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Have you ever met a disobedient, spoiled child? They might be the light of their parents’ eyes, but they are the terrors of the neighborhood. They are dangerous to themselves and others. It’s a shame that human parents aren’t expected to give their children basic obedience training. Your rambunctious and utterly adorable Havanese may seem entirely innocent to you, but still needs Havanese obedience training in order to not be classified as a spoiled brat.

It only takes a few minutes a day, every day - and a lot of patience - to train your Havanese. You can help your Havanese along by making sure your dog is well fed, gets regular exercise and doesn’t have any health problems that might interfere with training.

Reward your Havanese for looking at you. This gets your dog in the habit of looking at you to make sure he or she hasn’t missed any fun or any chances to get more treats. And you need to keep looking at your dog. Notice what really gets that silky tail wagging.

Never beat your Havanese for being “stupid” or “difficult.” This will lead to confusion on the part of the dog and inflicts unnecessary suffering. How would you like to be pounded if you couldn’t told to do something you couldn’t understand by someone who did not speak your language?

It’s a lot easier to get your Havanese obeying you if you make the dog WANT to obey you. Now that the dog is paying attention to you, make simple commands like sit with your voice and a hand gesture. Have everyone in your family use the same verbal commands and hand gestures to tell your dog to sit. If you raise the food bowl over the dog’s head, the dog usually sits. Praise, praise praise!

Keep your Havanese obedience training sessions short and often. Three five minute sessions per day will help your Havanese learn (and keep you from getting frustrated) is much better than one fifteen minute session. Keep the dog’s attention and try to be patient. Some people find that using a clicker to signal to the dog the moment the right behavior is shown works great. You have to immediately treat after the click in order for this training to work.

One of the best things you can do is buy a good dog training book. You can ask your dog trainer, dog owning friends, your puppy’s breeder or your vet for a good dog training book.

You can always go back to the book when you encounter a new question at all hours of the day and night - something you can’t do with a dog trainer. You will find that Havanese training will be rewarding not only for your Havanese, but for yourself as well.