Lhasa Apso breed guide

Smart, confident and complex, Lhasa Apsos are family comedians but regally aloof with strangers. AKC says a Lhasa will please you if it pleases the dog to please you.

They are highly intelligent, sometimes compared to a willful toddler and learn nearly anything a trainer makes interesting enough, on their terms.

Lhasa Apsos live 12 to 15 years. AKC calls them a robust, healthy breed. The most serious health problem is hereditary kidney dysfunction, present in mild to severe form with no reliable test to detect carriers, so prospective owners should seek experienced, conscientious breeders who remove affected dogs from breeding.

Long hair or a short clip are both owner choices that need regular maintenance. Dogs in a clip still need regular brushing and baths between groomer visits and long hair needs regular brushing with the right tools and techniques.

The Lhasa is not a couch potato and exercises itself well: it races around an apartment to run off energy, entertains itself in a fenced yard or takes its owner on a brisk walk. Mental stimulation matters as much as physical exercise.

For centuries Lhasa Apsos have been tied to the Dalai Lama and in the late 1940s dogs bred and given as gifts by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama helped establish the breed in America.

In Tibetan folklore the country's protector is the mythical Snow Lion and Lhasa Apsos, the bearded lion dogs, are its earthly representatives.