Lhasa Apso

The Lhasa Apso is a small, heavily coated dog from Tibet, traditionally kept as a watchdog inside the home. Lhasa is the Tibetan capital. The meaning of “apso” is debated: it may come from Tibetan words for a goatee or a billy goat, or it may be a compound meaning “bark-guard”.

History

The breed is about a thousand years old and served as a sentinel in palaces and monasteries isolated in the Himalayas. In the early twentieth century, military men returning from the Indian subcontinent brought Tibetan dogs to the United Kingdom. These were of mixed types, some like today’s Lhasa Apso and some like the Tibetan Terrier, and all were then called “Lhasa Terriers”.

The first pair in the United States arrived in 1933 as a gift from Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, to C. Suydam Cutting, who had met him on a journey to Tibet. The American Kennel Club accepted the breed in 1935, placing it in the Terrier Group and moving it to the Non-Sporting Group in 1959. In the United Kingdom it is in the Utility Group. The FCI gave it definitive acceptance in 1960.

Appearance

Dogs stand about 25 cm (9.8 in) at the withers, and bitches a little less. The coat is thick and heavy, with a hard, straight outer coat over a medium undercoat. It may be black, red, dark grizzle, golden, honey, parti-color, sandy, slate, smoke or white. The eyes are dark, the nose black and the ears hanging. The tail curves over the back and sometimes has a kink at the tip.

Temperament

Stanley Coren’s The Intelligence of Dogs places the Lhasa Apso in the 68th group out of 79, with fair working and obedience intelligence.

Care and health

This is a long-lived breed. A 2024 UK study found a life expectancy of 14 years, and many dogs are said to stay healthy into their early twenties. The breed is predisposed to atopic dermatitis.

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