Mrs. Nott’s boss has a well-known soft spot for animals. So, when a family she knows realized they could no longer keep their little Layla, they fobbed her off on Mrs. Boss. Mrs. Boss already has two big dogs, and a beleaguered little dog just wouldn’t fit. So…MaybeNott got persuaded to take Layla.
The family had noticed Layla had some jealousy issues when they had a baby two years ago. Now, another baby arrived at about the same time when the 2-yr.-old son got to the poke-and-grab-the-dog stage. Layla was not taking it well.
So, anyway, so far we know that Lhasas have fairly long lives. From the two websites MaybeNott looked at, we know that Lhasas don’t like to be ignored and that Layla is a little chubby. She’s never known a cat before, but our Freckles and her have gone from very wary to playful.
She’s getting a brisk walk around the block every day. I think she’s a bit out of shape, but she’ll get over that. Previous Nottdogs walked much longer, but Layla has short legs. We have a radio fence from previous dogs, and I hope she can learn to deal with that.
I think she was scared when she first arrived, and she hardly said or did anything. She’s starting to loosen up.
The only Lhasa Apsos I had ever seen were the dustmop dogs in the Westminster Dog Show. Real-life Lhasas have real-life haircuts. Even so, her coat is a mess. I’m going to get her groomed as soon as I can. She’s grubby, poor girl.
Congratulations on your new family member! Lhasas are sweet little dogs. That she and your cat are getting on together is a good indication of her personality!
I have pomeranians, another toy breed. Toys tend to get chubby quickly if given too many treats, especially people food. (as in table scraps and junk food) A daily walk is good exercise. When you take her to the groomer, ask for a puppy cut. Cute, and easy to maintain. The radio fence, while fine for larger dogs, may keep her inside her boundaries, but if a larger dog with a bad disposition on the loose comes by, she won’t necessarily be safe. Something to think about.
She has used MaybeNott occasionally, but not here. (see the OP.) I tried to search the member list to see if that name was in use, but it’s disabled.
kaiwik, I see what you mean about the radio fences. However, our neighborhood has only two dogs that run free. I have never let my dogs just hang out in the yard without somebody watching, anyway. The radio fence is just to keep the humans out of the rain.
You sound lile a caring and informed dog owner, which is one of my favorite qualities in a person! Do you still have larger breeds? What breeds, or are/were they mixed?
You might want to consider introducing your new girl to the neighbor dogs, if that is possible.
Yeah, I am a dog person!
Would you like to see one of my pointed Pomeranians? It’s an old blog I began and forgot about. I have just begun to renew my interest. http://kodiakak.blogspot.com/
Awww! My parent’s dog is a Lhasa, and I’m the one who taught her everything she knows (she knows all the basic commands, but once I taught her how to roll over, just for fun, she now rolls over once before executing the command. Why? Because she loves to do it. It’s her way of one-upping the command-giver). They are incredibly smart and stubborn, but very loyal to those they love.
Zoey (my parent’s Lhasa) is a very territorial and protective little girl - she often monitors the yard and barks at anything that moves the wrong way. My father has her more or less trained out of it, but the instinct is strong. Always keep the Lhasa history in mind when dealing with them. A better understanding of their actions will go a long way toward learning how to train them.
Zoey thinks she is much larger than she really is. They are good at escaping fences if they really want to. We went through many types of fences! I once read an anecdote about Lhasas, which used an electric mat to keep a dog out of certain rooms in the house as an example: Where most dogs would step onto the mat and receive a mild shock, that dog would learn to not step on the mat again. When a Lhasa steps on the mat and receives a mild shock, they learn to jump over it.
Often gentle, charming, funny, loyal, playful, and loving, you must never forget just how intelligent they are. They are always one step ahead of you. Always. You’ll find yourself relaxed and confident that you have them under your complete control… and then they do something that makes you sit up and think, “What? How… when… did she learn how to do that??”
Taking her to a groomer regularly is an excellent idea. When they are not showdogs, their fur should be neatly trimmed. In the summer especially, my mother takes Zoey to get her hair trimmed very short, with longer fur still on her ears and tail. My brother has taken to fondly calling her rat dog because of this.
This is a picture of Zoey when she’s trimmed short, so you can see what a Lhasa looks like trimmed short.
Our first dog in my adulthood was a Welsh Terrier (looks like a half-size Airedale,) then we adopted an American Eskimo from a rescue group. Neither of those had any trouble keeping up when we’d fastwalk a couple of miles. We got the Welshie (Maxwell Edison) as a pup, and he was a fine, happy dog all his life. The Eskie was 7 or so when we got him. He had some serious behavior problems which we never could train away. We renamed him from Nick to Bobo, and that was a mistake. After 4 years, he still answered more readily to Nick. He was dominating, and occasionally uncontrollable. After he bit my next-door neighbor without provocation, we gave up and had him euthanized.
Nick/Bobo put me off the idea of dogs for a couple of years. Even though his twisted personality was there before we got him, I always felt bad about it. I still do.
I was apprehensive about adopting another adult dog. Really leery. Layla, though, is completely the opposite from Bobo. She’s sweet and calm.
She’s getting groomed tomorrow morning. Her coat is so tangled, I can’t give her a proper brushing, and those long-enough-to-trip-on ears have got to go. Her tail is usually carried high, and the hair fans out across her back. At the end of her first walk around the block, though, it dragged behind her like a bride’s train, gathering grass clippings.
I was awakened this morning by Layla scurrying around my feet on the bed. I moved my feet, and I realized my cat Freckles was under the covers. It’s a cat and dog thing.
Oh happy happy doggie! I grew up with a Lhasa. Her name was Buffy and she lived for 22 years. She was rescued by my mom when she was about 3 (had been badly treated by a male owner). The shelter staff could not approach her at all. I have never seen as many fleas on a dog as this one. Buffy loved my mom at first sight and was fiercely protective of her. Buffy loved all of the family, but Mom was her favorite. May you have as much love from your Layla.
Oh and Mom would shave Buffy every spring because of the Alabama humid summers. I’d come home from college and Buffy would try to hide her face, “Don’t look at me! I’m so ugly!!” and boy was she.
I’m a little embarassed to say this, but I don’t know how. I have no web site. I just can’t imagine anyone wanting to read about my boring, insignificant life and look at pix of me.
My wife has a camera phone, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even know how to send a pic to another phone, let alone to some photo-display site. I once had a roll of film (remember film?) put on a CD, but when I tried to email some pix to my brother, it didn’t work.
I just got a new printer/copier/scanner/running shoe washer (an HP PSC 1610), and it has four little camera card slots and a cam-dock plug socket. If I had a digital camera, maybe I could pull it off. Sorry.
She’s back from the groomer. I got her a puppy cut, and I specified no hair hanging below her ears. With her ears cut that way, it looks like a page-boy hairdo. A grooming takes a lot out of a girl, and she’s asleep behind my office chair.
Mrs. Jockey has a Lhasa. In fact, her entire family grew up with them. They’re interesting little animals, with HUGE personality. I wasn’t a small dog fan until then. There’s little cuter than a lhasa pup though, they’re furry saccharine (sp?)
