A few words about Short-Haired Havanese…
There are several AKC recognized dog breeds with different coat varieties. For example: Smooth and Rough-Coat Collies; Wired, Smooth, and Long-Coat Dachshunds; Smooth and Wire-Haired Fox Terriers. They are judged to the same Breed Standard with the only exception being coat type. It may well be that someday, SH Havanese will be recognized as an acceptable variety, but for now, the AKC Havanese Breed Standard does not recognize anything other than the long-coat length. Therefore, no responsible breeders would ever attempt to breed to get short-haired Havanese on purpose.
Occasionally, a Havanese litter will contain puppies that look totally normal at birth, but by about 5 to 6 weeks, it is obvious to the breeder that they are not developing the same type of coat as the rest of the litter. These pups may be short-haired, or “smooth-coated.” It is believed that the gene for long coat length is dominant, so that a dog that is carrying only one copy of the recessive “short-hair” gene will have a long coat, and appear normal, but if bred to another dog carrying the “short-hair” gene, can produce short-coated Havanese. Currently, there is no genetic tests for Havanese to determine what type of coat any particular dog is carrying, and only with careful researching of pedigrees for both sire and dam, can a breeder have any idea that any dog COULD be carrying the gene for short hair. The short-hair recessive gene may not appear for many generations, and suddenly pop-up when least expected.
Often, it is only when a short-haired puppy appears in a litter of otherwise long-haired puppies that a breeder knows the mother and the father are both carriers of the short-hair gene. Obviously, when a puppy turns out to be a short-hair, that puppy should placed in a pet home, and never be bred.
5-week old Shorthaired puppies
While some do report that their short-haired puppies may shed a little bit more than the long haired Havanese, this does not seem to be a problem to most owners, and they actually prefer not having to deal with the care that is required of the full coat. Some, however, have reported that they may be more of a problem to allergy sufferers than the full-coated variety.
Also, some breeders feel that the short-haired Havanese may not be as susceptible to some of the genetic diseases that affect the Havanese breed as a whole, but this has not been researched with documented studies, and cannot be clinically substantiated.
Unfortunately, there are some uninformed people who feel that SH Havanese are a dreadful thing - something that would label a breeder as a "unethical or irresponsible." Some breeders will try to keep it a secret and hide any SH that they happen to produce, as if it is a failing on their part, instead of acknowledging them as the result of recessive genes, and celebrating the fact that a healthy, happy puppy can brighten someone's heart!
In “short”, the short-haired Havanese are neither “rare” nor “exotic”, but they are less common than their long coated siblings. They are normal in all other respects, and have the typical Havanese personality. While not looking exactly like their full-coated siblings, they usually have a “cute as a button” face, and the same endearing qualities of the Havanese breed that we all know and love.