Two small dogs from opposite worlds
A Havashire is a Havanese crossed with a Yorkshire Terrier. Both parents are toy-sized and both have silky coats, and there the similarity ends — the two breeds arrived at that shape from completely different directions, and the contrast is what makes the cross worth knowing about.
The Havanese is the national dog of Cuba and the only breed the island produced. Its ancestors were bichon-type dogs carried over by Spanish settlers, and once they were there they were bred for one purpose: to live in a household and be good company in it. Nothing in the Havanese background involves a job. It has a springy, bouncing gait that is distinctive enough to be written into the standard, a long silky coat, and a habit of attaching itself to whoever is in the room.
The Yorkshire Terrier came out of the mills and mines of northern England in the nineteenth century. Weavers moving down from Scotland brought their small terriers with them, and those dogs were put to work on rats in the mill buildings. The breed was refined into the small, long-coated dog we recognize within a couple of generations, and by the end of the Victorian period it had moved out of the mills and into the drawing rooms. The terrier is still in there under the silk.
Put the two together and you generally get a small, silky, sociable dog with a spark in it — the Havanese warmth with a little more opinion attached.
What a cross actually gives you
The Havashire has no breed standard and no registry writing down what it should look like. That is a plain fact about crosses rather than a complaint about them. A purebred is described by a written blueprint; a Havashire is described by its two parents, and every litter is its own answer to the question.
So littermates vary, and they vary in the ways you would expect. One puppy takes more coat texture from the Havanese side and comes out soft and wavy; the next takes the Yorkshire side and comes out finer and straighter. Ears can be dropped, folded or carried semi-erect. Colour ranges widely, because the Havanese contributes an unusually broad palette and the Yorkshire contributes steel blue and tan. Manner varies too — some are pure lap dog, some patrol the house.
That variation is the normal condition of a cross, and it is the reason to choose one in person rather than from a listing. What stays constant across all of them is the size and the confidence.
Small in every direction
Both parents sit at the small end of the Toy group, so there is no version of this cross that grows large. Most adults land somewhere between about seven and fifteen pounds and stand around eight to eleven inches at the shoulder — small enough to pick up in one arm, sturdy enough to walk a couple of miles and want more.
The build is compact rather than delicate. Under the coat there is a straight back, a reasonable amount of bone for the size, and legs that move with more drive than a dog this size has any right to. The tail is usually carried up and over. The eyes are dark, round and large in the face, and the whole expression is alert in a way that suggests the dog got to a conclusion about you before you sat down.
Puppies go through a stretch where the coat looks slightly fluffy before the adult texture comes in, and colour often shifts as they mature. The puppy you meet at eight weeks is frequently a shade or two different by its first birthday.
Sociable, alert, entirely sure of itself
Havashires are people dogs. They want to be in the room, on the sofa, on the desk, in the bag, on the lap — wherever the household is, that is where the dog will be, and they are cheerful about following you between rooms all day.
The terrier side shows up as confidence rather than noise. This is not a timid cross. A Havashire walks into a new place like it holds the lease, investigates everything at ankle height, and forms opinions quickly. They will let you know when somebody is at the door, and a word from you settles them again.
With visitors they are generally sociable and quick to make friends, and most of them get along easily with other dogs and with cats they have grown up alongside. In a busy household they slot in well, because being included is the whole point as far as they are concerned. Give one a bed of its own somewhere central and it will use it, and then it will move onto the sofa the moment the sofa is free.
The coat and the weekly routine
The coat is the part of Havashire ownership that has a schedule attached, and it is a pleasant schedule once it is a habit. Yorkshire coat grows continuously and has a texture closer to human hair than to typical dog fur, and the Havanese coat is softer and often wavy. Either way it is a long-growing silky coat that stays in the brush rather than on the sofa.
Work through it with a pin brush and follow with a metal comb, in sections, right down to the skin. Ten minutes most days is the whole job, and most Havashires settle into it and doze. A groomer every six to eight weeks keeps the length where you want it and tidies the feet, the rear and the hair around the eyes. Plenty of owners keep this cross in a shorter clip, which is quick to maintain and pleasantly cool in a Florida or Tennessee summer.
The rest of the list is short. Nails a little and often. Ears wiped while you are already brushing. Teeth are the habit worth starting in week one, because a toy-breed puppy that decides the toothbrush is a game at nine weeks is a dog whose teeth get brushed for the next fifteen years. Touch the muzzle, lift the lip, work up to a finger brush, then a soft toothbrush, and pay for every step.
Walks, games and the shape of a day
Exercise needs are light and easy to meet. A walk in the cool part of the day, a second shorter one in the evening, and a scattering of indoor games covers a Havashire completely. Both parent breeds are quick learners and both work enthusiastically for food, which makes training a conversation rather than a campaign.
Keep sessions to a few minutes and finish while the dog still wants another go. Tricks pay out especially well here — spin, paw, go-to-bed, and a recall rewarded every single time it happens. Because the terrier side finds lizards and squirrels genuinely interesting, most owners settle into a long line in open ground and a fenced yard at home, and let the dog investigate properly inside those.
House-training runs on a schedule rather than a signal: a crate, fixed times, and going outside with the puppy so the right thing gets rewarded in the right place. Socialization is the investment that pays back longest — new people, new floors, car rides, umbrellas, calm adult dogs. A well-socialized Havashire is welcome almost everywhere, and since this is a dog you can take almost anywhere, that groundwork earns its keep for years.
Coming to meet the Havashire puppies
Coat texture, colour and manner vary enough across a litter that this is a cross to choose with your hands rather than your screen. Sit on the floor and let them come to you — inside a minute you will know which one is the lap dog and which one is running the room.
Our Havashire puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can tell you what each puppy is like day to day. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to spend as long as you like with a puppy before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.