The breeds · companion
AKC Toy · UKC Companion · FCI standard 250
Havanese.
FCI 250 utilization: companion and toy dog (Group 9, Section 1 Bichons), without working trial; bright and easy to train as an alarm dog. UKC: the Bichon of Cuba, always a small breed owned by the higher social classes. RKC: the national dog of Cuba, brought to the USA by Cuban families in the Communist era. Wikipedia: used as therapy dogs, assistance dogs (signal dogs for the hearing impaired), performing dogs, and in mold and termite detection and tracking; competes in agility, flyball, musical freestyle and obedience..
Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.
The body
What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.
Height at the shoulder
Registries agree closely. The ideal is printed as a range, so center is blank; low/high span the outer limits (FCI 21 cm = 8.3 in; AKC 11.5 in).
Weight
AKC page and UKC differ by 1 lb at the top; both are shown and low/high span them.
Coat
Registries agree on texture; FCI 250 says the undercoat is often totally absent while Wikipedia calls it a double coat, both shown.
Shedding
Registry bands reported as printed; neither source is a shedding or allergy study.
Heat tolerance
Derived from the standard's coat (long but light, undercoat often absent = 3). No measured data.
How long they live, and what they cost
Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.
Median lifespan
McMillan et al. 2024 / Dogs Trust table. Only 56 deaths, and the upper bound is not published, so high is blank. UK population. Wikipedia describes the sample as 56 dogs; the table gives 381 dogs, 56 deceased. The breed is not in Teng et al. 2022. The AKC page 14 to 16 year band is not used here.
The dog at home
What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.
Exercise need
RKC is a UK registry band, not a study; mapped by the library rule (up to 30 = 30).
Exercise need
AKC bands are not mapped to minutes; RKC supplies the minutes figure.
Energy
AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.
Grooming load
RKC band mapped by the library rule (every day = 4). The AKC page scores grooming lower than the RKC band; both stand. A kept-short pet trim is owner choice, not a standard.
The work
What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.
Role
Companion breed first; the Wikipedia job list is editorial and was not checked at source.
Field trial standard
No working test applies.
How common the problems are
Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.
Hip dysplasia
OFA's own breed statistics. OFA-evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock (owners and breeders submit films, and poor results are less likely to be submitted), so this is not the rate across all dogs of the breed; the true population rate is not known.
Elbow dysplasia
OFA's own breed statistics. OFA-evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock (owners and breeders submit films, and poor results are less likely to be submitted), so this is not the rate across all dogs of the breed; the true population rate is not known.
Most common disorders
Single editorial source summarising studies that were not read here; the RKC scheme list is a registry statement.
What the studies found
Population-level findings, shown as a spread. Breed sets the odds; the parents set the dog.
Aggression, as studied
Table 4 counts only. The breed is not in Table 5 (the 8 breeds common to both surveys), so no breed mean is published for the stranger-, owner- or dog-directed subscales and those rows are left out. Owner-questionnaire population data, never a prediction for one dog.
More
akc bands
Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.
What to ask a breeder for
The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.
- UKElbow dysplasia scheme (best practice)BVA/KC Elbow Dysplasia Scheme · The Royal Kennel Club, Havanese breed page (size, exercise, grooming, shedding and lifespan bands; About this breed; Toy group text; health testing)
- UKEye testing (good practice)BVA/KC/ISDS Eye Scheme · The Royal Kennel Club, Havanese breed page (size, exercise, grooming, shedding and lifespan bands; About this breed; Toy group text; health testing)
- UKBreed club health scheme (details on the RKC page's linked breed club page, not read)Breed club scheme · The Royal Kennel Club, Havanese breed page (size, exercise, grooming, shedding and lifespan bands; About this breed; Toy group text; health testing)
How to read this page
Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.
Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 9 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.
- Also called
- Bichon Havanais, Havana Silk Dog, Habanero
Every breed, read the same way.
The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.
All published breedsYour havanese, on the record.
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