Havanese Did You Know?

• The Havanese is AKC’s 142nd breed.
• The Havanese is the National Dog of Cuba and the country’s only native breed (Havana = Havanese).
• Despite its being a new breed to the AKC, the Havanese is an old breed, descending from breeds brought over from Spain to Cuba.
• The Havanese was once called the Havana Silk Dog or the Spanish Silk Poodle.
• The coat of the Havanese is deceptively warm-looking; in reality, it is an insulation and barrier from the sun and overheating.
• The Havanese descends from the same ancestor as the entire Bichon family, the Tenerife.
• By the mid-eighteenth century, the Havanese was so popular that it was owned by such celebrities as Queen Victoria and Charles Dickens. It became known as the dog of the aristocratic class of sugar barons of Cuba.