Havanese training · Houston
Havanese training in Houston: the friendly dog that still needs rules
Nobody calls us about a Havanese because it is difficult. They call because it is delightful and completely unmanaged: it greets guests with its paws, cries when the family leaves for dinner and has never been asked to hold a sit. This page explains why friendly is not the same as trained, and what the fix costs.
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 · by the Best Dog University Team
The breed
What a Havanese is like to train: sociable, quick and easy to spoil.
The Havanese was bred in Cuba as a companion for city families, a small dog with a silky, slightly wavy coat and an outgoing, clownish temperament. The AKC describes it as intelligent, funny and outgoing, which is accurate and also the trap. A dog that is this pleasant gets away with everything. It learns tricks in an afternoon, so families assume it is trained, when what it has learned is how to be charming enough that nobody insists on anything.
Between eight and eighteen months the charming puppy becomes a dog with habits. It jumps on everyone who comes through the door and is rewarded with laughter. It pulls toward every person on the sidewalk. House training is mostly done but not finished, with an accident whenever the routine slips. Left alone it barks, then cries, and a Havanese in a townhome shares that with the neighbors. It is not anxious so much as unpracticed at being by itself, and the difference decides the program.
- Cuba's companion breed: sociable, bright, easy to spoil
- Jumping on guests, rewarded by laughter
- House training mostly done, never finished
- Barking when left in a townhome or apartment
The stay
How a Havanese's stay works: the rules it never had, taught by people it wants to please.
A Havanese is easy to train and easy to under-train, so the stay in our Cypress home is about standards rather than difficulty. From the first afternoon the greeting rule is the same for every person who walks in: four feet on the floor or the person turns away. Meals are earned, doors are waited at, and the place bed gets real duration while people come and go. The dog figures out the rules quickly; the stay makes sure they hold with strangers, children and groceries.
Alone time is built in short, timed pieces on a crate the dog trusts, and the walk is taught as a structured heel with greetings on a release word rather than on the dog's terms. You follow it in the photo and video updates on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The go-home session puts the leash in your hand and the greeting rule in front of your family, because the Havanese will test whether the rules came home with it.
A greeting rule from day one: four feet on the floor or the person turns away.
Earned meals, door waits and a place bed held while people arrive and leave.
Crate calm and short absences that grow daily, so alone time is practiced rather than feared.
A structured heel on Cypress sidewalks, with greetings allowed only on a release word.
Field trips to the stores along 290 and Fry Road for calm around carts, kids and other dogs.
The go-home session, where every member of the family runs the greeting and the walk.
Houston
Houston specifics for a Havanese: a silky coat in the heat, HOAs, and a front door with traffic.
A Havanese's coat is silky rather than dense, so it handles heat a little better than a double-coated breed, but it is still a small dog on hot pavement. From May through September our outdoor sessions run at dawn and after sunset, the pavement is tested with the back of a hand and the coat is kept in a puppy cut. Mosquitoes and fire ants are year-round realities in a Houston yard, so yards are checked and feet are checked after wet grass. Midday belongs to the air-conditioned store aisles, which are also the best greeting practice there is.
Havanese are common in the master-planned suburbs, Bridgeland, Towne Lake, Cinco Ranch and Creekside Park, where the HOA has rules about leashes on the trails and the front door sees deliveries all day. They are just as common in Heights and Montrose townhomes, where the barking when left is what the neighbors hear. July 4 and New Year's Eve fireworks upset some Havanese, and hurricane season from June 1 to November 30 brings long indoor days, so the crate is built as a calm place before either arrives.
- Silky coat, puppy cut, dawn and dusk from May through September
- HOA trail rules and busy front doors in the master-planned suburbs
- Townhome barking that the neighbors hear
- A calm crate before fireworks and storm season
Program and price
Gold at $2,500 for the unmanaged Havanese, the bundle for the puppy, a $220 lesson for the potty.
The two-week Gold Board & Train is $2,500 and it is the program for almost every Havanese we meet: sit/stay, place/stay, loose leash walking, door boundaries, jumping, impulse control and calm alone time, with a go-home session, one more lesson and lifelong support. The three-week Platinum at $3,750 is only needed if the dog has real separation anxiety or has started snapping at children, because those need behavior modification and a slower plan.
The Puppy Development Bundle, four private sessions for $550 in Cypress or $750 in your home, is the best money a Havanese family can spend before four months, because the greeting rule and the potty routine are cheap to build and expensive to rebuild. In-home lessons at $220 handle house training on its own. Transport is $250 and includes the first lesson at your house.
| Program | Length | Price | The Havanese it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puppy Development Bundle | 4 sessions | $550 / $750 | Under four months: greeting, potty, crate, recall |
| Gold Board & Train | 2 weeks | $2,500 | Jumping, pulling, barking when left, no place |
| Platinum Board & Train | 3 weeks | $3,750 | Separation anxiety or snapping at children |
The programs
The programs a Havanese goes home from.
Gold for the unmanaged dog, the bundle for the puppy and a lesson for the potty, with Platinum held back for the rare hard case.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this.
How much does Havanese training cost in Houston?
At Best Dog University almost every Havanese takes the two-week Gold Board & Train at $2,500. The three-week Platinum at $3,750 is for separation anxiety or snapping. The Puppy Development Bundle for a puppy under four months is $550 in Cypress or $750 in-home, and an in-home lesson for house training is $220.
My Havanese is so friendly. Does it really need training?
Friendly is a temperament, not a skill. A dog that jumps on a toddler, drags you to every stranger and cries for two hours when you leave is friendly and untrained, and the second part is what a stay fixes. Havanese learn quickly, so the two weeks are mostly about making the rules hold with real people.
Will the stay make my Havanese less playful?
No. It will make the play happen on a release word instead of at every arrival, which is what makes the dog easy to live with. Havanese come home just as goofy and a lot easier to take places, and the go-home session shows your family how to keep both the manners and the fun.
Can a Havanese learn to be left alone in a townhome?
Yes. Most Havanese barking is a dog that has never practiced being alone, not true anxiety, and the stay builds absences in timed pieces on a crate the dog already trusts. A Havanese that panics, drools or destroys the door when left is a Platinum case; our team will ask what a camera shows on the free call.
Is the puppy bundle worth it for a Havanese?
For this breed, yes, more than for most. A Havanese puppy learns the greeting rule, the crate and the potty routine in a few sessions, and the family learns not to laugh at the jumping. The four sessions cost $550 in Cypress or $750 at your house and prevent the two-week stay a year later.
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