What’s New

Melissa Torgerson, who will be coming to Colorado for our big weekend, sent these.

See photos of the Specialties

Vickie and I made it back to Colorado safe, sound and a touch road weary. Lots to share…later. Drat! Work gets in the way! Briefly, we came home with 3 new Champions.

Champion FFT Kisses of Fire

Champion FFT Do U Wanna Dance

Champion Fleetfire Spirited Moonshadow

Taking Best of Breed all four days was Champion FFT Fernando. FFT Carpe Diem was judged Best Puppy at the first Lhasa Apso Specialty show and Reserve Winners Bitch at the second. FFT No Wine Before Its Time picked up his 2nd major.

It was an incredible weekend, but the most important achievement of the weekend was Kaylee becoming Register of Merit Breeder. The youngest in the history of our breed and very possibly the youngest in any breed. She has been involved with the daily care of her mom Julie’s dogs since she was 3 years old. She had a very successful junior handling career. She grooms more meticulously than either her mom or me. Her presentation of the dogs in the ring is impeccable. Kaylee is starting her junior year in college. Having watch this young woman grow, I’m so proud of her!

Today, Vickie and I are off to Minnesota! With 4 dogs in my Subaru Legacy and pens tied on top, here’s what we’ll look like. We’re staying with Julie and attending 2 days of Lhasa Apso Specialty shows, followed by 2 all-breed dog shows. Stay tuned!

Arriving home from a day in Colorado Springs with friends - most of them were drafting for fantasy football - I picked up messages. Julie had called to let me know Edmund was WD (Winners Dog) and BW (Best of Winners) for a 3 point major! The judge said he was a lucious color. Indeed, he is. Assuming Julie had a photo taken, I’ll share it when it arrives.

Edmund’s AKC registered name is FFT No Wine Before Its Time. And, believe me, that fits Edmund. He’s nearly 4 years old and just now ready to compete for his Championship title. His ‘lucious’ color is red. The texture is hard. He has the kind of coat breeders refer to as ’slow growing red’. (Toshimi, he is Koyuki’s cousin as they are sired by litterbrothers.)

Here’s to Edmund! No Wine Before Its Time! Think I’d better go pour myself a nice red to celebrate! 

Dr. Catherine Marley is well-known, highly respected breeder of Lhasa Apsos under the Kai-La-Sha banner. She has been a staunch supporter of our work with Renal Dysplasia since 1996. The same can be said about the endeavor with the Gompa dogs. Her understanding of anatomy and history of the breed is probably unparalleled. Saturday, September 8, at the Best Western Regency in Greeley, she’ll be sharing her slide show with us. The actual time will depend on judging times, something we won’t know until the last week of August. There is no admission fee. Please join us!

Gail wrote: This is for Kathy…this amazing artist who works on scratchboard…Judy Larson…This was Sitting Bull’s horse who danced after his master died…She does these gorgeous wolves and horses Native American theme…

Although Gail sent this specifically for Kathy, I thought a lot of you would enjoy it too!

Learn about Circus Horse.

Visit Judy Larsen’s website.

I received this, along with the tribute, last week and, with Ted’s permission, am sharing it.  

 I recently came upon your website as I conducted did a search for information about the lineage of two Lhasa Apsos that were part of our family. I first became acquainted with Lhasa Apsos in the Tibetan village of Upper Dharamsala, India (McCleod Ganj) where I lived for a period of time in 1973-74. After my return to Canada I maintained close contact with the Tibetan community in Canada, and later became involved in Tibetan cultural affairs.

 In 1989, during the first visit to Ottawa by the Dalai Lama, my wife and I met Gerry D’Aoust during private audience with His Holiness, where he had come to present a pair of Lhasa Apsos puppies to His Holiness as a gift. My wife and I were quite taken with the exceptional beauty of these dogs, and sometime later, in the autumn of 1990, we purchased two beautiful Lhasa Apsos from Gerry.

Because of our association with Tibetans, we understood the significance of the lineage of our dogs, who we named Tashi (male) and Loki (female), and who were two beautiful little Gompa Lhasa Apsos. At the time that we purchased the dogs, Gerry was hopeful that we would eventually be able to have the dogs registered, but this never happened. A number of years ago I did send an email to the monastery  where Gerry’s dogs were first transferred, to try to get information from the registry, but received no response at that time. Although both dogs are now deceased, I would still like to have a record of their parentage as far back as the records show, at least to Gerry original breeding stock imported from Nepal and India. I am hoping that you are able to help me. 

Loki was a white and black female, and Tashi was a beautiful red-tipped golden male. They were a sister and brother from the same litter, of 4 if I recall correctly. The father was Ngo-Su, but I do not recall the mother’s name. This is part of the information that I am trying to find out, and I am therefore inquiring to see if your organization may have copies of the records which Gerry D’Aoust kept of his litters from that time. Or if not, would you know who has those records. I have also attempted to contact Gerry but have no received a reply as yet.

 On a final note, Loki passed away this week, just a few months short of her 17th birthday.  I have written a tribute (below) to this precious little being who brought us great joy, along with her brother Tashi who left us 5 years ago, at the age of 12.

 I have also attached a series of pictures of our dog that may be of interest to you, including one taken of the puppies at seven weeks old! You can see the resemblance of Loki’s (black and white) facial coloring to some of the dogs shown in early photos taken in Tibet and Nepal.

 Sincerely,

 Ted Paull

Read Ted’s tribute and see more photos.

Chris sent the following, along with this article:

A local holistic pet store, Pawsitive Karma carries “Green Tripe.”  This article is on the Green Tripe website. They report more robust litters, improved health, resistance to fleas, etc.  They say green tripe has been used in Europe for years, especially by oldtime breeders. 

Interesting!!

So, after reading ‘this article’, I did a little investigating. One of the products I feed is Oma’s Pride, especially their meatloafs. I belong to co-op and The Leader of Our Pack places an order monthly. Besides my usual order, I experiment and add something new or unusual to my order. A while back it was Performance Dog. My dogs loved it, but it smelled like something dead!! Guess what? It contains tripe! It does come freeze-dried, so maybe I’ll give that a try instead. If it lives up to the testimonials - or rather the tripe-a-monials - clean teeth on all the dogs might be worth the smell!

This photo of Panchen was taken at my house after he was blinded by glaucoma.

Not in the original group of ten Gompa dogs delivered to my doorstep, Panchen came to me in the spring of 2005. By late summer visible signs of his glaucoma manifested and in September he underwent surgery by veterinary opthamologist Dr. Todd Hammond. A normal eye has a continuous exchange of fluid; fluid enters the eye and then leaves the eye. The ductwork that allows the fluid to leave the eye deteriorates with glaucoma, creating an abnormal buildup of fluid in the eyeball. It is very painful and causes severe headaches. Glaucoma in people is usually caught in time; medication can help move the fluid in and out of the eyeball.

Dr. Hammond asked me if Panchen had headaches. But, how does a dog tell you about headaches? There were several surgical alternatives, including removal of the eyes and prothestics. I selected what seemed the least invasive. Dr. Hammond, using very, very small needles, damaged the ductwork that allows fluid into the eye. Panchen felt immediate relief. This I *could* tell! The following morning, he greeted me with his Good Morning Dance, something I hadn’t seen in months.

It had been my intention that Panchen live the rest of his life here, with his clan. When he arrived, there was recognition between Katu, Drepung and Panchen. Having the group spend their remaining years together seemed right. Panchen’s loss of vision changed that. Dogs are masters when it comes to reading body language. Panchen had lost this ability.

At first, it didn’t seem to alter his lifestyle. He went out with the males, sniffing each and every tree, enjoying the sunshine. An onlooker wouldn’t have been able to tell he was blind. He danced for a treat held in front of his nose. He came and went with the group. He navigated extremely well, using both knowledge of what was there, along with not being afraid to ‘keep on trying’ if he came to a barrier. He seemed happy.

The problem was, the other dogs didn’t understand he was blind. If he’d accidentally walk into them, the action was interpreted incorrectly. The other dogs would just grumble at him until one day one of them had had enough and told Panchen, in no uncertain terms, his actions weren’t acceptable. I felt sad for Panny. He no longer wanted to go out with his friends, instead choosing to use the indoor/outdoor runs. He became a loner, choosing the safety of his dog bed, rather than interacting with his buddies.

So, I asked Gail if she would consider letting him live his final years with her. And was so grateful she agreed. You can see more photos and read Gail’s posts about him here.

When I saw this book title, I thought of Gail and Panchen. She had told me he’s her Soul Dog. This book is about a young woman - a teen-ager, to be exact - that adopts a former Champion Bedlington Terrier, now ‘useless’ due to glaucoma. Together, they learn, among many life lessons, to do agility!

When I opened the book, I said, “I love children’s books!” and then I read your note….Thank you Debby. It looks wonderful.The only movies I enjoy any more are either about dogs or horses….My shih-tzu had pneumonia last week…3 kinds of antibiotics…and lots of home cooking and watchfulness.. Panchen slept with me in bed….B sleeps in a little donut bed in the middle of Bruce and me because I don’t want some other dog stepping on him in the middle of the night…I did want to ask you…a tech question. I wipe Panchen’s  eyes out with wet cotton pads now to avoid any matter sitting in there….It looks like I should do this every morning to avoid problems…You don’t trim eye hair, do you? When he was groomed by K.C., she left his face hair long like I asked her to protect his eyes…but I could see where it might get problematic…If you want to put this in the blog, its ok…or in the gallery…. or nowhere…

I thought it belonged on the blog!

“Did Someone Say Cookie?”

“Never Let The Dog Guard Your Food”

Vickie originally shared Jeff Leedy’s art with me. I love his sense of humor, canine subject matter and use of vivid colors. Visit his website. Be sure to visit the Dogs section and the Food and Wine section of his online gallery.