Are Havanese Dogs Good with Kids?

Are Havanese good with kids? To hear one popular parenting site tell it, Havanese dogs make the top 10 list of best family-friendly dogs – and for more good reasons than you might expect!

To understand why Havanese get along with kids, it helps to learn more about the history of the Havanese dog breed. In this article, meet the kid-friendly dog you will also fall in love with – the Havanese.

3 Key Reasons Why Havanese Are Good With Kids

The American Kennel Club (AKC) maintains an annual list of the most popular purebred dog breeds. Their list currently includes 193 purebred dog breeds.

Guess which breed is the 24th most popular purebred dog in the nation?

If you guessed “the Havanese dog,” you are correct!

Here are the three main reasons why the Havanese ranks so highly on the AKC popular pet list year after year. You will notice that all three reasons also make the Havanese a great pick for families with kids.

1. Havanese are small and social.

2. Havanese are fun-loving and trainable.

3. Havanese are non-shedding and allergy-friendly.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these three reasons now so you can learn more about this family-friendly dog breed.

Havanese Dogs Are Small and Social

As a parent, you know bringing a pet dog into your family can deliver all kinds of benefits to your kids.

For example, Working Mother specifically cites research about how dogs can help kids to develop new skills on every level – physically, emotionally, mentally and socially.

A Havanese will easily fit into your existing life…and space.

But you also are realistic enough to know most of the daily dog care responsibilities will likely fall to you, at least until your kids learn the ropes and can take over.

Here, the last thing you need is an enormous new shedding, smelly family member who needs just as much bathing, brushing, and cleanup as your kids do! As well, the bigger the dog, the bigger the bed, crate, toys, treats, and dog food bags, making short work of any extra space you still have.

So here is a fun fact to make you smile: a fully-grown adult Havanese dog typically weighs between 7 and 13 pounds.

The Havanese is a toy breed that is truly kid-friendly.

Of course, if you’ve been researching dog breeds already, you’ve probably read how toy dog breeds typically don’t mix well with kids.

The Havanese dog is a rare exception.

Unlike most toy breeds, which can be notoriously fragile and injury-prone, Havanese dogs are super-sturdy, athletic, adaptable and perfectly capable of keeping out of harm’s way around babies, young children, tweens and teens (and even adults, as the case may arise).

Overall, Havanese dogs may be small in size, but they are quite strong and confident in spirit and make great pets for kids.

Havanese Dogs Are Fun-Loving and Trainable

Unlike with some dog breeds that tend to bond more strongly with just one family member, Havanese get along with kids, adults, seniors and even other family pets!

You can feel sure you won’t find your Havanese dog playing any favorites among your kids.

The Havanese is a natural social coordinator.

Equally important for busy and active families who are constantly welcoming visitors of all ages, you will soon discover the Havanese has social skills to spare.

So don’t be surprised if you wake one day to discover your family’s new social coordinator has fur.

Havanese dogs can learn to do tricks!

Because the Havanese is a toy-sized dog, they don’t need lots of space to run or roam and are great family dogs for city life.

But they do need and crave activity, playtime, and exercise just like any dog does. Happily, they can get all the activity they need just by playing with your kids indoors, especially by learning and mastering new tricks.

The Havanese dog is a breed that loves to learn and perform. This dog breed is very intelligent, picks up new commands and tricks quickly and may even invent some new tricks of their own.

Your kids get the fun and enrichment of training a dog to do tricks and perform on cue. At the same time, your new dog gets the fun and enrichment of being trained, loved, adored and applauded – a true win-win.

Havanese Dogs Are Non-Shedding and Allergy-Friendly

You may initially look at the Havanese as a dog breed, see all that long, silky hair, and think to yourself, “No way – that dog will need far too much brushing and grooming and will shed constantly!”

But the truth is that the Havanese dog really doesn’t shed! In fact, you won’t find a dog breed that gets much closer to a truly “non-shedding” dog than the Havanese.

Havanese dogs can be low-maintenance dogs.

Now, if you choose to keep your Havanese in a true long show coat, you will need to make time every single day to brush your dog and work out any tangles and mats. But if you don’t have time or inclination and you don’t want to show your dog, you can opt for a short clip instead.

A short clip is really cute (many groomers call this the “puppy clip”) and very kid-friendly and low-maintenance. In a puppy clip, your Havanese will look exactly like a large cuddly teddy bear and act like one too. It doesn’t get much more kid-friendly than that

You will still need to give your pup a quick brush every day or so and do other basic grooming tasks any pet dog needs help with – ear and teeth cleanings, paw checks, et al. But with a puppy clip, your maintenance time is overall minimal.

Havanese dogs are allergy-friendly pups.

If you have been reading about so-called “hypoallergenic” dog breeds, it is important to know up front that no dog breed is truly hypo-allergenic.

However, as the respected Mayo Clinic points out, certain dog breeds are less likely to trigger pet allergies.

All dogs produce certain proteins in their saliva, urine, and skin. Shedding dogs shed out the proteins with their hair. Then someone with pet allergies comes along to sweep up the hair and starts to sneeze.

With a non-shedding dog breed like the Havanese, the shed hair gets trapped in the surrounding coat and does not fall out. This means anyone in your family who has a pet allergy is less likely to encounter more of the aggravating danders and less likely to have an allergic reaction.

While some studies link exposure to pet animals (and especially dogs) early in life to reduced incidence of allergies later in life, there is no reason to invite allergies into your family life either.

Are Havanese Good With Kids?

We now know that the Havanese dog breed is small, sociable, friendly, fun-loving, playful, smart, trainable, maintenance-friendly and non-shedding.

If you are like most parents, these are the very traits you are most hoping to find in your family’s new pet pup!

Best of all, of all the purebred dog breeds in the AKC registry, the Havanese is one of the longest-lived, with an average life expectancy of 14 to 16 years.

In choosing a Havanese, you will be adding a wonderful pet dog to your family who will be with you for many fun and love-filled years to come!