Summary: Susan Giles on the Lhasa Apso, Grooming Secrets and Breeding<br> <a href="https://www.pawmarks.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Susan Giles</a>, Lhasa Apso breeder for 45 years, shares her grooming and breeding secrets, as well as the history of this ancient breed.<br> <br> The Lhasa Apso is thought to have been the alert dogs in Tibetan monastaries, where they would bark to alert their larger brethren, the Tibetan Mastiff.<br> <br> “These dogs are extremely intelligent,” Giles said. “They’ll make you think they don’t know anything. They are aloof with strangers. An independent breed, they’re not sitting on you or demanding.”<br> Hair not fur<br> Apsos have hair not fur, Giles noted, so owners don’t have hair shedding, or dander. Dogs kept in coat require maintenance, but she says brushing the coat is calming.<br> <br> “The important part is to stay on top of it,” Giles said. “They need to be brushed a couple times a week and, bathed each week. Texture and hardness of the coat depends how much brushing you’ll do. Clean coats are easy. Dirty coats mat.”<br> <br> The Lhasa Apso temperament, although aloof, can be sweet, Giles observed.<br> <br> “It’s all a matter of breeding,” Giles said. “A sharp temperament will take over in a pet home with growling and biting, if it’s sweet, it takes over by being cute.”<br> <br> A proper Lhasa Apso expression is like “looking into the eyes of a very old soul,” Giles said.<br> <br>
