Next on the list of dog breeds the British Busybodies' Union want to render extinct is the Lhasa Apso. I happen to have known a Lhasa Apso family pretty well, sharing a flat with the woman who'd adopted two of the five puppies. They seemed, to me, a disappointing breed, compared with the hounds or collies or setters or retrievers or poodles or just-cute-little-mutts I'd known. Mops of worn-out-mop-color fur with a chronic dog odor about them. Then again, I was not the one who'd bonded with them; they were loyal little things, polite to other people but leaving no room for doubt who their human was. Many people like that in a dog. The "Mopsos" did have to have their hair cut away from their eyes and their long messy-looking hair groomed, often, but they were tough, healthy, sturdy and stoical dogs.
This is Beans. See below.
The human who'd taken two of the litter was a mess, actually. One afternoon in March I was at home, typing industriously and enjoying the March Thaw weather, when she came in. "It's STUFFY in here! How can you stand it? Even if it didn't bother you you might have thought about me! Why didn't you open a window?!" She went into the bathroom to shower and change. I got up and opened a window for the sake of peace. The wind rushed in, blew papers off the desk. Within fifteen minutes Mona the Moaner (Mona was her actual name, or part of it) popped out of the bathroom in jeans and T-shirt. "It's FREEZING out here! How can you sit there and type in that WIND?! You never think about me! Why don't you close that window?!" I am not making this up. This was also the flatmate I had to sit up soothing after I was the one who'd been attacked, given a report to the police, and come in thinking that it was three or four hours past bedtime.
Well, the best thing to be said for the Lhasa Apsos was that they loved that wretched woman. Maybe they could tell that she had a chronic degenerative disease; people who'd known her for even a few years all said that she had once been fun to know. The Mopsos ran to sniff and lick and fawn on her every time she came in. They didn't want to be anywhere but across the foot of her bed at night. They absorbed all of her moods and just radiated doggy love back to her. Heroic, in a way.
I looked after them. This was Washington, this was the 1990s, we were Bright Young Things. Monthly road trips were obligatory. Sometimes I fed, walked, groomed, and administered eye drops to the Lhasa Apsos for two days a month, sometimes two weeks. There was really nothing to it. They were gentle and tolerant dogs. They'd walk as far as I wanted to walk, no complaints, although half a mile was really far enough for their short legs. Coon hounds or short-haired cats are lower-maintenance, but it was not as if the Lhasa Apsos were high-maintenance.
"You don't really love the dogs," Mona whined one day. "You take care of them but you don't really care about them. You don't talk to them. Do you?"
Well, they were her dogs. They ran to her the minute she came in. They ignored my coming and going unless I was holding a leash and saying "let's walk." I did not feel ego-bruised about this. "I say 'come and get it' and 'let's take a walk.' What else is there to say to dogs?"
"If you really loved them, you'd know!"
If I'd bonded with those dogs she would have whined about that, too. It is possible to whine because your dog prefers you to your flatmate, but probably only if you are a certified mess like Mona.
If you can stand to live with a dog who is quiet and loyal, fits into a small flat or onto half of the foot of a single bed, takes maybe a quarter-hour to a half-hour of maintenance morning and night, and will wait patiently while you're at work all day and let everyone know that your coming in from work is the best thing about its whole day, you might enjoy living with a Lhasa Apso. At least you'd enjoy living with one enough to rescue it from a shelter. You need the walks, and grooming time is bonding time anyway, and the look of that mop of dust-colored fur can grow on a person after a while...
Show-quality Lhasa Apsos stand about a foot high at the shoulder, weigh 12 to 18 pounds, and can live 12 to 18 years. (Well, usually even small dogs are "old" at 15 years, but sometimes they're still perking along at 20 years.)
A genetic tendency to kidney disease was identified in this breed but is being bred out. If long hair is allowed to grow all over their faces, it will inevitably irritate their eyes, because the hair tends to grow and blow toward the eyes; if the hair on their heads is kept short, the dogs are generally tough and healthy. (The rationale for letting the hair grow all the way down to the floor is that when the hair gets extremely long it weighs itself down and doesn't irritate the eyes as much as when it's first growing out.) With old age, eye, kidney, or joint trouble may appear. Lhasa Apsos are more likely to have trouble with their lower legs than with their hip joints if they develop joint problems with age. Er, um...pedigreed dogs are not the only lifeforms that tend to develop hip and knee problems in old age.
I can't say that the Lhasa Apsos I knew well showed more intelligence than just the emotional intelligence it took to cope with a very sick human's mood swings, but on average the breed are considered "smart." Some of them learn to herd, retrieve, play "dog athletic" games, or serve as visiting therapy dogs--quite a talent stack for a lap-size dog.
People who don't like this breed say they're stubborn. Here I stand to testify that this is true, but the ones I knew were stubborn in a good way, as in not being put off by mood swings. They were bred to serve as temple guard dogs; they're not afraid of much and have been known to attack intruders. They certainly can bark as well as big dogs do. The ones I knew well didn't bark much, but they could have raised the alarm if they'd needed to. They will teach people who get close to them how to handle them with respect. They're not the type of dogs who go for anyone's throat, but if you ignore that cute little small-dog growl, you can expect a set of cute little tooth marks on your arm. But they do know how to make a statement without drawing blood. Well, not much blood.
The American Kennel Club compares training Lhasa Apsos to teaching gifted children. I can see some points of similarity. Dogs aren't going to surprise you with "I already know that. I want a car book that actually tells me how to build a real car that we can drive on the road," but they do, like gifted children, look for a certain fundamental respect before they trust anything you say. I don't know whether anyone ever had to sell the Mopsos on the benefits of depositing bodywastes somewhere outside their living space or following a familiar human outdoors. By the time I met them, if I hadn't known how to call dogs to have leads put on and go out for a walk, they probably could have taught me. They were absolutely no trouble and never soiled the flat in any way, but I can imagine how, if a certain type of person had shouted "Heel! Stop! Turn!" at them every few yards, they might have started balking and sulking and even snarling. "Sez you! Bleep you think you are?"
Put it this way: Lhasa Apsos can live with incredibly neurotic, confusing, messed-up people and still be good-natured, calm, friendly, trusting, and loving dogs. The American Kennel Club says that behavior problems with this breed are usually associated with behavior problems in humans. Considering what the Mopsos put up with, the AKC is probably being very charitable. Like most dogs, as a breed Lhasa Apsos probably treat humans better than the humans they know treat them.
I'm not, of course, saying that if you visit a shelter with lots of adoptable dogs Lhasa Apsos are going to be the breed that immediately catch your eye. For me they're not. They just aren't as attractive as Lassie or Peri or Rin-Tin-Tin. Nothing can be done about that, except to remember that looks aren't everything.
If you like to brush and comb, Lhasa Apsos should satisfy you, so on the cat side let's consider (once again) cats who also have more fur than they really need...Show-quality Lhasa Apsos are always being trotted out with hair hanging down to the ground in every direction. I don't see that as a livable situation. Around the heads and tails they need clipping--but they know they need clipping, and cooperate.
Zipcode 10101: Potato from Puerto Rico by way of NYC
Despite his lopsided haircut Potato caught my eye as being the shelter-dog-with-Lhasa-Apso-traits who most reminded me of the Mopsos. He seems to be deaf but has learned to obey some hand signs.
Comandate from NYC
Did they mean Comandante? He's actually a small cat, anyway--only eight pounds under the extra fur--and he's not yet found a foster home, which means you have a chance to get to know him before you pay. They don't know much about him but they do think he's full-grown.
Zipcode 20202: Beans from Glenelg
This is the kind of thing...if you click on the link, you'll see another photo where the face is so covered in matted hair that he hardly seems to have eyes at all. That is the way this breed's hair grows and if humans don't do something about it, on a weekly basis, the dog really will lose the use of its eyes. It's not the dog's fault; it's not the breed's fault; it's the fault of a shabby human who deserves a good spanking. Beans was just abandoned. Nobody knows why, or by whom; what they know is that this little dog got into a neglected condition and has now become very clingy, likely to bark and fuss if he can't be near a human friend all the time. Lhasa Apsos are not the ideal first dogs for babies to get to know because they do nip if babies pull on their ears, tails, or hair. Beans might be good for a family with slightly older children where, if the adults work outside the home, they coordinate their schedule so that someone's always at home with the kids.
Molly from DC
She's been spoken for, but the adoption's not confirmed. This one hasn't been in a shelter long, nor will she be. About all they know about her is that she's a long-haired cat with classic Siamese coloring. So, should we have an Alternate Selection?
Fanny from DC
They can't upgrade her name to "Franny"? She's a large cat, even under the fur; weighs more than 12 pounds and doesn't look fat. She is said to behave well with other cats. The best thing about her is that she's not already found a foster home. You can be her foster human and confirm that you want to keep her before you have to pay. This deal won't last long, either.
Zipcode 30303: Pen 224 Caramel from Lawrenceville
Just get that little fellow out of the county shelter while he can still see out of that mess, right? Best case, the county shelter staff do know that his face needs trimming and just snapped the photo before they did that. It is not as if it took a long time to trim around a dog's eyes.
Aioli from Atlanta
This gorgeous Torbie, thought to be part Maine Coon, may be living with one of those epic misunderstandings. When mother cats push their kittens out into the world it often means they're going to have, or want to have, more kittens. Aioli's human rescuers chose to interpret her behavior as saying she never wanted any more kittens. Well, if she does she can adopt some. Cats do that. Aioli is a large cat who does not enjoy snuggling into small boxes, but not really gigantic. She is a pet and is said to be lovable.
