Sometimes more accurately called the Tibetan Apso, this breed is known formally in its homeland as the Apso Seng Kye (which translates literally as ‘Hairy Lion Dog’ and not as ‘Bark Sentinel Lion Dog’ as so many authors insist). Conversationally, the Tibetans refer to this dog simply as the Apso, pronounced Apsok’. Earlier names included the Talisman Dog, the Shantung Terrier and the Sheng Trou. Prior to the 1930s, before a formal distinction was made between the larger Tibetan Terrier (a working sheepdog) and the smaller Lhasa Apso (a monastery dog), they were both frequently called Tibetan Terriers, which causes confusion when consulting early writings. Although its primary role was that of a companion dog, it also acted as a watchdog.
This is one of the most ancient of companion breeds, having been kept by Tibetan monks for many centuries in the isolation of their great monasteries. These dogs were pure-bred and jealously guarded from outside influences. It was believed that when monks died they might be reincarnated as one of the monastery dogs. When one of the Apsos died, a small child was sometimes identified as ham. g become its human reincarnation.
It was impossible for foreigners to buy these sacred Apsos, and they were only rarely made available to the outside world as special, diplomatic gifts. From time to time, between the 16th and 20th centuries, the Dalai Lama sent a pair as a presentation to the Imperial families of China. The last two were sent in 1908. The dogs were believed to have talismanic powers and to bring good luck and prosperity to their owners. (In earlier works, it is stated that Tibetan Terriers were presented as talismans, but the dogs involved were the smaller Apsos and not the larger sheepdogs that we today call by the name of Tibetan Terrier.)
There is a special mythology attached to this breed. It is believed that there was once a flying, gliding, white-headed, bone-eating animal goddess called Sako. She made her nest high up in the mountains and each year gave birth to two offspring, one with wings and one without. The wingless one was a little Apso, but because it could not fly, it fell to its death. This happened for several years until Sako decided to place her latest baby Apso safely on her back and fly down with it to the ground. In this way, the first Apso arrived in Tibet.
The factual origin of the Apso is unclear. It has been suggested that, many centuries ago, the smallest puppies of the sheep-herding Tibetan Terriers were given to the monks as monastery dogs. These little animals, whose legs were too short for herding sheep, became the foundation stock for the Apso breed. This is pure conjecture and the truth is that we have no convincing explanation of how the breed originated. Only one small clue exists: the word Apso is not Tibetan but Mongolian, suggesting a northern source for the breed.
Because they were so closely guarded in Tibet, Lhasa Apsos were late arriving in the West. One or two may have managed to filter through in the late 19th century, and there are some Victorian oil paintings of small, Apso-like dogs to support this view. However, even if isolated examples did manage to make the long journey, they soon disappeared without leading to the establishment of breeding stock.
Then, at the start of the 20th century, the first recorded importations occurred and serious breeding began. This succeeded to the point where, in 1908, the breed was recognized by the Kennel Club in London. However, it was then known as the ‘Lhasa Terrier, 10-inch [25-cm] type’ (to distinguish it from the ‘Lhasa Terrier, 14-inch [36-cm] type’, which in the 1930s would be separated under the name of Tibetan Terrier). Between 1914 and 1918, World War I nearly exterminated the breed, but it reappeared in the 1920s.
In 1922 Colonel and Mrs Eric Bailey acquired a pair of Apsos when living in Sikkim, on the Tibetan border. They bred from them and eventually, in 1928, returned to England with six of their dogs. These were shown (still as Lhasa Terriers) in 1929. In 1934 it was finally decided to separate the smaller Lhasa Apso from the bigger Tibetan Terrier and all was set for their future development. Sadly, World War II intervened and the population of Apsos in England was again decimated, to be slowly rebuilt when peace returned. The Kennel Club in London agreed to Championship status in 1965.
In the United States the breed had fared better. Between 1930 and 1940, Mr and Mrs Suydam Cutting of New Jersey were given three Apsos by the 13th Dalai Lama. Three more followed later and together these formed the foundation stock for the breed in North America.
During the second half of the 20th century, the Lhasa Apso progressed in leaps and bounds on both sides of the Atlantic, until it had become one of the most popular of all the smaller breeds. In 1984, an Apso won Best in Show at Crufts. In stark contrast, in its Tibetan homeland it was virtually exterminated by the Chinese Communists who invaded that country.
Occasionally a pedigree bitch Apso produces smooth-coated puppies. These have been called Prapsos and in the past have appeared spasmodically in a number of separate breeding strains of Apsos. A careful study in 1960 revealed that, at that time, six per cent of all Apso puppies were short-haired. It was found that bitches which produced Prapsos when mated with one particular male, did not do so with other males. In recent years there has been less talk of Prapsos, and selective breeding appears to have gone a long way to eliminating them.
With its long, flowing coat and its proudly up-curled tail, this is a dignified, self-confident breed which, after centuries of monastery life, is more content than most dogs with the confined spaces of urban living. For those who are prepared to keep it well groomed, it has proved to be one of the most rewarding of all modern companion dogs.
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