GENERAL APPEARANCE
Shoulder height: 25.4cm (l0”) for dogs - bitches smaller.
Colour: Golden, sandy, honey, dark grizzle, slate, smoke, particolour black, brown or white.
Coat: Straight hard outercoat - dense undercoat.
Gait: Jaunty and free. These sturdily built little dogs are well coated, with a good fall of hair from their skull, good whiskers and beard. The skull is moderately narrow and two thirds longer and than the 3.8cm (1‘½”) muzzle. The medium sized eyes
are frontally placed and the pendant ears are heavily feathered. A well arched neck runs into a compact body that is longer than the shoulder height. The high set tail is well feathered and carried over the back. The well angulated fore and hind quarters end with round, feathered feet.
CHARACTERISTICS AND CARE
Lhasa Apsos are a happy but assertive breed, and like many of their Eastern counterparts, are aloof with strangers. They make excellent members of a family household but do not always tolerate rough young children. Training should be done with a firm but kind hand. Regular grooming is required with a brush that reaches right through the coat to avoid knots and tangles.
HISTORY
Also known as the Tibetan Temple Dog, this breed takes its name from the capital Lhasa, while the word ‘apso’ is a derivation of ‘rapso’ meaning goat-like in Tibetan. They are acutely sensitive to sound and coupled with a characteristic piercing bark has earned this breed the Tibetan name of ‘Apso seng kye’ which means ‘the sentry dog with a bark like a lion’. It was the practice in Tibet, for the Tibetan Mastiff to be chained outside the building to act as a guard dog; while high on the walls, the duty of the Lhasa Apso was to sound the alarm when intruders approached. These little dogs incorporated crosses from the two other Tibetan breeds, the Tibetan Spaniel and the Tibetan Terrier. Favourites of both monks and nobility it was difficult to purchase them and due to the remoteness of Tibet, the breed was not ‘discovered’ by Westerners until the 20th century.