If nirvana, like most otherworldly states, can be thought to occupy a position in the higher realms of the universe, then Tibet might well be the penultimate stop on the journey to nirvana. Sometimes called "The Roof of the World," Tibet is a devoutly Buddhist country located on a soaring plateau with an average elevation of 16,000 feet.
Up on the Roof
Politically, Tibet is an autonomous region occupying 463,320 square miles of the southwest portion of the People's Republic of China. China formally annexed Tibet in 1951 following a military incursion by the Chinese army the year before.
Geographically, Tibet is one of the most remote, inaccessible, demanding countries on earth. It was formed millions of years ago when India slowly crashed into Asia, giving rise to the Himalaya mountains and other rocky behemoths that form Tibet's borders on three sides. China, which constitutes the fourth border, does an equally forbidding job of keeping outsiders at bay.
The Tibetan climate is just as formidable as the terrain. The latitude of Tibet, the same as northern Florida's, provides gleaming, subtropical sunlight while the altitude promotes subarctic temperatures. The thermometer ranges from below zero in the winter to above 100 on torrid summer days when scorching winds sandblast the canyons. Tibet's dizzying altitude, schizophrenic temperatures, lack of rainfall, and coarse terrain make it one of the most grim of all the places that humans call home.
Three for the Shows
Despite its remoteness, poverty and inhospitable climate, Tibet is the homeland of three breeds of dogs that found their way to the studbook of the American Kennel Club (AKC). They are, in ascending order of popularity among the 145 breeds registered by AKC last year: the Tibetan spaniel (106), the Tibetan terrier (90) and the Lhasa apso (31). The latter accounted for 11,223 new AKC registrations in 1997. These breeds possess several characteristics in common: a heavy coat, a tail that curves over the back and a close association with Tibetan monks, who are also known as lamas.
Before China annexed Tibet, monks had accounted for one fifth of the Tibetan population. They lived in monasteries supported for the most part by income from land holdings and private donations. Many of the monasteries amassed great wealth because of their land ownership. This resource allowed monks to maintain dogs.
Introducing the Bhutanese
According to many present-day writers, the Lhasa apso, once known as the Lhasa terrier, was developed about 800 years ago in and around Lhasa, Tibet's capital and largest city (population 106,000 according to a 1988 estimate). But A. McLaren Morrison, whose wife is credited with bringing the first Lhasas to England, wrote in the 1908 issue of The Kennel Encyclopedia, "It has been asked by some why our shaggy little friend should be called the Lhasa Terrier, as it does not especially come from the capital of Tibet, any more than the Fox Terrier comes especially from London ... When first introduced into this country it [the Lhasa terrier] was called Bhutia and Bhutanese. It is [also] to be found in Bhutan and other hill countries bordering Tibet."
Equal confusing is the question about when this little soul train took up residence in and about Tibet. Some observers believe a "hardier type of dog common for centuries over Central Asia" is the possible ancestor of the Lhasa apso, but others maintain "there is not sufficient fact to warrant indulging in discussion" of the breed's ultimate origin.
Although the first half of the Lhasa apso's name is misleading, the second half, derived from the Tibetan word abso, which means longhaired orgoatlike, is on the mark. The Lhasa is called the abso seng kyi or bark lion sentinel dog in its homeland, where Tibetans favor a fail-safe security system. A fearsome Tibetan mastiff stands guard outside a dwelling while a smaller dog is ready to sound the alarm indoors if anyone is clever enough or lucky enough to slip past the mastiff.
Geography Rules
The drastic environment of Tibet, where people developed their domestic animals in isolation for uncounted centuries, shaped the mental and physical characteristics of the Lhasa apso. There is little difference between the domestic animals of Tibet and their wild ancestors because the Tibetan environment leaves no margin for "improving" upon nature. Moreover, the Tibetans' hardscrabble existence left little in the way of comforts for their animals. Thus, the Lhasa apso undoubtedly was developed more by circumstance than by design. Its well-muscled, compact body is heat-preserving; its weatherproof coat insulates the Lhasa against all manner of inclement weather; its short legs (the breed should stand 10 or 11 inches at the shoulders) gave it the agility to maneuver the mountainous landscape of Tibet; the hair that covers the eyes shields them from the wind and bright sunlight.
A Wild Time
The Lhasa apso first appeared in the Western world in 1901 when Mrs. McLaren Morrison returned to England from Darjeeling, India, with several of the little dogs. She gave one to Marjorie Wild, who became so fascinated with the longhaired sprite that she devoted the rest of her life, 70 years in all, to breeding and promoting Lhasas. At first the breed was known as the Lhasa terrier, though it is not and never was an earth dog, i.e., one that pursues its quarry underground.
That misnomer did not prevent the Lhasa from becoming popular in England, and in 1902 the Kennel Club established a separate breed registry for Lhasa terriers. Unfortunately World War I decimated the Lhasa population, and breeders were obliged to import stock as soon as peace had been declared. These imports included several dogs from China whose appearance, though clearly different from the other Lhasas that had been brought to England, did not prevent their being included in the Kennel Club's registry or a number of breeding programs. These dogs were not, in fact, Lhasa apsos at all, but shih tzus.
The Lhasa Comes to America
C. Suydam Cutting, a naturalist and world traveler from Gladstone, New Jersey, visited Tibet in 1930, 1935 and 1937. After his first trip, Cutting developed a friendship via an exchange of letters with the 13th Dalai Lama. The two men also exchanged gifts, and among the presents received by Cutting were three Lhasa apsos, which he brought back to this country. After the Dalai Lama's death, his successor, the 14th Dalai Lama, sent a pair of Lhasas -- a male and a female -- to Cutting in 1950.
Cutting and his wife, Mary, bred Lhasas for nearly 30 years. During that time their Hamilton Farms kennel registered 249 Lhasas with AKC and produced at least 40 champions. Unlike the Cuttings, whose breeding was based on dogs imported directly and solely from Tibet, other breeders obtained Lhasas from England, some of which were descended from the shih tzus that had been recognized as Lhasas by the Kennel Club following their importation from China after World War I.
The Lhasa was officially recognized by AKC in 1935. The breed was called the Lhasa terrier, just as it had been in England, until that name was officially changed to Lhasa Apso in 1944. The Lhasa was not transferred from the terrier group to the nonsporting group until 1959, however.
Living with a Lhasa
The Lhasa apso is tough and independent breed that expects to live by its own rules. As loving and affectionate as the Lhasa can be, it has a mind of its own. There are few breeds that surpass the Lhasa for devotion and companionship, if it receives the affection and firm hand it needs. Otherwise, the Lhasa is fully capable of testing your patience and endurance to their limits. If there is a breed of dog that needs to understand it cannot do just as it pleases, it is, indeed, the Lhasa.
With those it loves the Lhasa apso can be a riotous clown or an extremely sensitive and caring friend. Its innate wariness of strangers keeps the Lhasa at home on constant sentinel duty, but this tendency should not be allowed to manifest itself in aggression. Early and continual socialization is a must for every Lhasa apso.
Lhasas, not surprisingly, like heights. They are excellent climbers, and one should never be surprised to find a Lhasa perched on top of the television or the uppermost shelf of the bookcase. Lhasas are also fond of caves and will create their own under the coffee table or footstool.
Happily, the Lhasa can provide its owner with companionship for many years because it generally lives well into its teens. Owners should not be deceived, however, by the Lhasa's size and glamorized Western appearance into believing this is a delicate creature in need of indulgence. One only has to consider the breed's origin and history to understand that this dog is as sturdy and resilient as the Tibetan people.
Finally, don't be put off by the Lhasa's which-end's-the-front hairdo. Nature never intended the Lhasa to look the way it does in the showring, and you shouldn't either. Periodic trips to the groomer's for a pet clip will keep the Lhasa's coat manageable while still allowing the dog to look like a real Lhasa. Nevertheless, twice weekly brushing sessions are a regular part of owning a Lhasa.
A Nation in Exile
Although the Lhasa apso has flourished in many parts of the world, neither it nor its people enjoy this happy state in their homeland. In 1950 Communist China sent troops into Tibet. The following year Tibet signed an annexation treaty with its uninvited guests. According to the agreement, Tibet is an autonomous region; but that description is about as accurate as the prediction in a fortune cookie. Since 1950 the Chinese army has killed more than 1 million Tibetans, destroyed more than 6,000 monasteries and flooded the country with huge numbers of Chinese in an attempt to eradicate the Tibetan culture and to dilute its population. (The Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual and temporal ruler, fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese army had obliterated a Tibetan uprising. The winner of the 1989 Nobel peace prize, he lives in exile in Dharamsala, India, about 100 miles from the Tibetanborder.)
As part of their reinvention of Tibet, the Chinese have virtually taken over the remaining monasteries, often forcing monks to kill dogs, which the Chinese communist party considers a decadent bourgeois luxury. "Aside from violating the general Buddhist prohibition against taking life," reportedMaclean magazine in October 1987, "killing a dog is particularly reprehensible for monks because of their belief ... that monks sometimes return as dogs."
Thousands of Tibetans fleeing Chinese oppression have made a harrowing, sometimes fatal, weeks-long trip through the Himalayas to neighboring countries such as India, Bhutan and Nepal. The refugees who survive blizzards, crevasses and ice arrive at their destinations frostbitten and starved, often missing fingers and toes. Tibet's India-based government-in-exile reports that the number of refugees crossing the Himalayas into Nepal doubled last year to 2,639. In many refugee communities Lhasa apsos live beside their people in exile.
Back in Tibet packs of dogs run wild in the cities and villages. A visitor to Tibet in 1995 wrote in the Photographic Society of America Journal that "mangy, vicious-looking, barking dogs are something to be wary of." In 1989 a Travel Weekly article warned, "... visitors should be prepared for packs of barking dogs that roam freely throughout the country. We counted more than 125 dogs at Sera monastery, and they often kept us awake at night with their barking."
The stray-dog population had grown so large, the China Daily wrote eight years ago, that Lhasa "has built a special dog hotel to house 400 of the city's 10,000 stray dogs." The Daily also reported that there were about 50,000 dogs in Lhasa -- some kept as watchdogs or pets and others for religious reasons. Tibetans bathe in the Lhasa River with their dogs in summer and bring dogs on buses and into public places.
Health Considerations
Although you couldn't tell by looking at a fussily coiffed showring specimen, the Lhasa apso was shaped to meet the rigorous demands of the Tibetan climate and landscape. The showring, however, makes demands of its own, and these often include the spread of certain inherited genetic diseases. Renal dysplasia, sebaceous adenitis and progressive retinal atrophy are three conditions about which potential Lhasa buyers should be informed.
Renal dysplasia, the failure of the kidneys to develop normally, is characterized, among other symptoms, by excessive thirst and urine volume, reduced stature and body weight and pale urine. Severely affected dogs fail to thrive by two or three months of age and progress rapidly to renal failure and death. Moderately affected puppies may appear normal until they're five or six months old, but chronic debilitation and death claim them between the ages of nine and 12 months.
Renal dysplasia is poorly recognized because many dogs with mild afflictions show no clinical signs, and routine laboratory tests may fail to detect its presence. "The disease is going to be with us for a long time," one breeder has written, "because it is transmitted in a very silent fashion by many animals that appear clinically normal [therefore] every dog used for breeding should be tested for urine specific gravity and urine concentration." Do not consider buying a puppy from breeders who do not test their dogs and are not willing to show you the results of those tests and to discuss them with you.
Sebaceous adenitis (SA) is a hereditary disease that causes an inflammation of the sebaceous (oil) glands in the skin. The signs of SA include excessive dandruff, greasy or dry, scaling, darkened skin, a musty odor, thickening of the skin and hair loss ranging from scattered to total baldness. Secondary skin infections can also occur as part of the inflammatory process.
There is no cure for SA, but frequent baths can alleviate its symptoms. In addition, oil treatments have been helpful in removing scales and lubricating the skin. Antibiotics are used to treat secondary infections.
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is the wasting away of the vessels in the retina. Initially manifested as night blindness in young dogs, as PRA progresses, its victims become totally blind. Responsible breeders screen their breeding stock for PRA. Responsible buyers should inquire after the results of those tests.
Conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers, which can result from the hairs on the Lhasa's short muzzle constantly scraping the eyes, are other problems known to exist in the breed.
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