer such as 2-3inches. As there is no required cut, you can let personal preference guide you.

Authored by © Cynthia Rust



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