As always with grooming, start by getting your dog relaxed in the environment and around your grooming tools before beginning your grooming session!

Starting with the ears, flip the ear back and gently brush out any knots in the hairs inside the ears. Then, use scissors to carefully trim the hairs to a shorter length; just enough that they’re barely poking out of the ear! You can use your fingers to pull out any deeper hairs, then cut them with the scissors as well. Repeat process on other ear.

Next, get out your trimmers and a #7 blade. Stand your Havanese on its back legs and carefully trim the hair on the stomach and groin area and inner hindlegs. Set your Havanese back down onto all fours and begin brushing out the hair on their butt, using scissors to trim away excess length and knots. Then get back out your trimmers and go back over the area to get a clean, close cut. Use your brush to get out any loose hairs or straighten the hairs out intermittently while trimming!

Hold your Havanese by standing them on all fours, then putting your arm beneath their lower stomach area and holding them up so that their front legs are on the ground, but their hind legs are up in the air. Alternatively, hold one of their hindlegs in your hand, stretched out behind them so you can see the bottom of their paw. Brush out the hair on the hindlegs and paws while holding them in this position. Carefully, use your scissors to trim hairs between paw pads. Cut hairs around paws so that paws form a soft U shape, like a teddy bear’s feet! Use this time to cut away any knots or excessively long hairs and brush out the hair on the hindlegs.

Moving onto the front legs, repeat the process. Cut hairs between paw pads, being careful not to nick a paw pad. Brush and trim hairs on legs and paws.

Brush out the body using a slicker brush. If you come across any knots, then refer to our guide on How to Comb Through Knots!

Brush the hairs on the face and muzzle, and using scissors, carefully cut away any stained hairs under the eyes.

Relax your Havanese and then use nail clippers to trim just the tips off their nails, being mindful of the quick. Repeat this on all four paws. If your pup has dewclaws, then don’t forget to clip those, too!

Go back over their entire body with a slicker brush. This will get out any stray hairs you missed while trimming or clipping, further helping to prevent knots from developing! Then, you’re all done!