HAVANESE - (Bichon havanais)
FCI-Standard N° 250 / 11. 05. 19980 / GB TRANSLATION : Mrs. Peggy Davis.
ORIGIN : Western Mediterranean basin, development : Cuba.
PATRONAGE : F.C.I.
and toy dog.
BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY : The breed comes from the Western Mediterranean
region and has developed along the Spanish and Italian coastal region.
It would seem that these dogs were imported early in Cuba by ocean
navigating Italian captains. Erroneously, the most frequent brown colour of these dogs (tobacco)
gave birth to the legend which would mean it to be a breed originating
from Havana, capital of Cuba. The
political events however have led to the total disappearance of the old
blood lines of the Havanese in Cuba; apparently a few dogs could be
successfully smuggled out from Cuba; their descendants have survived in
GENERAL APPEARANCE : The Havanese is a sturdy little dog, low on his legs, with long abundant hair, soft and preferably wavy. His movement is lively and elastic.
IMPORTANT PROPORTIONS : The length of the muzzle (tip of nose to stop) is equal to the distance between the stop and the occipital protuberance. The relation between the length of the body (measured from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock) and the height at the withers is of 4/3.
BEHAVIOUR / TEMPERAMENT : Exceptionally bright he is easy to train as alarm dog. Affectionate, of a happy nature, he is amiable, a charmer, playful and even a bit of a clown. He loves children and plays endlessly with them.
HEAD : Of medium length, the relation between the length of the head and that of the trunk (measured from the withers to the base of the tail) is of 3/7.
Nose : Black.
NECK : Of medium length.
BODY : The length of the
body is slightly superior to that of the height at the withers.
TAIL : Carried high, either in shape of a crozier or preferably rolled over the back; it is furnished with feathering of long silky hair.
FOREQUARTERS : Forelegs straight and parallel, lean; good bone structure. The distance from the ground to the elbow must not be greater than that between the elbow and the withers.
HINDQUARTERS : Good bone structure; moderate angulations.
FEET : Of slightly elongated shape; small; tight toes.
GAIT / MOVEMENT : According to his happy nature, the Havanese has a strikingly light-footed and elastic gait; forelegs with free stride and pointing straight forward, the hindlegs giving them the impulsion and moving in a straight line.
HAIR : Undercoat woolly and not very developed; it is often totally absent. The topcoat is very long (12-18 cm in an adult dog), soft, flat or wavy and may form curly strands. All grooming, the usage of scissors to even out the length of the coat and all trimming is forbidden. Exception : tidying up the hair on the feet is permitted, the hair on the forehead may be slightly shortened so that it does not cover the eyes and the hair on the muzzle may be slightly tidied up, but it is preferable to leave it in natural length.
COLOUR : There are two varieties of colour :
· Rarely completely pure white, fawn in its different shades of light fawn to havana-brown (tobacco colour, reddish brown); patches in those colours of coat; slight blackened overlay admitted.
· Admitted colours and patches (white, light fawn to havana-brown) with black markings. Black coat.
FAULTS : Any departure from the foregoing points should be considered a fault and the seriousness with which the fault should be regarded should be in exact proportion to its degree.
IMPORTANT FAULTS :
ELIMINATING FAULTS :
N.B. : Male animals should
have two apparently normal testicles fully descended into the scrotum.