How Joyslyn's Began - and Some Other Stuff

"Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love — that makes life and nature harmonize. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one’s very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." 
                      ~ George Eliot, letter to Miss Lewis, 1st October 1841

 

How Joyslyn's Lhasa Apsos Began

People often ask me, "How did you get started showing?"

Here is a bit of our story:

How do two people who had mixed-breed dogs while they were growing up end up breeding, showing, and loving Lhasa Apsos? I blame it all on an encyclopedia salesman!

Our first two Lhasas: Buffy and Pheebe

Shortly after our marriage, Lynn and I were besieged by door-to-door salesmen who tried to sell us all kinds of things we couldn't afford. (We were in our last year of college.) One of those salesman succeeded in selling us a set of encyclopedias. We'd both grown up with dogs as part of our families and knew we wanted to have a dog. The "Dogs" section of that encyclopedia happened to have a very nice picture of a Lhasa Apso in it. Now, if you have ever looked at some of the older Lhasa Apso resources, you would know that some of the pictures of the dogs were not very attractive. So, I suppose if I'd seen one of those photos first I wouldn't be where I am today in the Lhasa world.

After we graduated, I landed my first teaching job at a high school in Iowa. With my first paycheck, we bought a refrigerator (Harvest Gold, all the rage in the early 1970's appliance colors!). When the second paycheck arrived, we bought a dog, our first Lhasa Apso, whom we named Joyslyn's Pheebe. We'd seen an ad for Lhasa Apsos at a nearby kennel and, curious about the breed, we went to see the puppies. They were adorable!!  Of course, other than the picture in the encyclopedia, we knew nothing about the Lhasa Apso. We did, however, know how to pronounce its name correctly from the start!

So Pheebe came home with us. An adorable grizzle Lhasa puppy, she soon won our hearts. We had to have another! So…with my third paycheck, Pheebe was soon joined by Joyslyn's Miss Buffy Jo. What a pair they were!

Joyslyn, our kennel prefix, is a combination of our first names. Looking back, I find it interesting that we even thought to come up with a kennel prefix because at that time, we had no mentor, no experience with pure-bred dogs, and no pedigree to look at for either of the girls we bought! But somehow, that day in March 1973 when we filled out Pheebe's AKC registration form, the prefix "Joyslyn" was created and it's been used ever since.

(Note: People try to pronounce our kennel prefix as if it were spelled Joslyn, with the "s" having a "z" sound. That would be wrong. The first syllable ("joys") rhymes with "boys," "toys," "noise," etc. The second syllable ("lyn") rhymes with "tin," "win," "grin," etc.).

It's been a crazy 42 years, a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows, of victories and defeats, of joys and sorrows.

People ask me if, given the choice, I would do it all over again. Who knows what path my life would have taken had it not been for a picture of a Lhasa in an encyclopedia and for Lynn saying, "We could show these dogs." Right now, today, I think my answer would be a resounding "Yes!" I'll quit when it's no longer fun (or when I can no longer walk around the show ring!)

Sharing Pictures and News

Joyslyn Ja-Ma Dancing by the Light of the Moon, known to friends and family as Luna, recently earned the second of the two majors she needs for her championship. The judge was Richard Miller. Luna now needs only 3 single points for her championship. Here is the photo of that win.

Luna was a year old on October 10.

Marilyn, the owner of Luna's sire, GCH. Cozmos Custombuilt, sent me a photo of Luna's litter sister Olivia, taken with her owner and the other two Lhasas with whom she shares a home. Olivia is the black Lhasa on the right. She was an adorable puppy and looks as if she still has a charming personality.





Congratulations to Deborah and Ron Hauck and Joyslyn's Mystic Wind (Mysti) on the 3-point major earned at the Greater Humble Area Kennel Club from the 9-12 month class. Deborah and Ron are newcomers to dog showing. They and Mysti are off to a great start.

National Specialty

This weekend we're headed for Mansfield, MA, and the American Lhasa Apso Club's (ALAC) National Specialty. Tuesday's conformation show has 20 sweepstakes entries to be judged by Anne Bowes and 55 entries to be judged by Ray Filburn. Tracie Laliberte will judge 16 Futurity/Maturity entries on Wednesday, and Marsha Susag will judge the 9 entries in the cutdown sweepstakes.

Thursday is the ALAC Regional Specialty. Don Evans will judge 57 entries. Friday Darby McSorley will judge 65 entries in the ALAC National Specialty competition.

Luna is entered on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wish us luck!! I'll let you know in a couple weeks what happened.

Life is Better When You Have a Lhasa to Love You!

Joyce