What a Havanese Day

Have you ever seen a growl and a grrr and a roll and a totally wrestlemania rough-house experience with your dogs?

We had guests over that assumed they were going to kill each other but they were having fun.

It's important to distinguish between play and aggression. There is a huge difference but perhaps not to a person that hasn't seen both in action.

Puppies play as if they are going to gnaw each others tail, hair, ears or what have you off but they know how hard to bite down and if one was to go yelp, the other would stop and then continue and lessen the impact. They don't want to end the play and if they don't 'get' it, well they won't have anyone to play with.

If you ever saw your dog growling or barking at others when they are a puppy, often its due to their inexperience in reading another dog's language and them being not sure if the other is receptive to play. They will 'get' that. Some get it earlier than others but if you socialize - and do it often, they will get it earlier.

Just like us, they learn from their experiences - good and bad. We have to guide them down that right path of being totally amazing!

Havanese: Leave It - Drop It!

I compare a dogs mouth to a toddler's hands and mouth. You can't keep a thing out of it. You have to take it out, teach leave it and still - the lure of that stick seems so great that they will try to step over the line if allowed.

As humans - sometimes we can't help just allowing as its so cute but watch out - when you do, they may take a mile. Be sure you can live with it. A stick my dissolve in most cases but not necessarily and the damage it can do to bowels - well we won't go there so practice - 'leave it' or 'drop it' and see how many times you have to practice to get there.

Sebastian Stylin! Lola Puppy Photos

Sebastian had a bath today and Nathan was giving him some snuggles. He looks so good all cleaned up. Gad - he's a cutie!

We were excited to see him smelling ever so good and feeling so silky. He cleans up well.

BREAKING NEWS: Lola had her pups 5 boys - oh my - photos here of pups less than an hour old.

Mom - Lola - human mom and pups are doing ever so good.

Maggie soon! - Meaning her turn to have pups.

Click on a photo to see an upclose photo of him.

Anyone who has bathed a Havanese knows that after it, they end up being way frisky.

Watch this crew in mid-air having some delicious fun.

More later...>>

Havanese Available & Holiday Sounds

I’ve reached a point where I’ve learned that nothing is ever perfect, that all we can do is the best we can. Any of you that follows Darlah’s daily blog posts knows exactly what we do every day, and how much of ourselves we put into this. We love our dogs without limitation, period.

We shared coverage of Wasabi’s litter from the day they were born. She had 6 pups: Tux, Coach, Remy, Zack, Sebastian and the single female, Sassy,

Tux was to be the show dog of Wasabi’s first litter. Instead, a month after he went to his new home where he was loved to pieces, he caught a terrible virus and died. It was a tragedy that could have happened to any of us.

Sassy ended up in a wonderful home with her litter-mate Coach. They are inseparable and living a wonderful life. I think the only thing better than having one Havanese in your home is two!
Remy shares his life with three children who have done an excellent job with him, and with educating their parents. J He too has graduated Obedience class and I’m told he loves his walks. Who doesn’t.

Zack lives in a wonderful home with Fiona’s litter mate Coco. He’s graduated his first Obedience class and is being enrolled next month in the next level with Coco, something we highly recommend for anyone. He loves having Coco to play with all day.

A few days ago we got a phone call asking if we’d take back Sebastian. Of course we agreed. In fact we’d made it clear all along to anyone with one of our pups that we will always take back our dogs. We are in this for the long haul. We brought them into this world and we do feel responsible throughout their lives.

This is Sebastian with longer hair. So you can see what his hair will grow out to be midstream.

So now we have an 8 month old puppy looking for a new forever home. He is fully trained and a sweetheart. He took Obedience Classes with Abigail, and Sebastian was the best. He heels perfectly. He sits, downs, stays, fetches faster than Shoshi which is saying something, barks at strange dogs but stops immediately when corrected, loves people, loves playing, loves life. He’s in a puppy cut (not the greatest but the hair does grow) and he has been neutered. If you are interested in discussing Sebastian with me, please send an email to me in private at nathan@potechin.com
Thank you.
Nathan
http://www.talemakerhavanese.com/

On another note: Holiday sounds can be scary. Do not take your little ones to fireworks. Watch them from afar and use a keyword always to allow them to understand when things are really in your control and they need not worry. We use 'silly boy (girl) a couple of times and they do 'get' it after consistency on any reaction to uncertainty. Watch their faces - their body language and use it. It does help!

Enjoy the holidays and the thunderstorms this summer. They can all be wonderful if you approach them right with your canine crew.

Havanese Visitors

We had Linda and John over and her crew of dogs. Linda managed to swim a little and I was combing out Kat from after his swim when they arrived.

It was a nice relaxing time.

Check out Risa who thinks she has the very best seat in the house - and she does. No one ever said she wasn't quick. She jumped in that chair faster than anyone can blink their eyes.

Risa is on a starvation and exercise diet - well not really - diet yes - exercise yes but not starving but in her mind - hehehe but she can still move FAST!

Her granddaughter, Fiona got the cheap seat in the house - or maybe not depending on how you look at it.

Fiona is cooling off or maybe warming up on the cement after getting wet herself. Gad does she need a brushing!

She's been an outright pistol these days.

What's that you called me mommy? Not I!

Sebastian is visiting and here you can see him in his haircut. The boy is gorgeous but the hairdo does him no justice but it will grow.

We have been taking him on walks encountering many people, dogs, noises etc. He barked when about 12 people came down the walkway at once all together but I said no bark - placed him in a sit and voila - he was soon meeting a greeting all the humans and their dogs. He is an amazingly well behaved submissive dog who has yet to figure out how to totally placate Kat but he will. He's also fully house trained.

He's been in our pool twice and not on purpose so we are training him to understand the pool and how to get out etc. Gad - he loves his walks. I do too when life allows me to.

Here's a couple of photos of Linda's dogs that came to visit. She even took them in for a swim and gave them some lessons about how to get out of a pool. Good one!

More later - visitors coming!

After Bath & Much More

The day started with a bang. They just was having a roaring grand time. I swear it is a bonus to have 2 Havanese together. Throw in our gang and doggie chaos with roaring laughter.

I have learned if I want to sleep in, one or many dawgs will give me that morning lick to say - okay - it's time. Then the play begins.

Sebastian's human mom is coming at 1pm and he had to have a bath. He was whispering to me that dawgs should always have fun and not worry about those things but something about snuggling up to a dirty dawg... he went on to say - well okay I guess I can handle that but I like smelly!

The human dad around here walked all the dawgs this morning and they had a blast. I am not sure he did walking 5 times and these aren't short walks but hey - good for that bod of his!

Here you can see them enthusiastically waiting for THEIR turn.

We are hoping Chico's staples can come out soon.

Crazy dawg week this one - Abigail's in a show, Fiona and Chico are in classes, Wasabi goes to the vet. Busy but event-filled week and Sebastian is going to handling class this week too. Me..I have to work on Fiona and Chico before their class - just the sit for Chico will help and the stay for spazz Fiona too - hahahaha.

More later...

Deep Conditioning Havanese Style

Well, I had this great idea I would put deep conditioning on Kat, let him sun it in like a heat conditioner but I tried it at first with a raincoat on so he wouldn't get dirty. He soon had that off and rolled and rolled in the dirt.

You can click on the photo to see a larger version.

What you can't see as my camera is too ^%$# slow was that was Sebastian running at him to pounce on him and he did. Then Chico with his cone still on did the same. It was a - lets get the dirty boy session.

I swear Kat was laughing his ahem off. He's finally relaxing with the boys and having a grand time.

Now, I didn't have a grand time getting him clean but...well boys will be boys...won't they. HA HA!

Junk Yard Havanese Style

These are our darling junk yard dawgs - well one is ours and one was from our Wasabi's litter and is visiting - Sebastian. It's rain - rain and more rain the next few days and little Fiona said - I don't do rain so she went running back in and started circling behind our table and I grabbed her, took her back out and she actually sighed as if to say - okay - I will take a shower and do my business - if I MUST!

Now the duo here - Miss Abs and Sebastian didn't have an issue in the least with the rain and neither did Katsuro. Our issue with them was getting them to come back in before this human was soaked to the skin. They don't get that I didn't enjoy having water drip off of me. ROFL.

Now that Fiona is getting conditioned to this rain, she's a wet rag and I am trying to get her in too. Can't have it both ways, I suppose!

Later today, Fiona's sister and family is coming to visit and Cocoa will be staying here for a few days till Yvonne comes to get her on Monday - me thinks. She may have to wrestle us for her but hey we are in for some fun this weekend - wet, dirty fun but that's what baths are for and warm fires in the fireplace etc.

Oh - and what is sleep? Sebastian and Abs has decided at every bedtime, it's time to start playing - ON THE BED and full steam, stumbling, tumbling all over me. I have to try Risa's way of dealing with it - a sharp grr and they move away ROFL but she has to keep doing it - kids...what can I say!

More later>>

Stoned Havanese Vegging With Fave Human

It's not a great photo as I was taking shots into the sun but dear Miss Abs came back from the vets after getting 2 of her canines pulled and she is stoned on morphine - chillin' out in the backyard on the deck with her fave human. That's okay as tomorrow she has to get show training busy. Today she has the day off. :-)

If you are getting your dog neutered or spayed, this is the time to deal with any teeth that just don't want to come out like Abs. Hers had roots that were larger than the actual tooth.

We have a great vet who let us bring in our crate so she can feel comfie.

Nathan also dropped over to Yvonnes to hang out and wait for the Abs with a few of the other dogs. He also managed to get a few photos.

Here you can see Rita's Minnie chasing Wasabi's Sebastian, Rita's Opal behind them and Downsey and Fiona behind Opal and good old Terra laying on the deck.

If I have any mistakes in this, forgive me. I will fix it tomorrow. I have a very conked out Abs laying in one arm while I try to type with the others. She never lays here for this amount of time as she is always too busy playing so I am treasuring the moment and dealing with the difficulty of typing.

Remember you can always click on the photos to see a larger version.

I asked Nathan to take photos so I could see Downsey's colour and to see if she is the same size. She looks like the same size but wow that colour. We are really getting excited to see what Cocoa looks like - their other sibling who comes on Friday. I will have to remember to charge the video camera.

Well more tomorrow. It's way too hard to snuggle and type.

Video: 2 of Wasabi Pups, Let's Go Crazy

My does time fly when you are having so much fun. Two of Wasabi's pups have been visiting our resident crew of 6 havanese and 2 retrievers. Check them out in action on this video and see how much they have grown.

They are now 6 months old. It's hard for even us to believe. Gad - we just adore the pups. We must have done something right to have them in our life! Take a look....

You should see how Wasabi lights up when they come. Hey - they all do!

Training: The Stubborn Havanese Stand

Well, lots of posts today so scroll on down.

Let's see how this human's life went today and I will be filling you in on the DAWGS!

First thing just before breakfast I clean their eyes. They all get a treat and all it takes is a squirt of cleaner on a face comb and comb the sleep goobers out and that's it and they get rewarded for allowing it. The first time you do it though, they think the comb is going to go into their eyes so they move in a strange fashion but they soon get that it's harmless and they get rewarded at the end. We also do this just before supper too. Yes - everyday!

We also had our brushing in but its wet out so it wasn't a line combing but just a quick brush.

As you will see below, we also played games today. I didn't take as many photos but hey - we were busy.

Then we did training. I took each dog into our kitchen and worked on heeling and standing. What - standing is so natural. Well it is but not after you learn to 'sit'. Sitting is simply more comfie. So, as you can see here, Miss Abs was standing but her tail was half down and everytime I used the clicker, she sat. So did Sebastian. So did Katsuro. argh. But we made progress with each and either I will be doing this daily or Nathan. They actually ADORE the training - seriously! Risa and Coach were so excited about it that it was almost difficult to get them to calm down.

With Coach, he has classes with Fiona on the 24th - we think. We just got our confirmation. He will be learning to 'sit' at first so that is what we worked on. He kept jumping on me. I kept moving back and each time he sat that clicker went off and I treated him. He LOVED the training.

By the way, no issue getting Sebastian's attention. He just didn't get that I only wanted him to stand and heel. Click - down - oh you don't want down - okay sit - what not that either?

You have to have a positive attitude and know that you are helping your dog, stimulating their minds and helping that dog be a dog that everyone adores.

We are going to bypass the 'sit' command with Fiona till after she is finished showing. To undo a 'sit' is time consuming and can be difficult but like I said, we are making progress. We will be doing all commands in stand position.

Tomorrow we will line comb all the dogs - start bathing if it is actually warm - a couple of dogs here and there but if I hear rain is coming, well - I will wait and just brush. It makes NO SENSE to wash to only have them a mess the day after.

Tomorrow I may play 'hide the treat'. We shall see how that goes. It depends on sleep tonight - mine of course. hahahaha dawgs recover faster than us humans and manage to get dog naps whenever they feel the need. We need to learn from that.

Read more of today below in the next 2 posts.

Home Week at Talemaker Havanese

It's been a fun day, today. Here's Abs, Fiona, Sassy and Coach hanging out at the pool waiting for Sebastian to show up.

Sassy is off to the vets tomorrow so she was hanging out, playing and having fun before she needs to rest for a few days. We also managed to give Coach and her a bath and wow do they look good.

We started the bath late but Sassy went out and headed for the mud so I got to do her under carriage, feet and neck again. Now we have them going out on leads to do their business so they don't get dirty just so they can look all so cute for their human packmates.

Check out the Sass after her bath - all spiffy for the vets tomorrow. I fed her treats, gave her kisses and made her feel great about the experience. That is what it is all about. If they relate the experience to a good one, then the next time it will get easier and easier.

Gad, she has such soft and white, white hair. I just adore putting my fingers through it and I hope her human packmates love it too.

The Coach got a bath next and he's a dog that looks great scruffy.

There are some dogs that do and this crew - Wasabi's pups - well that 'just let the hair fall where it goes' looks so great but groom them up and wow!

But Coach decided he was getting off the table. He kept shaking his head for the camera so what you see is what you get. Here he is looking at the camera as if he was saying - are you done YET?

I gave him hugs, kisses and much love but when it came to doing his stomach on his back - watch out but we managed to do it and he looks so boo-ti-full! Yes, I mean beautiful - handsome.

Still, well worth it and each time it gets easier when you groom them - wow, a handsome guy all brushed up but as you can tell, he is not smiling.

You take him off the table and the smile creeps in and he's ready for play.

It's as if he said, okay, I am done and ready to P-A-R-T-Y!

The crew loved the get together and so did Momma Wasabi. She gets right back into that mode of playing, protecting and teaching. She gets way excited to see them too.

As you can see, the crew was ready to go out in the back but Sassy and Coach had their bath so we had to put leads on them and lead them to the snow to do their business.

That worked great. You can tell that they are walked as they did really great on a lead.

Well, we are back again. Coach and Sassy was just picked up. I was in the middle of brushing Sebastian.

It's rather mucky out there so he was rolling around with the best of them but we hear there is rain for tomorrow so his bath will have to wait till sun and dryness arrives.

Sebastian is staying with us for a bit and he is mixing it up big-time with Fiona and Abigail. They are going to sleep tonight. He's so excited, it's as if someone put a battery in him and wound him up and the gals LOVE it!

Coach comes back for a couple of days starting tomorrow morning and Chico may be visiting on Saturday.

I will fill you in more on the antics of the crew but they are having such a roaring grand time that I want to watch so maybe tomorrow the video camera will have to come out. I am charging the camera.

Catch you all tomorrow!

The Havanese Day Begins

The trio is at it and the rest of the dawgs are sleeping in including Benny and his dawgie mom Risa, Benny took a real liking to our youngest son Jonathan. He's actually still sleeping in late with him as we so type. Something about Jon, he just wanted to be with. All the dawgies love Jonathan and Dennis.

Soon we will be waking the rest of the crew up, feeding them and going to the 'All About Pet Show' while Dennis watches them.

Louis goes home tonight or tomorrow, Benny is with us till the 25th - the day after the human female's b-day. Another day older...no smoke meat sandwiches from Center Street Deli, dear. ROFL

Will fill you in more as the day goes on and the camera clicks away. We even will post a photo of Sebastian stylin' where you can see his eyes. What eyes he has!

Last Class Results

Well, this was the last class of this round for Miss Abs and Sebastian.

The results are.... well click on the photo here to see a larger one and you will see 2 ribbons and his certificate for most improved. I have to say, Mr. Sebastian really brought it home. If Miss Abs had to lose out, well it couldn't have been to a better dawg.

We are so tickled to death when we see our dawgs go to homes that put their all into them and get them to be all they can be. Bravo - human and C-bass the dawg from the Talemaker crew.

We will fill you in on Miss Abs later. She did down and MOST things but heeling, running - :-) Miss Abs will be starting handling soon. We are thinking *I* may be the problem having mommy there.

We get to see Talemaker's Remy tomorrow on his last class. Can't wait.

More later and have you checked out the auction yet?

Havanese Let Down (Video is UPDATED)

Our wild and crazy day video is up now (updated - it was cut off at the end)

It's quiet today. Sure mommy and daddy hears the pitter patter of tiny feet running like the dickens but something about visitors that does our heart and bodies good. It's sort of like a holiday like those humans take - fun and then nice to get back to it and then we start dreaming of the next time.

Well, mommy has the video done of our fun event yesterday.

It's updated as the end was cut off with Sebastian and his human crew. We had so many moments that we had to cut so if Sebastian's mom wants an unedited version - my human mommy will burn it for class next week. It's over 15 minutes long and we had so many moments the camera wasn't out. It's always like that. The Chico video was unrecoverable and we are heartsick. That disk is in the trash now. Got to plan another sleepover. We miss the guy already.

We wonder how Remy's classes are going. We hope the Sassy and Coach and livin' it up and not driving their humans crazy. But hey - such is a dawgs life that fills you with tales you can talk about for years to come.

Here is what we said about the video in the description at YouTube.

Sebastian came to visit after class and found all the nooks and crannies we set up to make our house dawg friendly. Enjoy the antics of this crew and how even a well behaved trained dawg can give you paw vs. listening.

Class is Almost Done

Next week is the last class of fundamentals and this cutie, Sebastian is doing everything perfect. I believe he is going to get the certificate of most improved.

Miss Abs does everything perfect at home - except down - even with enthusiasm but I think she's going to win the prize of most stubborn in class and we haven't figured out why yet.

She's not spooked by the large dogs. She goes and meets and greets with tail wagging. I think daddy needs to stop feeding her at all that day till class. (hint)

Here you can see Sebastian doing down and Nathan decided that he would do stand seeing she is going to have to learn to stay standing. She did do that but as you noticed from her tail, the gal is not happy. She loves the class - and did great till last week and this.

The moral of this story is often people give up when hit with an obstacle but this is the time you should persist and plug on to get past this point and figure it all out. We have no doubt that she will get back to it and soon she will be joining handling classes and we will see how that goes.

Well, we have a video we need to edit and get up of Sebastian visiting us with his human mom and dad for lunch. We hope this one came out. We shall see.
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COMMENTS:
Mark and Maryanne said...
Am I biased or is Sebastian just gorgeous!!
March 1, 2008 5:06 PM
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Nathan & Darlah Potechin said...
Oh, he is a cutie. He's going to make all the gal dawgie's hearts melt.
March 1, 2008 6:32 PM

Havanese: Reading Dog Language

Sassy says - oh no - here that lady goes again talking about socialization and all I want to do is play, play, play. If you don't recognize me, I am Sassy Lassy - the one that can't seem to get enough of my siblings. This was a fave stance of Sassy Lassy when she was with all her littermates and it didn't matter which one it was or if it was all of them together, she always managed to find that fun play.

Sebastian seems to have this balance thing going on too with larger pups that is a 'good thing' and so does Sassy. The larger dogs don't seem to rile them up.

When we walked a visiting dog that was unsure of the lay of the land, I walked him with Rita's (Sonrisas) Opal and Opal is a bouncy gal without a care in the world. It didn't calm this particular dog down but then I walked him with Mojo who is also a Sonrisas dog and a very calm, assertive dog. This totally calmed this dog down. What does that tell you? Well, a dog that is unsure of himself and has not learned how to read other dogs well enough yet will feed off of another dog's emotion and take direction from the other. They also feed off yours as well. Surrounding them with grounded dogs really helps yours.

As you can see, Sebastian is engaging in a play bow, stance to get the classmate in play and Abigail, who was not sure what to think about the larger classmates now has her tail up, a confident stance and tried to play as well. Often, when you have another dog that was exposed to larger dogs already and therefore has learned to communicate, it helps others that haven't yet had the exposure to the strange larger ones. There is confidence in numbers but it also rubs off. Just be sure it's all positive.

Here you can see a proper 'meet and greet' by Sassy and the classmate. She's confident, tail up and not concerned in the least. That Sebastian is still full of play and bypassed that hello - let's just play - or is that - let's just rock and roll. That also tells the other dog the intent. Both work. Remember, Sebastian lives with two Labs and was raised with two Goldens. He's not at all concerned with larger dogs.

There are excellent books out that help us humans read dog language and if you read one (I have one any of my puppy owners can borrow) it will help you 'get' what other dogs are saying so you can appropriately handle all situations and therefore help your dog do the same. Let me know if you want to borrow it. It will tell you more than you thought you knew and you will be amazed when you also 'get' what other dogs are saying with their body language.

Well, we do not have class next week as it's the new Family Day holiday. So, we have 2 weeks to practice, stay, finish, come and heel. That doesn't mean we wait till a week from now but a little each day and we will all be stars.

Abigail and Fiona are starting to play. Fiona climbs couches and sleeps on the back of them. Such a 'ruff' life!

Hearing & New Adjustments

Miss Abs went for her hearing test today and was told that her hearing was exceptional. What does that mean - she can hear the guy down the street snore? Oh no!

Nathan and Yvonne got there very late as there was a huge snowstorm. I couldn't even bring the dawgs out till we had paths shovelled. They looked out the door and turned around as if to say - you want me to go out in THAT - it's over my head! So, paths they got - tons even the ones that give you tunnels under a garden bench, another under a picnic table etc. We have to make it interesting, you know. That's what it is all about.

Miss Fiona is here for the rest of her life and is making the adjustment. She's not sure what to think with all these changes but we will keep you aware. She's figuring out the lay of the land and investigating all over the place.

Yvonne had the puppies here - actually all the dawgs but we only took photos when the pups were here (see the slideshow below) and forgot about the camera when Yvonne came back. We had a roaring grand time visiting with them.

More later or tomorrow....got to feed the dogs and train the little ones - stay - and what is it you are doing better than us, Sebastian? Watch out - girls RULE!

Top Dawg C-Bass

C-Bass is practicing his show stance on top of WHERE? ROFL. Now relax - ohhhhm get rid of that arch (his mom just told me it's a tuft of hair - and looks like it now that I have my glasses on) and you will blow them all away. Mommy was checking what!!! - you say? Now I understand why the hair is sticking up but don't worry about it - you'll get used to it - you may even grow to like it.

You ask - what are they talking about? Well - use your imagination. A dawg never speaks of such things.

Are you practicing stay? If not, maybe the gals - if they get their act together will blow you away in class on Saturday. Can't have a guy dawg thinking he is king - now can we?

The Fiona comes tomorrow and baer tests are getting done. Reports later. Thnx for the photos of C-Bass - we just love them!
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Mark and Maryanne said...
It's a tuft of hair standing up, not an arched back! Honest!!!

The Big & Small: Eating Together

Sometimes things are better with friends - even eating.

We had a full day today. Beth Obrecht came to visit to see her Miss Abs and visit for a bit.

We also did training with pups. Oh all I can say is class will be interesting. We are getting there but C-Bass best be ready for the gals to rule! Heh

Mommy is heard screaming this primal scream that makes dawg barks seem like gentle raindrops as she keeps crashing. She's working on that dog show video and I gather its too large for YouTube. She'll keep trying.

We played a game of retrieve the toy and they all got into that. That human son of my parents - Joe - well he was hanging out here. He loves the dogs so.

Two more days till Miss Fiona gets here. Crazy dawg house at Talemakers - and we can't wait!

All you Wasabi pups - practice, practice, practice. Stardom can be yours - just get that stay down.