Happy Easter!

"The Easter egg symbolizes our ability to break out of the hardened, protective shell we've surrounded ourselves with that limits our thoughts and beliefs. As we break open our hearts and minds we discover a transformation to new, life enhancing thoughts and beliefs."

~ Siobhan Shaw

I'm writing this on Easter morning, happy because it is Easter yet sad because, like so many other things in our lives these days, nothing feels the same. I miss the Easter services. Watching a video just did not do anything for me.

Here is an interesting thing that happened on Good Friday morning. I walked into the kitchen in the mid-morning and I was thinking about it being Good Friday and how I would miss the Good Friday service at our church. I happened to glance out the kitchen window and saw this shadow on our backyard shed.

Now, I realize that the image was made by the utility pole and transformer in our backyard, but still...

Not even 5 minutes later the shadow had changed and the image was not the same. It just seemed like a blessing to have seen it when I did.

When I posted in March I said I would post the photo of Winter when she won her first major in Texas, so here it is.

I am not a big fan of show photos taken with the dog looking at the camera because I like to see the profile, especially when the dog has a nice length of neck like Winter has. However, Winter has always been reluctant to stand still on the table. She wants to look around and I am sure that in order to get her to stand still, she had to be allowed to look at the photographer. She is still with Sue in MS, waiting for the time when we'll all be free to go to dog shows again.

Kimmi and Cooper's litter was born on April 1 (no fooling!). There are 3 boys and 2 girls in the litter. All the girls have been reserved. I think one of the boys is still available. Here is a photo taken a couple days after they were born. They are big eaters, and Kimmi is being the best mom ever! I'll post photos once their eyes open.

Resources

AKC has a lot of helpful resources, this is just one of them:

How to Have Your Dog Singing in the Rain at Potty Time

Judy wrote: "I have attached a file of ideas of using this time for e-learning with your dog. Hopefully you can use them in your blog. I enjoy taking classes and hope there is some interest in them. Winny and Izzy will be signed up for the C-WAGS Obedience title. It sounds like fun, and it keeps them busy.  Susan Garrett is a well known top agility trainer, but her free classes are general obedience ideas."

This is the information she sent: "Now that we are spending more time at home with our dogs we can also work one-learning teaching our dogs basic obedience. C-WAGS offers ObedienceLevel 1 ACE title of CW-OAL1qv. The cost is $15 to enroll your dog. There are 6 exercises including heeling, stay, call to heel, find front and forward, sit or down walk around, and sit down sit. After you have signed up you will be contacted on the order you and your dog perform the exercises. You film you and your dog performing and email the video to C-WAGS. Two judges will score the video. Scores over 70 receive the title. It’s a one-page form and three pages of directions. Another fun idea is “Home School the Dog”. Presented by Susan Garrett, it’s a 2-month free trial on 3 different levels of training. Go to homeschoolthedog.com for more information. During the year she offers several free classes on training."

If you are interested in a panel discussion regarding preservation of the Lhasa Apso, go to Facebook and search for "Lessons in Lhasas." The first panel discussion took place on the 9th. It was streamed live but also videoed so those who could not watch on the 9th could view it later. I am one of the panelists for that discussion. There will be 3 additional panels.

Another resource that will soon be available on the American Lhasa Apso Club's website is "Introducing the Lhasa Apso." I put the information together using PowerPoint slides, but it will appear on the website in a magazine format. I'll let you know where to find it once I know it has been uploaded to the ALAC website.

"What Do You Love About the Lhasa Apso?"
That was a question I posted on Facebook while I was working on the slide show for ALAC. I received so many wonderful responses. Some were long and I could only use excerpts, but I included something from everyone who responded.

Here are some things people wrote:
"I love their beauty, loyalty, intelligence, and hardiness"

"I love Lhasas because they are so protective of their family, smart, sensitive."

"Those beautiful faces look at you all the way to your soul to their soul."

"They are joyful, playful, and clownlike, as well as having great intuitiveness and empathy."

"Many dogs are happy just being a dog, but a Lhasa wants to walk down the path of life with you."

Notes and Photos from Others

Joe sent this photo of Abby. Abby is Kimmi's litter sister.

Carol wrote about Jaime, who is a son of Kimmi and Rafe and litter brother to Autumn. "What joy he has brought to our family! Thank you for raising these wonderful dogs. We are blessed each day with everything from howling while "mommy" and/or her students play the piano to watching for the next-door kitty that he can go out and nuzzle. He is an excellent traveler, gets excited over his squeaky toys, is sociable with other dogs and thankfully very good with children. We love him dearly."

Carol also called me so I could hear Jaime "singing" as she played the piano. So funny!!!

Jim sent a picture of Daisy. That girl just cracks me up. All of her photos show such personality!

LaVonne sent a picture of her champion Nelson, who is Winter's litter brother. 

Sally sent photos of Ginger. I just had to post the one of the outcome of Ginger finding a mud puddle. 

Thank you for taking time to read the blog. I hope you have/had a wonderful Easter in spite of the restrictions our various states have required to guard our health. Our lives have changed, that is for sure. Thank goodness for the technology that allows us to keep in touch.

Blessings to all of you and prayers that we all and our loved ones stay safe and healthy. This too shall pass.

Joyce

LOCK DOWN!

 Those of you not from Illinois may have heard that Illinois is in lock down mode. It is a crazy time, that is for sure. Lynn and I both work at Western Illinois University and are grateful for the policies the state and local governments, as well as the university has put in place to help protect us.

WIU is allowing us to work from home. That presents a bit of a challenge because most of my work is office based. I left it all at the office last week on my last day there. We are allowed to go into our offices as long as we get a pass from the Office of Public Safety or our university health center. This entails a drive up temperature test. If we are below 100.4, we get a pass to enter our building. I'll be going in tomorrow to pick up materials I need for working at home. My office is one in a complex of four. The other three will not be occupied, so I feel safe being there.

Even in our small town the paper product shelves were empty when I went into the store on Saturday. What a crazy world!
Essential services are open. That includes our vet's clinic, thank God! Kimmi has an appointment tomorrow for an Xray to see how many puppies she is carrying. Babies are due early April.

Otherwise, the two of us are staying home. We have food.  The dogs have plenty of food. The cars have gas if we need to go to the vet or the grocery store. Other than working at home, we are keeping in contact with our staff members, friends, and family via phone and email; watching a lot of TV (Lynn) and reading (me); and cuddling up with and/or grooming the dogs.

I hope that whatever measures you and your family are taking during this trying time are successful in protecting you from the virus.

Many thanks to those of you who have written to ask how we are doing. Your concern is appreciated!

Thanks also for the photos of your Lhasas that many of you have sent. They make me smile and I am so glad that your Joyslyn's Lhasas are doing their job of being loving family members.

I am going to start off with photos of three of my dogs. The first is of Winter (Joyslyn Mon Ami Winter Wind). She is staying with her handler, Sue Cannimore, while we wait for the dog shows to begin again. I recently ordered the show photo taken when she won her first major. It has not yet arrived. In the meantime, here is a casual photo.

The next two photos were taken of Winter's half sister (Josh sired both girls) Millie, taken last week after her bath. Millie's mom is Bekka.

Millie has not been in the show ring since our National Specialty in October. She has been to a few training classes, and I am hoping she remembers what to do in a show ring by the time we are able to attend dog shows again.

We have a whole album full of show photos from Josh's many show wins, but very few of him where you can actually see his face. After we took Millie's pictures, I decided to get some of Josh also. Here are two of them.

Now here are some photos that have been sent since the last blog was posted. I am going to try let you know the call names of sire and dam so you can see if your Lhasa is closely related to any of them. Mary R. sent photos of her three (Moka, Belle, and Rafe). Belle's sire is Connor. Her dam is Flame. Rafe's sire is Walker and dam is Dancer.

Mary D. sent a photo of Rafe's litter brother, Gabe, all decked out in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Joy sent this cute one of Lucy. Joy says Lucy is enjoying the whole family being home from work and school, especially the 6 year old. Lucy is a Breaker and Jenna daughter.

Mark wrote that YoYo has her first topknot! YoYo is a Josh and Greta daughter.

 This is LiLi, whose job it is to put up with YoYo and teach her the house rules! My friend's dog Alvin was her sire and my Mira her dam. LiLi was always full of spirit and play as a puppy and now YoYo is doing to her what YoYo did to Mark's older female when she was young-- constant pestering and play!

These are photos Molly Ann sent of Luna, who is Bekka and Chance's mother. Luna is one of our retired champions and it is my fondest wish that all my retirees find new owners as loving and wonderful as Luna's new owner is.

Debra sent this picture of the lovely Seng Kye, who is a Chance and Jenna son.

 These are photos Brandi sent of Oliver, her Breaker and Jenna puppy. The second one shows Oliver cuddled up with his Great Dane friend, Leo.

Michele sent this picture of Trinket, the smallest puppy in the March 2019 litter of Josh and Bekka's. Trinket is Millie's litter sister. 

 Michelle sent a photo of her Sunny, a Breaker and Jenna son.
Sunny evidently wants to do his own grooming. Note the comb in his mouth!

If you are interested in pedigrees of any of the Joyslyn's dogs, just go to the Joyslyn's Lhasa Apsos website and select the scrapbook page or the pictures and pedigrees page. Photos and pedigrees for most of the dogs are found there.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.
And, as our former priest used to tell us, "Say your prayers, do your work, and be kind."

Joyce

P.S. While you are sitting around home thinking you should be grooming your dog or cleaning your house but really don't feel like it, I have a solution! Read a book--more specifically, read Rose's Thorn, a just-published novel by none other than my husband, Lynn-Steven Johanson. It is a detective mystery and is available on Amazon. It is Lynn's first novel. He is currently working on his second, featuring the same detective.

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.

Gwen and her Lhasa Beethoven were back in the show ring recently. Beethoven is the litter brother of Chance and Bekka. 

Luna is their mother and Winslow is their sire.

Waiting for his turn on the table

That's it for today. Have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Joyce