Lhasa Apso Dog Breed Info And Characteristics

The Lhasa Apso (Long-Haired Lhasa Dog) or Apso Seng Kye (Bark Lion Sentinel Dog or Bearded Lion Dog) is an ancient sentinel dog that originated in the Himalayan Mountains in Tibet. The breed was probably developed from a small mountain wolf that inhabited this region some 4.000 years ago. Experts believe that the locals had started domesticating and breeding these wolves sometime around 800 BC. A research study that was conducted recently revealed that the Apso is actually one of the ancient breeds. It is a group of 14 dogs most closely related to the wolf, considered the oldest and purest of all domesticated breeds. This puts the Lhasa Apso in the category with some of the most authentic primitive dogs in the world, such as the Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Chow Chow, Shar-Pei, Samoyed, Shiba Inu, Shih Tzu, or Basenji. Apart from these well-known breeds, there is also another breed of dog from Tibet in this group called the Tibetan Terrier. This is a very close relative of the Lhasa, and was sometimes considered the same breed because of the almost identical appearance. However, later on they were separated into two unique breeds, with the Apso Seng Kye being the smaller of the two. Continue Reading →