Getting a Havanese

*cricket silence*

Hello! Yes, I know I've dropped the ball yet again. Button is now a good 8 months old, and I haven't made any posts between flying off to New Zealand and bringing him back. I guess life gets in the way sometimes, but better late than never, no? Lets get right into it then...

A good place to start off as any would be why I decided to get a Havanese. I always knew I wanted a small to medium non-shedding dog- I didn't want something too small and fragile like a toy poodle, neither did I want something in the range of a Lagotto. In Singapore, toy poodles, poodle crosses, maltese, pomeranians and miniature schnauzers are popular. Most, if not all dogs are sold in pet shops and bred by puppy mills. Unfortunately we don't have ethical breeders here who health test, socialise and show their puppies. There is a Kennel Club here, but the showing community is small and show breeders a rarity. 

Many years back, before I had my first dog Ruffles I heard of the Havanese. A friend of a friend imported two from Australia, and they were apparently cute little clowns who didn't shed. Perfect. Although I ended up getting Ruffles, who is a poodle cross, as my first dog, I learnt several things since then which turned me towards other breeds, pure breeds to be specific, for my second. 

First off, when I got Ruffles I was primarily concerned with not getting a dog from a puppy mill. I was a complete dog novice then, so all my information about purchasing and owning a dog came from the internet. I was horrified by stories and photos of dogs coming from puppy mills and bred in terrible conditions, so I resolved to find a breeder that treated his/her dogs well. Eventually I found a place that had one male toy poodle and five female cavaliers. The owner was a lovely lady and I ended up getting Ruffles from her. In many ways, I count myself lucky. Ruffles has the most lovely temperament out of all the dogs I've known, and save for his allergies he is in good health. What more could you ask for, right? 

I've since discovered that many "designer" dogs (popular crossbreeds like the cavoodle, labradoodle, basically "Oodles") have health issues ranging from allergies to luxating patellas, hip dysplasia, underbites etc. And many of these issues would be preventable if breeders health tested the parents. I don't mean a simple "vet check" of the puppy before it goes home, but specialized testing for sound bone structure, eyes, heart and so on. Designer dog breeders do not test for these things. Yes, you can get a breeder who does not cage his/her dogs and makes efforts to socialize the puppies before 13 weeks, but look around and you will not find one who health tests both the mother and father for common hereditary diseases unique to their breed(s). 

That's not to say that all breeders of pure bred dogs do these things. But ethical breeders are certainly out there, you just have to do a lot of research to find them. These breeders will be motivated by breeding puppies that are the best possible specimen of the breed, which is why they enter their dogs in conformation shows. This also means that when puppies are on the floor, first priority goes to the breeder for his/her show pick, to show homes, and then to pet homes. (NB: This is why ethical breeders are not as accessible in my opinion, but I digress). 

So anyway, when I was planning for my second dog the Havanese popped back into mind. I knew I wanted to import, preferably from Australia or New Zealand because dogs coming into Singapore from those countries did not need to be quarantined. Eventually I found and befriended Button's breeder on social media, and this was way before I planned on actually getting my second dog. I did this deliberately so that I could have a bit of time to get to know the breeder, and likewise the breeder could get to know me. It would be a few years later that I would actually book a plane ticket to fly to New Zealand to get Button. 

More on that in the next post!

N

Update

Three weeks in to the Button's arrival, and here are where things stand:

- Ruffles has adapted well to Button being a part of the family (thank goodness). My helper thinks Ruffles has become more mature. I guess thats to be expected when you have a four month old puppy pestering you all the time :p. 

- On potty-ing: Button is pretty reliable on the indoor toilet (an artificial grass mat with newspaper underneath). He does not like to poo where he pees so we have to be pretty on the ball to when he needs to do a number 1.

- On socialization with other dogs: We are lucky to have 2 other puppies in the apartment building. They are both pretty boisterous and can be over the top at times. Button does not like that and will tell them off when they get a bit much.

- On socialization with other people: Button has gotten used to my brother and my helper. He still barks when my parents enter the room. Outside of the home, I have to encourage him to interact with strangers. He takes a while to warm up to people.

- On Button's personality (read last post): he is no pushover. He barks when he wants something, and can definitely hold his own. He loves to be close to me and Ruffles, and sasses us whenever he gets the chance. Definitely a strong character. 

- On growth: Button has developed some tear staining around his eyes. Hopefully it is temporary and daily cleaning with a washcloth will help control it. Button requires daily grooming to prevent mats. He's pretty wriggly throughout, but tolerates most of the process. I am bathing him around once in every 2 weeks. He is 3.5kgs at 4 months and is eating a mix of K9 natural (chicken/beef/lamb) and frozen meats I brought back from New Zealand. 

- On names: I'm still undecided. The name "Button" is still the most familiar to me, so I will continue to refer to him that way for now. 

Cheers,

N

Button Or Leo?

What's in a name? We called him 'Button' before we met him, but it's becoming apparent that his personality deserves another name. Button is cute, but it doesn't capture how cheeky, easily scared yet spunky he is. He can't stop bothering Ruffles, but he's also quick to scold other puppies when they bother him 😂. So we are thinking of renaming him "Leo", short for "Leonidas" or "Lion". What do people think? Any other name suggestions? Edited to add: Button is now Leo! #havanese #havanesepuppy #puppy #dogsofinsta #dogsofig #sgdogs #dogsofinstagram #dogsofinstagramsg

A post shared by rufflesandleo (@rufflesandleo) on Feb 22, 2017 at 1:16am PST

We're back!

Hi! *waves hands sheepishly*

So in the span of month I have been to New Zealand and back, carting back our new family addition in tow. Between taking care of the new puppy, setting down temporary roots in Auckland and going on two road trips there with my cousin, I simply hadn't the time to blog. Button and I returned to Singapore three days ago just in time for Valentine's day, and though I am coming down with a cold and recovering from back-to-back days of migraine, I do feel well enough to blog again. 

The process in bringing back Button was tedious, to say the least. Although I also had to bring Ruffles back from Australia, the added pressure of being on the same flight as Button, family being overseas and having a resident dog made this round much more difficult. I'm too tired to go over the details so I might elaborate in a future post. Anyhow we introduced Ruffles to Button the night I arrived in the garden of our apartment. He took to Button really well the first two days; I've got some videos I can post here if I can figure out how.

Valentine's Day, 2017

Sadly in the past few days things have changed. Ruffles has taken to completely ignoring Button and actually seems depressed, if I'm reading him right. It's as if he realized "oh no, this puppy is actually here to stay, and share all my toys, people and food". Button on the other hand can't get enough of Ruffles, and is constantly asking him to play. I feel so bad- for Ruffles to now have to "share" his family and for Button who keeps getting rejected. The sensible part of me knows that its only been four days, and a bit of googling says that Ruffles should take at least a week, if not a month, to get used to Button. So I'm doing what I can- making sure I have one-on-one time with Ruffles, letting him tell Button off when he gets too irritating and intervening when necessary. It isn't as easy as I thought it would be- given Ruffles' friendly temperament I thought I could just throw Button into the mix and he'd be happy as a lark. But this is what we have and I'm (we're) just going to have to work with it.

N

P.S. I'll be doing retrospective posts on what it was like to get Button from his breeder, my time in Auckland and experience bringing Button on road trips. Sooner, than later, I hope!