Lhasa Apso Grooming

About the Lhasa Apso

The Lhasa Apso carries a long, heavy, straight, hard textured coat that parts down the spine and reaches the floor if it is allowed to. It was bred as an indoor sentinel in Tibetan monasteries, and the coat is built for a cold dry climate rather than for looking decorative.

It is often confused with the Shih Tzu, and for grooming purposes the difference is worth knowing: a Lhasa coat is harder, heavier and denser, with more undercoat. That makes it slightly more forgiving day to day than a Shih Tzu's finer coat, and considerably heavier work when it does mat.

The other thing to know is temperament. Lhasas were guard dogs rather than lap dogs, and they are independent, watchful and not automatically pleased to be handled by a stranger. That shapes the appointment as much as the coat does.

What a full groom involves

A full comb through, dry, before anything else. On a Lhasa this genuinely matters because the coat is dense enough to hide matting well.

Then a bath and a full blow dry with a brush working the coat straight. A Lhasa coat is meant to hang flat and part along the spine, and getting it dried straight is what produces that.

Then the detail work: eyes cleaned and the face furnishings dealt with, ears checked and the hair inside them managed, pads cleared, nails, sanitary trim.

Then the trim itself. In a pet cut that is a clipper length over the body, scissored legs and a decision about the face. In full coat it is a tidy of the ends, the feet and the sanitary area only.

Around two hours, and rather more if the dog objects to being handled, which some do.

Full coat or pet trim, and why most choose the trim

A full length Lhasa coat is a serious daily commitment: line brushing to the skin, every day, plus a weekly or fortnightly bath and blow dry to keep it moving and clean. The coat is heavy, so it collects and holds whatever the dog walks through, and it drags.

The overwhelming majority of pet Lhasas wear a trim, and that is the sensible outcome rather than a compromise. A short pet cut looks like the breed, is comfortable, and takes nothing away permanently: the coat grows back with the same texture and color.

What catches people is trying to keep something in between: a long coat with a fortnightly comb. That does not work on this coat, and it ends with a shorter cut than anybody wanted.

Choose the length according to the routine you will actually keep. A shorter trim with a six week booking is a happier outcome than a long trim with good intentions.

The face, the eyes and the ears

The traditional Lhasa look has a long fall of hair over the face, and it needs managing rather than admiring. Hair growing into the eye is a welfare problem, and the breed has a naturally prominent eye that is easily scratched.

Two workable options: tie the fall up in a topknot, which is traditional and keeps it out of the way, or trim the face short, which is practical and increasingly common. Either is fine; leaving it long and loose is not.

Tear staining follows on lighter colored dogs. Daily wiping with a damp cloth prevents most of it; nothing removes it once the hair has stained.

Ears are drop, heavy and feathered, and Lhasas grow hair in the canal. They need checking weekly by lifting the flap and smelling, and the hair inside managing at each groom.

And the beard, which gets wet at every drink and holds food. On a gold or cream dog it stains quickly.

Temperament, because it changes the appointment

Lhasa Apsos were bred to watch and to warn, not to be handled by strangers, and it shows on a table. Many are perfectly relaxed. A meaningful number are wary, particularly about the face, the feet and being restrained, and they can be sharp about it.

This is not a badly behaved dog. It is a breed doing what it was selected for, and the way through is the same as with any independent breed: start early, keep the sessions short and frequent, and handle the face and feet at home as an ordinary daily event with nothing attached to it.

Tell the groomer honestly what your dog is like. A salon that knows books more time, works more slowly and does not corner a dog that is going to object. The same salon discovering it at the end of a booked hour cannot.

And accept a shorter session if that is what the dog can do. Two visits that go well build a dog that can be groomed for fifteen years.

What to tell your groomer

Say whether you want a pet trim or the coat kept long, and be realistic about the daily combing.

Say what you want on the face, and bring a photograph. A topknot, a short face and a full fall are three different looking dogs.

Mention any ear history, since this breed grows hair in the canal and drop ears seal it.

Say honestly how the dog is about being handled, particularly around the face and feet.

And do not let anybody talk you into a long trim with a long interval. On this coat the two do not go together, and the dog pays for the mismatch.

Keeping the coat between grooms

Common Questions About the Lhasa Apso