"September is the month of maturity; the heaped basket and the garnered sheaf. It is the month of climax and completion. September! I never tire of turning it over and over in my mind. It has warmth, depth and color. It glows like old amber."
~ Patience Strong
Note: The changes you will find in font size as you read through this blog post are the result of some evil gremlin. In spite of my efforts for the last half hour to make corrections, I have failed. Coaxing did not help. Swearing did not help. Changes I tried made things worse. I got a headache. I gave up! The gremlins won this battle. Sorry!
August is gone and it was good and it was fast and I keep wondering why the days and weeks are flying by faster than they did last year.
August is my birthday month and I was again humbled by the number of Facebook posts wishing me a Happy Birthday. I am 72 now and probably should change my picture, but people keep telling me, "You have not changed, so I have decided to leave the picture as is!"
One of my birthday gifts was this sweatshirt:
A highlight of the month was a girls-only weekend spent in WI at a friend's cabin on the lake. We relaxed, laughed a lot, had long talks, shopped, went out to dinner, and enjoyed just being together with nothing else to do but relax and appreciate the woods, the lake, and each others' company.
September began with a dog show in Amana, Iowa. I took Ebony, entering her for 3 of the 4 days. She took Winner's Bitch for one point on Saturday and we also competed in the Owner Handled class. Ebony can be iffy about showing and I wanted to give her as much experience as possible. What a disaster -- and it was not her fault! First, the weather that weekend was hot, hot, hot and we were showing outside on uneven ground that had lots of bumps and holes!
The first embarrassing thing was that when I went to take Ebony off the table, my lead stuck to my sweaty neck. As I tried to take it from around my neck, the lead got caught in the fine chain of the necklace I was wearing. So then the judge had to help untangle the lead from the necklace! So we did our down and back and went to our place in line, trying to stay in the little bit of shade that was available. Did I mention it was a hot day?
After she examined all the dogs, the judge asked us to take our dogs around one at a time. Ebony and I started out and made it three fourths of the way around when I suddenly found myself face down on the ground! People were rushing to me to see if I was okay. Ebony, scared out of her wits, was running loose and people were chasing her -- not a good experience for any dog.
Needless to say, I just wanted out of the ring and was so glad when the judge made her placements and we could escape! I was fine - super embarrassed of course. Outside the ring, there was more "are you okay" questions, but the comment I appreciated most was from a woman who assured me that my skirt did not fly over my head when I fell! What a relief.
I did not know if Ebony had tripped me or if I'd hit one of the holes in the ground. The following day, a witness who saw it all, told me it was not Ebony's fault and that I had fallen due to the uneven ground.
I decided to stick it out the next two days because Ebony needed to know that not all ring experiences were disasters! She did not really show well the rest of the days, but she did manage to get 2nd place in the Non-sporting Puppy group on Sunday. That competition was inside and she was more comfortable. Monday we were outside again. I showed her for the experience. Her performance was nothing to brag about, but she did have her tail up.
Here is a short video of Ebony in the ring on Saturday.
Our next shows will be at the Lhasa Apso National on September 20 and 21 at Purina Farms. My goal for Ebony is to have fun! I know she won't forget the fall and people chasing her in the ring, but I am hoping she'll get past the trauma.
Our Puppies
Here are the most recent photos of our puppies. All of them have been spoken for. I am keeping a male. The two boys are first, followed by the two girls.
Millie is such a good mom! Here she is with her puppies.
Our next puppies are expected in October and November. It is too early yet to know if the breedings resulted in pregnancies.
I saw this on Facebook. How true!
What's Available?
We do have a young adult male available now. He was 3 on April 1 this year. His joy in life is eating! He enjoys being groomed. Hates other males! Loves the girls! Joyslyn Mon Ami Derecho (AKA "Archie") has done what we needed him to do for our breeding program, and I would like him to be in a pet home that has had Lhasas in the past. If you are interested, contact me at 309-837-1665 or joyslynslhasas@outlook.com
Here are pictures of Archie:
Photos from Others
One thing that was a plus about my birthday is the number of people who sent pictures of their Joyslyn's Lhasas along with their birthday greetings.
Betsy posted this picture of Willow.
Kathy M. posted this picture of Jampa.
Sally posted pictures of Jaxon and Ginger
Judy L posted this of Gus and Lippy
Mickey posted this one of Biddy.
Lori posted this of Finn
Michelle sent this of "Shaggy Sunny."
Thanks for the birthday smiles!
Notes and Photos from Others
From Jan about Pebbles: "Just had to send you this picture of Pebbles…. We call it “Why do we spend money on GROOMING” LOL. Even when she looks like this, she makes us LOL and warms our heart. Such a special dog Thank you."
Lisa wrote about Duncan, Ebony's brother. "Duncan’s personality has become more playful and confident. Over the last month or so, Duncan has started throwing his toys or rubber chews several feet up in the air and/or tossing them over his shoulder to pounce on them when they land. He will grab the toy and start running around the room - sometimes with Dresden chasing alongside or behind him. He has decided to take another run for alpha. Read some of the articles from your website. I am implementing suggestions. I can’t help but respect a dog with intelligence who knows what he wants (and is crafty enough to figure out multiple ways to try to get it). No one can accuse him of being dull or unintelligent, that is for sure! Love my “dark-haired warrior”. His name definitely fits his personality. His hearing and alertness is even more pronounced than my 7-year old Lhasa. I am not certain whether it is because he is still learning sounds and the environment around him or whether he is more vigilant..."
Judy G let me know that Winter earned her first leg for her rally novice title. WTG girls!
Nanda sent this photo of Ty and Gigi and titled it "Papa's Nap Time."
Jill sent this photo of Shadow (black) and Breaker (in background).
Jill got both Shadow and Breaker from me as adults. Breaker is extra-special to us and many of you have puppies whose sire or grandsire or great grand sire is Breaker, GCH CH Joyslyn's Heart Breaker, ROM. Breaker's 15th birthday was in August and Jill sent me pictures and video. We hope Breaker has many many more birthdays!
Celina sent this picture of Dora at Home Depot.
Raquel sent this one of Minnie.
Paul and Pam send photos and updates regularly about Rusty. I am glad to report that things are going well and that Rusty has become part of the pack and is happy in his new home and with his new "brother and sister." (Although it took Josie longer to warm up to him.)
Paul wrote about Rusty: "Pam has been feeding Rusty a little bit more at the three feeding times each day to help get him stronger. You can believe this or not. Little One has been leaving some food in his dish for Rusty to eat. Mom talked to Little One about this and why he didn't need to do this. Little One has been eating all his food since then. We know how intelligent our kids are."
Trick Dogs!
Sue Ridgley owns two Lhasas who have earned Trick Dog titles. Josh is the sire of the younger of the two. Sue wrote, "With over 100,000 titles awarded in over 60 countries, Do More With Your Dog! is the largest trick and fitness titling organization in the world. Coco and Gigi have been earning titles with them since 2016. Starting with Novice Trick Dog, they earned titles through Championship. In addition, there are "Speciality" Titles, including the Teachers's Pet that they recently earned. They have also completed Alphabet Challenge, 20 Things to Do With A Bear, and Summer Scavenger Hunt. Fitness Titles earned included Levels, 1, 2, and 3. These titles have been fun and challenging to teach and learn..."
Coco is TDCH Karlyn Ridgley's Luigi Coco Chinetti CGC TKE AtoZ+
Gigi is TCH Mon Ami N Joyslyn's Wind Racer Gogi Villoresi CGC TKP AtoZ+
Gigi is a littermate to our CH Joyslyn Mon Ami Winter Wind. Some of you probably have one of her puppies. His sire is Josh (GCHB CH Joyslyn MLS Dakota Wind Breaker) and dam is Misty (GCH CH Mon Ami N Joyslyn's Shades of Summer)
You can view Gigi's latest performance at
You will be impressed!!
Other Stuff
Those of you interested in history will enjoy reading the latest issue of the AKC Gazette! here is the link:
https://lnews.akc.org/u/gm.php?prm=F6bEljFOvp_1045323955_196521_63691&_esuh=_11_735a17069ad653ddfc0cc4a041a1cc79bed0b435c9c2a42e636e998cb288df26
AKC reminds us all that we need an emergency plan in case our area is hit with a disaster. Here is a link to a helpful article.
My Latest Creation
Just a caution: You might want to skip this part.
Some things about me:
I like to sing
I am not a good singer
Sometimes when people are talking and I hear a word or phase that makes me think of a song, I might start singing.
Sometimes I make up new lyrics to a well-known tune.
That said, an incident at the show in Amana led me to creating the following. If you are old enough, you will recognize the tune.
Here goes:
I've got a dog show this morning
My dog is destined to shine
He's no beginner
He's surely a winner
Just get me to the ring on time!
If I am grooming, take away my brush
If I am gabbing, remind me there's a rush
'Cus I've got a dog show this morning
My dog is lookin' really fine
The judges will love him
There's no one above him
Just get me to the ring on time!
Ta Da ... and that's enough of that! Thanks for reading!
Until next time...
Joyce
