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Posts Tagged ‘havanese training’

Some Havanese can be a bit mysterious when it comes to their affections. Thus, a Hav looks like it does not mind spending time with any one family member, but nevertheless it can be seen appreciating very much if together with a certain person.

But on the other hand, there is actually nothing wrong with such a behavior. But one worrisome bit is that a hav can also mysteriously be desperate for the company of a few selected people or just one person. It refuses to do anything at all with somebody, say, walks or to sleep, if the preferred person does not join in. Some owners try to dig deeper into the matter, since it is possible submissive behavior is at the bottom of it all.

One of the basic havanese training steps to solving this problems involve interacting with the dog one person at a time, with nobody interrupting or joining in in occupying the dog’s attention. The family member who wants to bond with the dog will need to cook up games, and involve the dog’s favorite toys.

Fear can of course be a factor behind the dog’s behavior. The solution is also clear: socialization, and more positive interactions with other dogs. Indeed, there is a different value in a dog getting to meet total stranger-dogs in the park, or in a walk.

Fear is an important havanese training consideration that nevertheless needs a level head to solve, so a full stop must be put on all the actions of the family that smack of coddling or soothing in order to alleviate fear. But potentially ugly situations nevertheless need to be avoided.

To help dogs overcome fear, some owners even coax their dog to come close to what is scaring them, then giving them praise and treats immediately afterwards to help the dog feel secure.

Again, as we have seen, Havs may indeed be one-person dogs, but they generally do love their entire human family.

Soon, the average hav owner realizes the fact that the hav at home is more agile and faster than its cutesy, delicate appearance indicates. Indeed, the dog’s robust hind quarters make it capable of relatively good jumps for its size. The front paws complete the effect somewhat reminiscent of the nimbleness of a cat. All this not only mean guaranteed amusement and laughter, but also unfortunately, possible disasters if the dogs and owners are not too cautious!

One important havanese training issue here is dogs that sneak in a nimble-footed trick or two, which is practically the norm when nobody is looking. Indeed, who would expect that such a dainty looking, stuffed toy-caliber dog would act with such boldness, clambering over gates? Many a Hav dog owner had to fight panic and keep calm after seeing a Hav perched at a risky height, planning a new mode towards freedom.

Granted that the dexterity is impressive, the results however, are definitely not. There is so much that assuming things about the “delicate” dog can lead to. From a dog’s point of view, getting up a babygate is a totally different experience compared to getting down. So there is no way how worse the damage of a three foot-high jump can be! More possible consequences of lack of supervision are: soiled carpets, chewed on shoes, shredded newspapers and magazines, or worse, chewed on electric cords and the swallowing of household chemicals.

But there is still some good havanese training news in all this, and it would be that not all Havs are thrill seekers. Some dogs feel the need to be up high in order to keep a tab as much as possible on all family members. The above goes to show the great need for that basic rule in construction sites, now applicable too in the case of Havanese homes: safety first! Definitely one good way to keep a canine mountain goat in check would be to get an enclosed puppy den, or an x-pen with roof panels, or the best option yet, which is a crate?

The last thing that a Havanese owner would expect from a puppy is that it can’t appreciate a walk. How can that be indeed, since these little ones will actually bark to demand to go on the appointed time, even if held twice a day!

How dogs react to the routine vary, aside from the factor of havanese training. Some start to pant by the first half mile. Others are ready for something more brisk than a stroll, and are willing to finish 2 miles, sometimes even up to 3! But in any case, if dog walkers add more time or mileage gradually, dogs will let their people know what their limits are. This way dog owners can figure out what’s good for their pet. Other factors that owners watch out for are the time taken for the walk and the temperature.

Signs of a tired Havanese dog include, but of course is not limited to: a droopy tail; split nails on a few toes; and the ultimate, a dog sitting or lying on the ground, refusing to get up. In case of these signs, it really is time to call it a day.

There is another way to know the best amount of time to spend walking a dog. At least in the case of jack russell puppies, a rough rule of thumb here is that a dog can have 5 minutes for every month of age. Therefore a three month old puppy can walk for 15 minutes and so on.

Owners will therefore need to be sure that their dogs are really, honest-to-goodness enjoying the walk! If there is yet a way to improve the walk, then it would be good to know about “good” and “bad” ways of doing it. The good way is to start with the fact that the dog owner is the dog’s boss, and he or she needs to call the shots in the walk. Just to give you hint of a wrong way of walking: the next time you see a dog or dogs dragging along the walker, you can be sure those dogs are not enjoying going out with an indecisive walker.

Let’s continue with how to go on a good walk. First of all, if it wants to get what it wants, which is the walk, it will need to do its share of behaving and obeying by sitting properly by the door, quiet and calm, waiting for the collar to be slipped over it. If it does not do most of those, then it is not ready for the walk.

Next, once it is out on the streets, the puppy or the young dog (this step may take time to work on adults) will need to be shown that the owner-handler decides the route. How? Be unpredictable! Cross the street, go round a lampost or a bench, inspect some bushes, go on and off the pavement or sidewalk, etc. The walker will need to make the route unpredictable so that the dog will want to focus on its walker, instead of focusing on whatever disrupts its bored fancy, which can end up in the dog dragging the human. When it starts behaving contrary to its manners, stop, command it to sit, wait for calm, then start out again. This is actually one tip not only found in havanese training, but practically in all dog training guides.

Havanese dogs that missed socializing with children during their puppyhood surely view with dread the antics and pranks of children! Since what children do tend to incite play, chase and sometimes a shocker—nipping—puppies and children need to be taught how to deal with each other.

For puppy homes that have active children, the next few months of the dog would be an ideal time for testing. Moreover, it cannot be anymore worth it, since fully socialized puppies have healthy personalities that will prove critical to their adult years, a time when ideally nothing in their environment ought to make them skittish or afraid. This explains why havanese training on good manners sounds so important.

What about the prospects of puppy owners with nothing to worry about kids running around and roughhousing the dog? Children will need to be invited over, and that’s how important the training is! Initially, children in initial numbers will be invited over. When you are just starting out, a maximum of two are fine enough.

Obviously, only well-trained and well-behaved children will need to come over. The children will also need to be supervised from beginning to end of their interaction. Then welcome and introduce your friends’ kids, the type that your children will get to meet regularly. Last of all, invite over some of the kids from the nearby blocks, and this means the ones who are likely to tease your dog through the garden fence! But isn’t it that, both dogs and kids actually only need the ample time and chance to be able to get to know and like each other?

In interacting with the dog and possibly even attempting to teach it tricks, owners will need to give the children tasty treats as rewards during handling and training drills. Examples of treats can be kibble or freeze-dried liver. For the first initial week, the dog’s interaction with the child will need to be calm. Eventually though, it is crucial that the puppy experiences and gets used to the noise and activity of children starting from a very young age. Never pass up also the chance to bring the puppy to many children’s parties, complete with children and adults jumping, singing, shouting, playing games, and laughing… and soon it will consider as predictable even the loudest noise zooming across the street on a lonely evening. To end, an adolescent dog’s reaction to the pranks and roughhousing of children will indeed depend heavily on the havanese training the dog got as a puppy.

Havanese puppies at around twelve weeks are becoming more and more aware of the power of their senses. Sometimes, for them, everything simply must pass through their nose’s and mouth’s (or teeth, to be precise!) scrutiny. A puppy chewing on a leash is therefore something typical to expect. Besides, they are bound anyway to outgrow the idea that the leash is just another chew toy.

But if you think you need to take serious Havanese training action about your Hav chomping through the strap and the buckle (short of sawing through the metal part!), then here are some alternatives that can compose your game plan.

Instead of the bite-prone collar and leash, check out using a harness. In this alternative, the leash is attached on the back, making it harder to reach. Put it on the dog eight before leaving, so the dog can’t go for it.

Indeed, doing something about the leash is the starting point of the solution. The following steps illustrate another way of using the leash in order to discourage chewing on the leash.

Hook first the leash to the collar. Then take the leash and wound it around the dog’s neck to make a circle. Take the slack part of the leash, insert and pull through the leash handle. You now have what looks like horse’s reins, consisting of two shorter leads instead of one long one. In effect, the leash rides higher than the collar on the neck.

The following is an intriguing Havanese training way to get a dog to avoid touching the leash, and at the same time to allow slack on the leash. The owner needs to walk backwards in this procedure, holding the leash of the dog. He or she will hold a long wooden spoon with a few smears of peanut butter, and entice the dog to follow with it. When there is some slack on the leash, the dog will get praise and a lick on the spoon.

For Havanese dog owners that are constantly on the move, an easily car sick dog is one more pressing issue that demands time and effort. It gets even more frustrating knowing that it is a condition that is not so prevalent anyway. Wouldn’t it be great to have a Havanese training dog that, upon hearing the jangle of car keys, is rough and ready, waiting by the front door, for a car ride?

Sadly, most dog owners are far from living this rosy scenario. So sometimes, a car ride means having to get the dog to sit near a human passenger, or to be held on the lap in order to avoid a very messy accident from happening. Other steps that dog owners take is to avoid certain types of roads that they are sure bothers the dog very much, or to avoid feeding the dog a few hours before the car ride.

On the other hand, the following tried and tested steps may just do the trick in resolving doggie car sickness:

1. Some owners make sure about exercising their dogs before the car ride starting from the puppyhood of the dogs. Another common alternative is to give the dog a good walk. The effect of this is that the dog goes to sleep in the crate. Overtime, a dog accustomed to this routine will simply go to sleep during the trip, with or without the walk or romp.

2. If veterinarians are asked, the likely response will most likely be (although a consultation is still the safest and error-free) about meclazine or Bonine. In the case of the latter, the recommended dosage is half of a 25 mg tablet before travel in the case of a dog weighing 9.5 pounds.

3. Another likely suggestion would be half a Dramamine pill for a ten-pound dog. The pill needs to be given 30 to 40 minutes before making the trip.

When all anti-car sickness tips and Havanese training tips are tried and judged, perhaps the best things to do are still to keep the dog well-exercised before the trip. An extra rare treat given to the dog before revving the engine will also associate the car ride with good stuff and rewards. But opening that car window may also be the straw to break the camel’s back.

Housebreaking sounds as easy as one-two-three from the perspective of Havanese training articles, but how come things seem to go different when families themselves are trying to manage the actual nitty-gritty of training the dog its toilet manners?

Okay, so in fact things are not that bad after all. Behind all housebreaking projects and plans, is an owner that needs to work on housetraining on a case-to-case basis. Nevertheless, certain elements to problem solving remain the same: first of all, pinning down the concern, and keeping a tab on the factors within the owner’s influence.

So what’s to be done about the almost universal story of the Hav that avoids making use of the dog door at night, and even balks at going under a little rain or snow, and in cases of these, prefers pooing inside the house?

Really, the problem above could still thankfully be worse! If there is a way that it could spill into “the perfect crisis,” it would be for the owner not to lift a finger and put into action some consistent and firm havanese training.

So, in this dog’s case, it would be helpful to have a clue like, say, the dog can stay for hours inside the family car without asking to be let out to poo or pee. In case of this, then the dog may do best if crate-trained. If the dog is a rescue, then there is indeed a need for owners to be assertive and to put in place a pattern that helps the dog know what is expected of it. If the dog won’t go outside during bad weather, then it may be a habit picked up from previous owners.

Here are a few Havanese training tips to wrap things up. It is obvious in dog training that the dog generally must never be allowed to do just about whatever it wants, like turning down crate training, or refusing to go out when it is time to poo or pee. Things will go fast indeed if appeals are made to the dog via its favorite treats. Dogs take notice of treats, of course, first through its smell, then by sight. So getting the dog accustomed to being within the crate starts by placing treats bit by bit close to the door of the crate, until such time that they are within the crate, which makes the dog create an association between a positive experience and being in the crate.

When you are leaving for work and you see your havanese puppy protesting at the top of its lungs why on earth you are leaving it, you know that it is time to seek answers to one of the most highly anticipated havanese training issues: separation anxiety.

Veteran dog owners immediately recommend crate training as a sure way to start working on the dog’s losing its head every time people leave. The routine will look something like the following (although these definitely can be improved some more): put dog in crate for a set number of minutes, then leave room; open crate door and ignore dog for set number of seconds; greet puppy and play with it; repeat and add more minutes.

Some owners apply the simple scheme of first leaving the dog alone in the crate for short periods of time a few weeks a day so it becomes accustomed to the idea of people leaving. The dog will predictably cry for a week or two, but it is sure to get used to what is going, once everything settles into what looks like routine.

So before anybody leaves, the radio or TV is turned on, the dog is told to be a “Good boy,” and is given a treat. Only after this does everybody make a discreet exit.

But perhaps nothing can beat the plan that seeks to remedy the situation by resolving its many dimensions. In that case, the following steps need to be followed.

1. Before leaving, the puppy must be ignored for 20 minutes. The goal is to get the dog adjusted to still being happy even if the owner is home yet not interacting with it.

2. It’s actually possible to get the dog to feel positive about someone’s leaving. The owner needs to give it a very prized treat that it will only get when the person leaves home.

3. A shirt or pillowcase full of the owner’s scent needs to be left inside the crate. The dog can get soothe by this if everybody leaves.

4. Before leaving, the owner has to give the dog the keyword that signals the owner will be back. It could be “Be good.”

5. Upon coming back, the dog needs to be ignored until it is calm. This further tells the dog that it will do fine without its person in the house.

Last of all, dog owners need to know that in havanese training, using the crate to remedy the anxiety does not have to apply all the time. Its door can be left open to allow the dog to have a transition period, although the end in mind is to actually have the dog have a run of the house in a few months’ time, right after the preceding steps are implemented. But even then, the dog’s tantrums need to be preempted by putting away all the rugs, covering and hiding the trash cans, securing the breakable bric-à-bracs, etc.

As a lot of Havanese dog owners know, this dog breed happens to be among the smartest known, and do not think twice to show they are! For example, countless owners may remember how simple it was to get the dog to understand the “shake hands” command. While some would initiate a series of actions to culminate in the “shake hands”, others actually only pick up the dog’s paw and say to it “Shake” over and over. Then the day comes that asking the dog if it knows how to shake leads to the dog actually doing it! Thus it is obviously important that the dog be given time, sometimes several weeks, just to let all the information “sink in.”

Another havanese training technique that appears more methodical is to hold a treat in the fist in front of the dog. Then the dog will try to check out your hand using their nose and mouth, but wait for the dog to eventually start pawing at your hand. Praise the dog effusively if they paw. Some re-training, on the other hand, may be needed in case some dogs are not used to using their paws when sitting.

Still another way to do it is to put one’s hand down, palm up, then with the same hand to nudge the knee of the dog so that they lift their paw. When the dog lifts its paw, the owner needs to slide his/her hand under the paw and praise effusively.

One clicker training method is interesting enough to check out since a clear tupperware cover plays a major role! The first step is to place the treat on the floor, and let the dog see you cover it with clear tupperware. The dog’s expected reaction is to swat the cover and to try to move it with its paw. Click and give treat when they touch the tupperware. Repeat the first step up to covering the treat with a tupperware, but this time place your hand on the cover. When the dog’s paw touches your hand, click and give treat. Then your hand becomes the cue, and this time there is no treat or tupperware. Last of all, add the word “paw (or shake hands)” as they touch your hand. End the havanese training by clicking and giving treat.

A too-submissive or too-shy Havanese is something that seriously stands in the way to reaching the target of an optimistic and positive-personality dog. A dog may be in such a condition if, say, it acts frightened or cowers from its owner, who simply is trying to get a leash on it, and recalls no incident of hitting the dog. Then, still another sign among the many possible is of the dog that refuses to sit when asked to do so during grooming, and actually curls up in response to the brushing. Lastly, the dog may also refuse to pee or poo when told to do so, and instead stares at the owner sideways and licks its lips, all of which are signs of submission. Where in these scenarios can havanese training play its role?

Training definitely can help improve the dog’s situation, first by helping pin down and identifying what exactly is the matter with the dog; shyness and submission are two behaviors that have different triggers, effects and of course solutions. In case of shyness, one solution is to bring the dog to at least 5 new places a week and staying for some ten to fifteen minutes. In a few weeks of hard work, it is actually possible to have a dog that is greatly improved.

How about responding to a submissive dog? For starters, there is so much meaning in human body language and postures that humans take for granted, but which mean so much from a canine point-of-view. A consequence of this is that anybody who wishes to put the dog at ease need to avoid standing and leading over it. Instead, all humans need to try squatting at the dog’s level, allowing the dog to approach if it wants to. A good way to stand near the dog is to do it facing sideways. With these steps and many more, a person is thus capable of appearing more friendly and approachable.

An even more vast source of confidence builders and self esteem boosters are havanese training for puppies, agility classes, obedience, and therapy dog titles; its a great plus point that havanese dogs usually do not think twice demonstrating before people how much they learned. Lots of patience will be needed to help a shy or submissive dog overcome itself, but results are possible if the owner takes the first step!