Hi, just joined.....

[midnightvelvet]

Hi, I'm Suzanne and I own three Lhasa Apso's, one bitch and two dogs with another female joining us around September time. By nature Lhasa's are stubborn but I'm quite lucky in that my three aren't too bad. The older one, Chess, is a little stubborn on occasions, she is 17 months old.
The two boys are puppies yet at just 6 months old and are pretty good really, very eager to please.

I look forward to getting to know some of you and your dogs

[Stephanie]

Hi there Suzanne and welcome to the forum. I would love to see some pics of your dogs and I look forward to reading some more about them. Lhasa's are a breed that I know very little about and very rarely see round my way.

[midnightvelvet]

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Hi, These are my babies...Chess is the older one, now 17months, and the two boys are Thomas, the light coloured one and Darcy is the black one.

Enjoy xx

[Stephanie]

Oh my, look at them, sooooo cute. Do you do all the grooming yourself? Is it Chess in the last picture - wow, how beautiful does she look. Will Darcey and Thomas have hair as long as Chess when they get older? or are there long and short haired versions of Lhasas - sorry if silly question, but I know pretty much nothing about the breed but I am always interested to learn.

[midnightvelvet]

Oh my, look at them, sooooo cute. Do you do all the grooming yourself? Is it Chess in the last picture - wow, how beautiful does she look. Will Darcey and Thomas have hair as long as Chess when they get older? or are there long and short haired versions of Lhasas - sorry if silly question, but I know pretty much nothing about the breed but I am always interested to learn.

Hi again! Lhasa Apso are a medium sized dog and if you go by the breed standard they are approx 10" high at the withers and slightly longer in length. Their origins are in Tibet in the monasteries.
I'll try and answer everyone's questions in this post if that's OK? Yes, Chess is the gorgeous girl in the last picture. She is 18 months old now. Chess is short for Francesca but I call her Chess, Cheska and my older daughter calls her Fresca!! Yes I do all the grooming myself, it takes approximately 30 - 40 minutes daily but a lot longer if bathing them. Thomas and Darcy are both 6 months old and they will have long hair eventually like Chess. Many people who keep them as pets have them clipped in a puppy cut but that entails an expensive trip to the groomer unless you learn to do it yourself.

My plan is to show them if they are good examples of the breed but both Thomas and Chess are slightly too big. Having said that, I have been told by a judge that not many Lhasa's are the right size for the breed standard and if they were, they would look out of place in the ring! I guess the breed standard will eventually have to change to accomodate that. Darcy is very dainty yet is only a week younger than Thomas.

I haven't shown yet but go to ring craft classes and I hope to show all three at the LKA in December. I don't expect to get placed but I want to show more as a hobby than anything else. If they get placed so much the better but it's not an issue for me.

I hope that helps but I am happy to answer any questions xx

[phoenyxstarr]

Welcome to the forum Suzanne! I don't know much about Lhasa Apso's either. Your pics make them look like medium to large size dogs, but I always thought Lhasas were a small breed? Am I wrong? The one on the end (I think you said it was Chess) looks almst like my aunt's old English Sheepdog with those long bangs. LOL

[shihtzumom]

Hi Suzanne and Welcome
very pretty dogs, do you show them or are you going to show?

[Stephanie]

That is so interesting, thank you so much for sharing this info. I would be very interested to read how you go with showing them, it's something I have never done, as I take on rescues and they never have any certification/registration papers. What do you do at ringcraft? I have been to Crufts a few times and watched the dogs showing in the ring, much is said of the stride of the dog and the movement. Seems quite complicated to me as the handler has to move at just the right speed to show the dog off best. I always find it amazing too that the dogs behave so well in the line ups.......

[midnightvelvet]

I'm quite a newbie myself as I haven't yet shown or even thought about it until recently. At ringcraft, we just put the dogs through their paces as though we were in the show ring. We put them on a small table and place them in position, often called 'stacked', then the person taking the class comes and looks at the dogs teeth and feels them all over to check muscle tone etc, feels the coat and generally checks the overall condition of the dog. Once that is done, we do a show walk which is generally in the shape of a triangle, at all times keeping the dog between the judge and the handler so that the gait and movement can me checked. We just do this continually, joining the back of the line after our turn. Any recommendations are given at each turn, such as walk faster, hold the show lead more taught, don't look down at the dog etc etc. It's a bit repetitive but gets you and the dog into the correct mode and position for showing.

[Stephanie]

Well, that is interesting, I had no idea that's what went on in ringcraft classes! Thanks for taking the time to explain, I am so looking forward to reading how you get on when you start showing your beautiful dogs!