The Havanese is a small, short-legged dog that is happy natured. They have long, straight or curly hair adding to their charming appearance and a playful, curious temperament, making them ideal as pets. Havanese pups are smart, cooperative, and easy to train. However, like with many dogs, they can be difficult to potty train properly.
You might have seen a lot of questions and concerns on Havanese potty training. If you find potty training your Havanese pup difficult, this guide should help you find some relief.
We cover everything you need to know about potty training problems in this dog breed and discuss what you can do about it.
Havanese Potty Training Problems – A Complete Guide
Havanese are intelligent dogs and you can easily train them to be good watchdogs. As an owner, you can teach your pet all the cool tricks. However, you are likely to face problems in potty training your pet. The reality is that it is harder to train this breed than other dog breeds.
Small dogs, categorized as toy dogs are generally hard to potty train. A grown-up Havana weighs between 6 and 13 pounds, making them exclusively a toy dog. So you are likely to run into a coupe of toilet training issues. Moreover, everything about a Havanese is small, including its stomach, meaning more feeding, beverages, and more visits to the toilet.
The first mistake that leads to potty training problems in Havanese dogs is that the owners tend to carry them around like babies because of their lightweight and small structure. As you tend to carry your pup to the washroom rather than letting them walk, the Havanese develop an inability to learn to potty on their own. So, the pup poops where he plays or sleeps whenever you are not around to carry him.
Some Havanese develop bad habits from living in confinement. As owners have small houses, they design the eating, sleeping, and pooping areas close to each other which makes it confusing for the dog to learn that they should use different places for different activities. Though potty training a Havanese involves a bit of effort, you might get success depending on how you treat and teach your pup.
How To Potty Train A Havanese Puppy?
As Havanese pups are easy to train, you have amazing potty-training choices you won’t be able to use with other breeds. One of the best ways is to use a litter box to train your Havanese. It is a great choice for those who live in an urban area, where taking out a pet is not so easy. Potty training a Havana should take between 6-10 months as the pup’s bowel system and bladder begin to form.
The first thing you can do to succeed at potty training your Havana is to allow him to use his legs to go out. Another important thing to incorporate is positive reinforcement. You should try and stick to a pattern. Dogs have predictable patterns for everything, including waste elimination. Pups generally need more frequent visits to the loo than adult dogs, so keep this in mind during your training.
Start by keeping a watch on your pup. See that you always take him to the same spot to poop. Another thing you should practice is to leash your dog and allow it to walk on its own rather than picking him up and carrying him to the poop spot.
Havanese House Training Problems
Havanese pups are intelligent, but they often trick you into allowing bad behaviour. However, staying consistent and firm in your training makes it easy to house train your Havanese into a loving, well-behaved pet. These tiny pets form bad habits as they grow in confinement. As they don’t know, as pups, that they should not poop in their eating and sleeping areas, it gets difficult to correct later. So, you should avoid letting your Havanese eat, sleep and poop in one place.
These cute pups are always carried, resulting in their inability to walk to the litter box for defecation. Allowing the dogs to stay on the floor is a good practice as they learn to signal when they want to eliminate their bowels. It gets harder for them to communicate when you are holding them. Most owners don’t realize they are ruining any prior house training when they keep picking up their Havanese dogs.
In case of accidents in the house, you should try not to punish the puppy. They don’t always learn the lesson through punishment but would understand better with positive reinforcement. They are like kids and realize that you would punish them for accidents. So, they may start hiding accidents from you and pee and poop in places you would least expect.
These dogs would learn discipline with reward-based training. They are sensitive pets that appreciate treats, love, attention, game, lap time, and other rewards. When they know that doing something would get them a reward, they will do it enthusiastically, allowing you to efficiently house train your Havanese.
Other Havanese Training Secrets
Being difficult to house train, Havanese dogs are generally crate trained by owners at a young age. This would not only avoid problems with potty training but also provide the pups a safe and comfortable place to rest when they are not supervised. Crate training the pup ensures he doesn’t get into trouble in your absence.
Owners should start crate training as soon as the Havanese is brought home, and the general rule is that the pup can be kept in the crate for as many hours, as his age, in months. Most Havanese need a small to a medium-sized crate. Try to create a comfortable environment by making it cozy with a blanket or towel and toys. Place the crate in an area with human activitity to avoid making the pup feel isolated.
In conclusion, Havanese dogs are known to be hard to potty train, but like with any dog, all you need is a little bit of patience.