Shown above is Tito, from our first litter.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We currently have one older puppy and one adult available to the right homes. Please contact us for more info.

Click here to complete our questionnaire.

Future Litters
If health testing goes as planned, we plan to have a litter from Yofi, a wonderful gold brindle girl who we just love here. Her pedigree includes great grandsires on both the maternal and paternal sides who are BISS winners and who have both also won the breed at Westminster. Her pedigree is also full of Register of Merit studs and dams (over 14 of them in 5 generations) and countless champions as well. Then, we plan to have a litter from our Daisy. Daisy has been bred before and produced some lovely champions so we are hopeful this litter will be just as successful. When health testing is complete with Dina Planche's Sky, (Ch. Tejano's Eye of the Storm) Daisy will be bred to him and they should have some lovely puppies together. You can learn more about each girl by clicking on their name.

If you are interested, the first step is to complete our questionnaire. Next, we will get to know each other a little better either by phone and e-mail or in person if at all possible. From there, we both decide if we are a good match.

FAQs
- How much do your puppies cost?
That depends on the breeding, but generally our pets are priced at $2500 on a spay/neuter contract with show prospects available at $2500 and on breeder's terms.

- What health testing do you do?
The sires and dams of our litters have had annual CERF exams from a veterinary opthalmologist, are BAER tested to ensure that they have normal, bilateral hearing, have passed their OFA hip certification (or prelim OFA hips if they are not yet old enough for certification by OFA) and have passed their OFA patella certification. When age appropriate, they receive a CHIC number and a 4 star award from HCA. Some of our dogs also have OFA thyroid certifications as age appropriate and we should soon complete our latest health goal to have all of our Havanese OFA certified for cardiac as well.

- Do you have a kennel/where are your Havanese kept/where do the puppies live?
No, we do not have a kennel and our Havanese are first and foremost our treasured companions and pets. Yes, some of them are show dogs too, but their first role is that of family member. They live with us in our home and yes, often sleep in our bed...grin. We do close off sections of our home at times with baby gates to keep certain dogs segregated. This is needed when we have a litter of puppies, have a female in to be bred to one of our studs, etc. Even then, the dogs are kept in the main area of our home where they perform their "job" of companion quite well! When puppies are born, they initially live in a room we designate for whelping. This is usually a bedroom and I usually sleep with them for the first few weeks until I am certain they are off to a good start. As they begin to walk around, they are moved to a play pen that is placed in one of the main areas of our home. That allows lots of contact with our family (my husband and I plus our 3 boys) as they grow. They become used to the noises of daily living and we follow a program to socialize them and to raise a confident "intelligent" pup. At about 5 weeks of age, they move into an expen setup in the same area of our home which allows them even more space for playing with one another and for exploration. Inside their expen area, they have a crate, a couple of beds, food, water, toys and puppy pads to continue their initial housetraining. We continue to socialize them, take them for car rides, and after they have their first set of shots they are allowed to go outdoors as well.

- At what age do your puppies come to their permanent homes?
Usually between 9-14 weeks although much of that depends on the maturity of the puppy and the experience level of the home where they will be placed, whether there are other dogs in the home, etc. We will not place a puppy prior to 9 weeks.

- Will you ship your puppies?
No, we will not ship our puppies under any circumstances. We want to meet you face to face, but just as important is that you meet us face to face, ideally in our home. We like for you to meet our dogs, see the puppies in their environment here and to have a chance to give you some initial guidance as to how you might want to proceed with your puppy in your own home.

- What comes along with the puppy/what health checks are done?
Our puppies will have their first vet exam and first set of puppy shots at the age of 8-9 weeks. We choose to have our vet administer the shots (although many breeders do this themselves) because that way we can be assured that your vet will feel comfortable that they were administered properly, that the vaccine was not expired, was kept within required temperature ranges, etc. We also like the fact that at this point, our vet will give each pup an exam to check for growth, will listen to their heart to check for possible murmurs, will check for undescended testicles, will check for any possible luxating patellas, etc. At this visit, our pups are also microchipped. We do this simply because we always want our pups to be "trackable" if lost. Between the ages of 7 to 9 weeks, we travel a 10 hour round trip to get our puppies BAER tested. This ensures that your puppy has normal hearing. Problems with deafness in our breed account for a very small percentage of Havanese, but I would rather know this in advance. While a unilaterally deaf dog would make a fine pet and you might never notice the hearing deficiency, I would not want to sell them as a show/breeding prospect. A dog that is bilaterally deaf, would be a true special needs situation and as such would require a special family to raise them. Some breeders might say this is not necessary, but we would rather be safe than sorry. Yes, it is a big commitment to drive 10 hours to and from the BAER testing with a litter of puppies in tow, but we feel it is that important!

- What color puppies will you have?
That is sometimes hard to predict unless you've had many previous breedings out of the sire and dam. That is not something we believe in doing here, so we are often surprised to see the rainbow of colors we get in the litters. In the past, we have had black, cream, and golden solid colored pups, have had gold brindles, black brindles (Havana Browns) and red brindles, have had black and white parti, black and white irish pied, black and tan, and tri colored black and tan patterns. Some will change color as adults, while others remain true to their original coloration. We do not have chocolates, nor do we encourage it as we are not big fans of dilution of color pigment in the breed. Just our personal preference.

- I want to breed my Havanese puppy, want to buy a "breeding pair", etc.
We would never sell a "breeding pair", so don't ask. We do sell Havanese on full registration which would allow for breeding and AKC registration, but require that certain conditions be met prior to breeding your dog. You must show the dog and finish its AKC conformation championship. You must perform certain health tests and the dog must pass those tests. We will always stay on as co-owner until these conditions are met. We also would want to mentor you through the breeding process and be certain that you understood the responsibilities that go hand in hand with breeding. You should also realize that simply because a Havanese passes health testing and has its championship does not mean that it should be bred. Perhaps the dog finished as a puppy and now does not meet the size criteria of the standard. Perhaps as an adult the dog is not as promising as it was as a puppy. Our intent is always to improve upon the breed and we expect our owners to do likewise. Most importantly, we must feel 110% comfortable with you as an owner and with your intent. When all of these conditions are met, yes, we are happy to sell you a dog and enjoy mentoring newcomers to the breed when requested.

- I want one of your puppies...now what?
We are not big "production" breeders and as such, the demand for our puppies exceeds the supply. My best advice is to be patient and be prepared to place a reservation for a future litter and wait. You increase your chances of success if you are not dead set on a certain gender or color/pattern. We do breed primarily for show and as such our show homes will have first choice from pups in a litter. If you think you might be interested in showing your Havanese from us, but lack experience, we are always pleased to mentor you during the process. We started out with absolutely no background or experience in showing dogs and have come to enjoy the hobby immensely.

If you are open to showing your dog, or having a handler show it for you, please indicate that on your questionnaire so we can talk further about this aspect of ownership.

- Can you recommend another Havanese breeder?
Yes and no. I always advise you to first contact the Breeder Referral Coordinator for the Havanese Club of America at breederref@havanese.org. Kay Rodgers is a wonderful source of information and maintains a list of HCA members (Havanese Club of America - the AKC parent club for the breed) who have litters, have signed a code of ethics, do not have written complaints on file and who do the recommended health testing (annual CERF, BAER, OFA hips, and OFA patellas).

We do offer stud service here and in doing that often know of other Havanese breeders who have recently used one of our studs and who have litters on the way. This is often a good way to reserve a puppy from a litter before it is known about by the general public as frequently litters from leading breeders are reserved soon after being born. We ask that all of the females who are bred to one of our studs meet the same health testing requirements we ask of ourselves, and are happy to let you know of any upcoming litters sired by our stud dogs.

We will not say anything negative about another Havanese breeder. If we have something positive to say, of course we are happy to pass that along. In all cases, my best advice is "buyer beware" and be certain to find a breeder with whom you are totally comfortable.

Do not rush to purchase a Havanese.

The puppy shown here to the left is Tess, from our first litter. She is about 5 weeks old in this photo and already showing signs of her "show attitude". Fast forward 3 years and you see one of Tess' puppies above on the patriotic fleece. She will be staying here with us for a while as we assess her as a show prospect. Like mother, like daughter we hope!