The La Tierra Havanese Story

Our introduction to Havanese was through meeting a Havanese puppy adopted by friends, and seeing two Havanese owned by Kimberly Gattey of Havtahava Havanese.  We met Kimberly and her dogs at the Golden Gate Kennel Club Show, which was then held annually at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  Although we didn't know it at the time, Kimberly would become a dear friend, and she has often helped us welcome puppies into the world. 

We determined to adopt a Havanese after one of our two cats died, leaving an elderly, formally feral cat as our sole pet.  Our rationale was that a Havanese would not harm our beloved cat.

Our vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the Spring of 2006 provided the time to pour through websites, learn bloodlines, and inquire about puppy availability.  Although we did not intend to adopt a show dog, my background in breeding horses piqued my interest in Havanese bloodlines.  From photos on websites, I determined that I liked Los Perritos-bred Havanese. Thus it was with some joy that I found Triple H Havanese, owned by Ann Hilemn, a Havanese breeder in Tucson, Arizona.  Ann had a litter sired by a Los Perritos male with a puppy in my desired color, black and tan.  Ann responded to my inquiry, saying that the puppy in which I was interested had already found his forever home, but she had a silver and white male from the same litter available.  She assured me that he was the pick of the litter, which proved to be true.  However, she would need to meet with us before she would agree that we could adopt this puppy.

We abandoned our vacation casita in Santa Fe and took a significant detour to Tucson to meet Ann and the puppy.  Our meeting with the puppy was as nonchalant as any life-changing event could be.  However, Ann seemed to see the future when we did not, surmising from my interest in bloodlines that we wanted a show and breeding puppy, when in fact our intention was only to adopt a companion Havanese.  Nonetheless, Ann took pains to inform us about dog shows and the politics of the Havanese Club of America.  Her comments about the latter proved to be prophetic given the changes the club would soon undergo.  We left Tucson with Angelito, who became the love of my life.  As soon as he was old enough, at Ann's request, we engaged a professional handler to show him.  He quickly become our first AKC champion, Ch. Triple-H Lightning Strikes.  This entry to the world of show dogs sparked our further interest in the sport.  (Scroll down.)