The LHASA APSO has been in Tibetan monasteries for 2000 years. With the problems faced by the Tibetan people of late the breed will survive only outside its country of origin.
The first Lhasa Apsos were brought to England in the mid 1850's with the first specimen registered with The Kennel Club(England) in l896.
During WW2, breeders were asked by The Kennel Club to keep breeding to a minimum, this was very hard on the rarer breeds but the Lhasa Apsos survived and the number steadily increased during the post war year.
Although it is probable that Lhasas were imported to Canada earlier than the 1930's, two Shanghai bred Lhasa Apsos were the first documented.
Imported by Margaret Torrible of Vancouver in l931, they were the first of the breed to be registered in Canada. They were Dinkie a female and Taikoo of Kokonor a male. The two dogs were inspected by a Canadian Kennel Club director in November 1933 and accorded registration as Lhasa Terriers. The name was later changed to LHASA APSO.
Mrs. Joseph Kersch, Metropolitan Reg., Quebec Barbara Ratledge, Las-A-Rab Reg., Alberta Georgia and James Roberts, Abbotsford Lhasa Apsos, British Columbia and
Margaret J. Tee, Guys Lhasa Apsos,Ontario.
By 1965 twenty breeders were listed including Justine Campbell, Justdean Reg., British Columbia, and Lise Halvorsen, Crestwood Reg. Quebec. Dr. Ellen Brown, Balrene Reg. Ontario, owned her first Lhasa Apso in 1954 but only bred her first Lhasa litter in 1962.
By 1969, the breeders included Arlene Miller, Desiderata Reg., British Columbia and Ann-Marie Adderley, Nonsuch Reg., Ontario, a Lhasa Apso owner since l959. These Lhasa Apso owner/exhibitors were two of the five founding members of LHASA APSO CANADA.
Peggy Bishop, Totem Reg., British Columbia
Audrey Carpenter, Treepine Reg., Ontario
Barbara Chevalier, Lady W's Reg., Quebec
Cathy Freeman, Irlees Reg., Ontario
Neil Graves, Trublu Reg., Alberta
Jan MacDonald, Jalco Reg., Manitoba
Sheila Pike, Zaralinga Reg., Ontario
Barbara Sellwood, Tahna Reg., Ontario
Carolyn Trettler, Shangrilhasa Reg., Alberta
Judy Weinholdt, Exotic Reg., Manitoba
Colin Williams, Kiodisan Reg., Newfoundland and Audrey Wright,Tawntachu Reg., Ontario
By the eighties the breed was well established in Canada.
Canadian Lhasa Apsos have done well in the U.S. as in 1969 Teako won the American Lhasa Apso Club's Western Regional Specialty. In 1971, Dr. Ellen Brown's Can Am Ch Balrene Chia Pao won ALAC's Eastern Regional Specialty and in l985 the ALAC National was won by Can Am Ch Nexus Lam Kam Chin owned by Lillian Woods and bred by Gerry and Tony Vicklicky, all of Ontario.
Today the Canadian record for twenty All Breed Best in Shows is held by Can Am Ber Ch Lasacas Jengo Taka Chance Too owned by Ottawa area breeders Janet Lacasse and Betty Tennant.
Lhasa Apso owners are found across Canada but the majority of exhibitors are found in the densely populated areas.