The Lhasa Apso ( ) is a non-sporting

dog breed A dog breed is a particular strain of dog that was purposefully bred by humans to perform specific tasks, such as herding, hunting, and guarding. Dogs are the most variable mammal on Earth, with artificial selection producing around 450 globally ...

originating in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. It has traditionally been used as an interior sentinel.

Etymology

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

is the capital city of Tibet, and ''apso'' is a word from the

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

language. There is some debate over the exact origin of the name; some claim that the word "apso" is an anglicized form of the Tibetan word for goatee ("ag-tshom", ཨག་ཚོམ་) or perhaps "ra-pho" (ར་ཕོ་) meaning "billy goat". It may also be a compound noun meaning "bark-guard" (lit. "ap" ��པ to bark, and "so" ��ོ་ to guard).

History

The Lhasa Apso originated in

. In the early twentieth century some Tibetan dogs were brought to the United Kingdom by military men returning from the Indian subcontinent. These were of mixed types, similar either to what would become the Lhasa Apso or to what would become the

Tibetan Terrier The Tibetan Terrier is a medium-sized breed of dog that originated in Tibet.American Kennel Club (2013). '' Get to know the Tibetan Terrier.'' Retrieved from http://www.akc.org/breeds/tibetan_terrier/index.cfm Despite its name, it is not a membe ...

; they were collectively known as "Lhasa Terrier". The original American pair of Lhasas was a gift from Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama to C. Suydam Cutting, arriving in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1933. Mr. Cutting had traveled to Tibet and met the Dalai Lama. At the time, there was only one Lhasa Apso registered in England. The

American Kennel Club The American Kennel Club (AKC) is a registry of purebred dog pedigrees in the United States. In addition to maintaining its pedigree registry, this kennel club also promotes and sanctions events for purebred dogs, including the Westminster Kenn ...

officially accepted the breed in 1935 in the

Terrier Group Terrier (from Latin ''terra'', 'earth') is a type of dog originally bred to hunt vermin. A terrier is a dog of any one of many breeds or landraces of the terrier type, which are typically small, wiry, game, and fearless. Terrier breeds vary gr ...

, and in 1959 transferred the breed to the Non-Sporting Group. In the UK, they are placed in the

Utility Group The Kennel Club ("KC") is the official kennel club of the United Kingdom. It is the oldest recognised kennel club in the world. Its role is to oversee various canine activities including dog shows, dog agility and working trials. It also opera ...

. The breed was definitively accepted by the

Fédération Cynologique Internationale The Fédération cynologique internationale (FCI) (English: International Canine Federation) is the largest international federation of national kennel clubs. It is based in Thuin, Belgium. History The FCI was founded in 1911 under the auspices ...

in 1960.

Characteristics

Dogs stand about at the

withers The withers is the ridge between the shoulder blades of an animal, typically a quadruped. In many species, it is the tallest point of the body. In horses and dogs, it is the standard place to measure the animal's height. In contrast, cattle ar ...

, bitches slightly less. The coat may be black, brownish, dark grizzle, golden, honey, parti-colour, sandy, slate-coloured, smoke-coloured or white. It is thick and heavy, with a hard straight outer coat and a medium under-coat. The eyes are dark and the nose is black, and the ears are pendant. The tail is curved, sometimes with a kink at the tip, and should be carried over the back. It ranks 68th (out of 138) in

Stanley Coren Stanley Coren (born 1942) is a psychology professor, neuropsychological researcher and writer on the intelligence, mental abilities and history of dogs. He works in research and instructs in psychology at the University of British Columbia in Va ...

's ''

The Intelligence of Dogs ''The Intelligence of Dogs'' is a 1994 book on dog intelligence by Stanley Coren, a professor of canine psychology at the University of British Columbia. The book explains Coren's theories about the differences in intelligence between various b ...

'', having fair working-obedience intelligence. The Lhasa Apso is a long-lived breed, with many living in good health into their early 20s. Trinity de koempfer

A 2004 Kennel Club survey puts the median lifespan of the breed at 14 years 4 months. UK vet clinic data puts the median at 13.0 years.

References

{{Chinese dogs Companion dogs Dog breeds originating in Tibet FCI breeds