Lhasa Apso Blog: News and Photos from Friends

"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. "~Lewis Grizzard

Happy March everyone! The months seem to be zooming by! I don't know about where you live, but around here March really did "come in like a lion."

This blog post is comprised of emails and photos from people who have our Lhasas. I was glad to hear from so many because the news around here is sparse. I do have news about Winter (Joyslyn Mon Ami Winter Wind), who is being shown by Sue Cannimore. Winter went to Sue with two points. She is now up to nine, including one of the two major wins AKC requires for a championship. She needs one more major win and three single points to finish. Wish us luck at this weekend in TX and at the upcoming shows in NC.

So below are the emails and photos. Because many of you reading this blog own Joyslyn puppies, I thought I would add notes throughout telling who the dogs' sires and dams are so you can determine if or how they are related to your Lhasa.

Note: If you are using Chrome, you may be seeing weird fonts and sizes throughout this post. I have no idea why, but after multiple tries to fix it, I give up. It seems to work okay on Safari and Firefox. Another thing I am experiencing since I updated Chrome is that on some (not all) emails and websites the Y and Z letters are missing from words that are supposed to have them. My computer at the office is doing the same. !!!

We begin with this photo from Stacey and Lisa. It shows their Golden Elliot, Lhasa Lola, and Lhasa puppy Enzo napping together. Notice how Lola, on the left, is turned away from the boys. She gives the impression that she is not really happy about Enzo joining the family! Stacey told me that Lola, who usually loves every dog she meets, has been rather standoffish with Enzo.

Jim wrote about Daisy, "I tried to send a video but it was too big. She is just the best dog. the other day we were walking around the city and she was complimented on in three languages - Spanish, French and English. One guy even walked up to us and said, you have a beautiful dog. We are planning on seeing relatives for Easter and will see a number of dogs, like my mom’s Yorkie, my aunts two goldens, and my brother’s puppy Aussie.

My parents were sending us photos of their dog in California and showing off how their dog was at the beach and making us jealous of the weather. So we joking set daisy up in front of the tv and told them that daisy was visiting Tibet to learn about her heritage."

Yes, she has a self-assured regal attitude!

Note from Joyce: Daisy's sire is Breaker and her dam is Greta.

Joy wrote, "Little Lucy is definitely a Lhasa through and through! She is a delight and full of personality. She and our other dog Ella like to play, and Lucy more often than not dominates...and Ella (being who she is) lets her."

"I just wanted to share some cute pix we took of Lucy (15 weeks old) this afternoon. She is so sweet and ADORABLE, and her coat is beautiful! She is very wiggly, so I am happy to be able to send some non-blurry photos to you!"

Mark wrote about LiLi and YoYo: "They are both Beautiful Lhasas, One word describes YoYo WILD!!! She is hilarious. Her coat is just beautiful.
She has a co-dependency with Lili, she has to know where she is at, at all times.Thanks so much."
In the photo below, LiLi is in front with YoYo sitting behind her.

Judy posted information about on my FB page and wrote, "Gus is learning agility. How cool is THAT? … I am so proud of Gus, and I know that you are also proud of him. 11 months old next week. He is still a major puppy, and a BIG puppy. All 23 pounds of him. He is NOT fat, his coat is just very fluffy and he is blowing coat like crazy. Gus is a very well-balanced Lhasa Apso of excellent breeding. Duh. He's a Joyslyn's Lhasa Apso! Such a joyful and happy countenance. And what a good kisser he is! I discussed with Kathi, his trainer, about him getting his Canine Good Citizen title, and then his Basic Trick Dog title. Slowly, but surely. We will start after Gus is one year old."

Lynn wrote about their Lhasa girl, Amie: "Joyce..thought you might like this. She even naps with her ball!! I know a lot of other Joyslyn’s Lhasa owners write about their dog’s’ obsessions with balls & such.....it’s such a hoot. There’s always JOY in our household! Even Poppet tries to distract her by taking her ball when she’s got a treat....it usually always works for him."

I wrote back, "I Love it!! Here is what you need to know. It is genetic! Her mom, Maggie, CH Joyslyn's Moonlight Magic, also had a favorite "thing." Hers was a toy. I am sending a photo of Maggie carrying around her alien! Amie's 1/2 sister, Kimmi, also a Maggie kid, carries a bone around with her. She even holds it in her mouth while she barks! I have a Kimmi daughter (Autumn) but she doesn't seem to have inherited the characteristic."

Here is a photo of Amie and Kimmi’s mom, Maggie with her favorite toy. Amie's sire is Duncan.

From Sally in upper MI: "Ginger is doing very well. She is healthy and happy and keeps me busy playing at all hours of the day…I hope you are well and that spring is coming. We are buried in snow and it's still cold. I am looking forward to some warmth at some point."

Note from Joyce: Ginger's sire is Josh and dam is Luna.

Michelle sent a cute video of Sunny dancing in his exercise pen. Here is a still shot from the video. She wrote, "I was looking at some of your videos on Facebook of the puppies last night and Sunny heard your voice and he just looked like where is Joyce, I can hear her?! He knows and remembers his first human mommy! We also bought Sunny a fence, he likes to dance along it! We put part of it in the house to help keep him in a smaller area. Then we put most of it outside in the front yard since it’s not fenced in but since it’s still cold here it’s easier to take him there to go potty…We both love him so much! He is a true blessing to us! He has given us such joy…"

Note from Joyce: Sunny, Enzo, and Lucy are littermates. Sire is Breaker and dam is Jenna.

Here is what Kathy told me about Jampa: "March 30th is Jampa's first birthday. He's a delight and keeps us on our toes! Originally, we taught Jampa to "speak" and taught him to bark when he had to go out to potty. However, he also barked to play, at strange noises, snow plows going by, and when he is hungry, etc. Hard as I tried, I could not always figure out which he was barking about. So, I bought a kit that has a button that the dog can push with nose or paw. The button transmits a signal to a receiver plugged into any outlet (next room or upstairs, where ever you can hear it). The receiver plays a tune. (38 to choose from, including door bell chimes and "Dashing through the snow"!) So, I taught him to push the button. Then I added the tune. Then I mounted the button on the wall by the door to outside.

Each time we took him out, we would encourage him to push the button to play the tune. It took awhile and at first, we weren't sure he understood. But, one day we were just sitting in the kitchen (where the button is mounted) and the tune began to play. Seems he knew all along how to use it, because after he pushed the button, he sat there very calmly waiting for us to act. He went out and did what he was supposed to do. All the while we were trying to teach him, it was if he was saying, "I'm ready to go out, you are dressed up to go out. Why should I push the button now?" Anyway, it's been fun. Sometimes Jampa pushes the button just to get our attention. I know this because he will refuse to go out! We are putting our foot down, though. When he pushes the button, he goes out, regardless!

Jampa is so smart and responsive in so many ways. I knew that dogs can make other vocalizations besides barking and growling, but I never heard a dog with such a wide range of "voices". Maybe it's a Lhasa trait? In any case, he talks to me all the time, except when he's sleeping. He will walk over and stare me in the eye. If that gets no response he will make a tiny "woof". Then he will lay down at my feet, still looking at me. This can mean a lot of things with Jampa, but there are other clues, such as what time of day is it or when is the last time he went out to potty (yes, he doesn't always use the button, but will "resort" to that if necessary!). If I'm sitting and puts his paws on my leg, he wants to play. I tell him, "Go get Mr Red Bear" and he will bring a toy (not necessarily the bear!), and we will play tug of war and "fetch". I put fetch in quotation marks because he will chase and catch the toy, but bringing it back is not his MO, or if he does bring it back, he jerks it away just as I reach for it.

The weather is warm this week and our snow pack we've had since Christmas is melting. Jampa loves whatever weather we get except the driving or blowing rain. Doesn't matter how cold, how wet, how snowy, he wants to spend plenty of time outside. He will "fetch" a tennis ball out in his fenced yard. If he really wants you to play, he will actually bring it back to you to throw again.

I've signed Jampa up for more basic obedience training which starts in 2 weeks. It'd be great to get a Canine Good Citizen certificate! Also, I'm considering having him assessed as a therapy dog. Not sure that will fly because he gets so excited to see new people, but we can try.

I've pasted a photo of Jampa taken just last night after a grooming session at home. His head fall is finally long enough that I can keep most of it out of his eyes! Jampa is about 9.5 inches at the shoulder and 13.2 lbs. A little guy, but adorable!"

Note from Joyce: Jampa and Gus are littermates, along with our Millie. (I have been very remiss about getting photos of Millie, which is too bad because she is also lovely!) Sire is Josh. Dam is Bekka.

Jampa

Here are photos of Denise's puppy, whom we called Enzo and she named Cooper and her husband renamed Colonel! The photos were taken after Denise's daughter groomed him and cut his bangs. Colonel and YoYo are littermates.

Dam is Greta. Sire is Josh.