"Of still more importance than either to English Fanciers is the Lhasa Terrier, an interesting little breed, formerly found under the inappropriate name of Bhuteer Terrier. Lhasa is the chief home of these Terriers, by which the fancy in Northern India are classified as Tibetan. Until Mr. Lionel Jacobs enlightened the fanciers in this country by means of his very practical contributions to the Kennel press on the dogs of India, but very little was known here, and much confusion reigned, especially when, as in the case of the Lhasa, TWO DISTINCT TYPES OBTAIN. Though desirable acquisitions, the true Lhasas are by no means abundant even in that capital, and correspondingly expensive.
As stated above, TWO DISTINCT TYPES OF LHASA EXIST one (the true) approaching the Skye Terrier in character, but with the tail carried over the back, as is usual with Tibetan dogs. Mr. Clarke describes the Lhasa as "very affectionate and attached, and do not thrive unless petted and taken a good deal of notice of. They are very jealous, and desperate fighters when their blood is up. When fighting, they are as determined to kill as any Fox or Irish Terriers, and always attach a vulnerable spot.
Mr. Lionel Jacobs, when dealing with the breed in the Kennel Gazette speaks in the highest praise of the bitch Marni, owned by Colonel Walsh, and compares her in type and general appearance to Mrs. McLaren Morrison's Kepvich Tuko, that had just won first in the Bhuteer Class at the Crystal Palace show.
(NONSPORTING) BOOK by Herbert Compton, 1904, "The fourth lapdog in my foreign illustrations is a Lhasa (or, as it was at one time called, a Bhutan ) terrier. Although it does not rightly belong to this section I include it, partly for convenience' sake, as a longhaired Asiatic pet dog; but also because so high an authority as Mr. Lionel Jacobs M.I.C.E., Government Official in the Punjab, and official doglover, an organizer of the Northern India Kennel Club, gives me sort of license to do so in his remarks on the breed, published in THE DOG OWNERS ANNUAL for 1901 "The Tibetan, Bhutan or Lhasa Terrier, is now usually allowed to be a distinct breed, and perhaps of all others it merits the distinction. But even in this case there is a tendancy for the strain to merge into one Tibet type (which in its ramifications and graduations, probably included all the different Central Asian dogs, and from the Tibetan Mastiff to the Chow of China).
There are Tibetan Terriers as large as Russian Poodles, and have others almost as small as Maltese. A few would appear to have Terrier instincts, but many have the habits of the large dog of Tibet. The Lhasa Terrier has now (i.e.:1900) found a foothold in India and is bred there, though not in considerable numbers. At one time it was only to be obtained in its purity at Lhasa, and the breed was once, it is said, jealously guarded by the Bhuddist priests. But, traders finding a demand among the dog loving public of India, contrived to convey specimens to Leh and Kashmir, westward, and to Darjeeling, eastward.
Of these little creatures there are to be two contrary types, the terrier and the spaniel. At the Muree (an Indian Hill Station, bordering Kashmir) dog show of September 1900, there was for the first time a separate class granted for this breed, and both types were conspicuously represented. The terrier type (though all Tibetan dogs have the tail curling strongly over the back), strongly resembles the Skye Terrier.
Mrs. McLaren Morrison, (circa 1904): "The breed of Lhasa terriers can undoubtedly be brought to great perfection, but we need new stock in England, although there are a great many unrelated specimens in the country. The dogs are registered as a separate breed now by The Kennel Club, the work of many years insistence on the part of ardent fanciers, including Mrs. Francis, who has greatly assisted the breed by importing specimens, and owns a beautiful pack of the little animals. The points of the Lhasa Terrier are not yet clearly defined, saving in the mind of the expert; but the judge and the breeder know it well. I would like to see much more attention paid to size, to which the natives of the country they come from attach the greatest importance. There should really be two classes for them, over and under a certain weight.
They are most lovable little fellows; clever as performing dogs, devoted companions, exceedingly quaint, and with a charm all their own. Bhutan, the terrier I imported from the Himalayas, and the pioneer and only Champion in the breed, was a splendid dog, not only in appearance but in character. He always begged at shows, sitting up for hours in that position. Her Majesty (then the Princessof Wales) remarked once on seeing him so engaged, "That little dog is begging to leave the show." But Bhutan did not mind shows. Poor little fellow! He fell at his post, so to speak, he contracted Distemper, at an Earls Court show, where he was being exhibited, and at the same time enjoying himself in begging for the Hospital Fund. Contrary to his usual alert custom he kept sinking down into a lying position, but after a little rest would scramble up again to the sittingup posture; and with the hand of death on him, he "kept his end up to the last", and then went home to die, to the infinite sorrow of those who loved and admired him.
Poor little Bhutan! His native solitudes, under the shadow of the everlasting snows of Mount Everest and Kinchinjunga, are a far cry from Earl's Court. Let us hope that Bhutan was carried back in spirit to his Mongolian home, to sleep in peace in those pure, high, exhilarating altitudes, where the flowers and the snow divide the year. For over that little terrier, deathstruck himself, begging for the sick and dying, and a wanderer here from so distant clime, soft should the snow lie, and sweetly bloom the flowers."
OUR DOGS of September 30th 1905: "Mop" would be the shortest description of a Lhasa Terrier, and we should say the best. But he is not a "Mop" in disposition. Trained to quard the worldly goods of the Bhuteer, he is sagacious, courageous, loving and faithful, even unto death.
THE CASSELLS NEW BOOK OF THE DOG by Robert Leighton, 1907, "An interesting native of the tableland of Central Asia is the Lhasa Terrier, of which very few have as yet been bred in Europe. In appearance this terrier, with his ample and shaggy coat, reminds one of an illkept Maltese dog, or perhaps even more of the dog of Havana. In the best specimens the coat is long and straight and very profuse, with a considerable amount of hair over the eyes and about the long, pendant ears. The colors are white and black, light grey, iron grey, brown or buff and white. In size they vary but smaller are considered the more valuable. The Hon. Mrs. McLaren Morrison's "India", imported from Tibet, was perhaps the best of the breed hitherto seen in England. This typical bitch has left many descendents who are well known on the show bench, Most of the Asiatic breeds of dogs have the reputation of being taciturn, and probably the character is true of them in their native land, but the English bred Lhasa Terrier is an alert and confiding little companion, extraordinarily wise and devoted."
Hon. Mrs. A. McLaren Morrison, 1908, THE KENNEL ENCYCLOPEDIA, Dogs of India and Tibet: "The Lhasa Terrier should be very shaggy in coat, with a general appearance of untidiness; the coat should be rough looking, but really silky in its texture; his head of moppy hair completely obliterating his eyes. The tail should be plume like, carried over the back, and almost hidden in the denseness of his coat. The legs should be quite straight and short, so that the body is low to the ground. In color he may be white and black, grey, silver, or coffee colored, etc; any color is permissable. Size, smallness in size ought certainly to be valued, but as yet we have too few specimens in England, to decide what the limit of weight or size should be. Let us hope that this (one of the quaintest of dogs) has come to stay, and to appear in our shows in ever increasing numbers, and that enterprising fanciers will venture to bring new specimens to our shores".
OUR DOGS, June 5th 1914, Mr. Will Hally, "Mrs. Wilmot Corfield's Dooma has the honor of defeating the Hon. Mrs. McLaren Morrison's Ch. Little Dargee, who is, by the by, in his tenth year."
THE DOG BOOK by James Watson, U.S.A. 1916. "The latest European introductions in toy dogs are the Lhasa Terrier and the Tibet Spaniel, neither of which has yet reached America, hence we are unable to write of them with any personal knowledge. As they will undoubtedly be brought to this country ere long a few words by way of introducing them seems advisable and for the following we are indebted to the Hon. Mrs. McLaren Morrison, the acknowledged authority in England on Central Asiatic dogs.
"In the cold tableland of Central Asia, nature provides her creatures with ample clothing. We find there in the canine breeds the grand Tibet Mastiff one mass of gigantic coat and we find too the little Lhasa Terrier well protected against the piercing winds whose way no cities and structures of Western Civilization yet have barred. How the Lhasa Terrier lives in his own country, what he does, how he is kept we know but little of. One of these little Asiatics which has had the honor to be called the standard dog by the experts, was purchased out of a Bhuteer's market cart; unkept, unwashed, uninviting, and loath to be civilized he valiantly guarded his vegetables, till made reluctantly to understand that he was born for higher things and that a show career beyond the waters awaited him. Another was brought down from the very interior sent by a Tibetan and accompanied by an attendant wreathed in tourquoise. Yet another was carried across the saddle for miles and miles. The character of the Lhasa Terrier is true and confiding. Not taciturn, as of some other Asiatic breeds. I am inclined, however, to think that this is really only correct of the English bred Lhasa Terrier; for the little fellow who came from the market cart was by no means friendly, and for years devoted himself only to one person whose room and chattels he would defend to grim death. The Lhasa's coat should be long and straight, very profuse and shaggy. Feet large and wide, to tread the snows of the Uplands. The size varies a good deal, but the really small ones, though up to recently rarely bred in this country are most valued on their own and fetch long prices in the East. For the wily Asiatic is fully aware of the value.of the really good specimens, and the inhabitant of the market cart, Tuko, had to be carefully quarded whilst in his own country or would promptly have disappeared.
Their colors are: white and black, iron grey, light grey, buff, brown or buff and white, etc. They have now by 1906 found many admirers in England, and there is every reason to believe that the shaggy lovable pet of the Lhamas will become equally appreciated, if alas not equally plentiful, in this part of the world as in his own mystic home. It has been the good fortune of the writer (the Hon. Mrs. McLaren Morrision) to see authentic photographs of the dogs of Tibet taken by the Grand Lama himself. The Lhasa Terrier is but one of several breeds known in Tibet, but the country is yet too much closed for the naturalist to give us deep information in all varieties.
OUR DOGS, June 8th 1916, Mr. Hally, (At the L.K.A. show) "the Lhasa Terriers were an unusually large group, the winner in them being Mrs. Corfield'sDooma."
OUR DOGS, December 12th 1919, Mr. Hally, "I wish that the Tibet Spaniels and the Lhasa Terriers were more numerous".
OUR DOGS May 20th 1921 "Foreign dog events are rather rare in these modern days and if there are some regrettable eliminations from this year's schedule of the L.K.A. and one misses the Tibetan Spaniels, the Lhasa Terrier and the Gazelle Hounds of prewar times. . .," so due to lack of support and numbers the Lhasa Terriers lost their classes at this big prestigious Championship show.
OUR DOGS October 7th 1921. "The war period seems to have put an end to all the publicity which the Tibetan Spaniel, and likewise the Lhasa Terrier, at one time enjoyed. If Tibetans progress was never very noteworthy, it was undoubted for a time, and ten or eleven years ago, the breed's promise was so encouraging that the Hon. Mrs McLaren Morrison, to whom these dogs owed practically all their British appreciation, suggested the formation of a specialist club. The Kennel Club recognition and the coveted championships were even on the horizon; but that is the furthest that Tibetans ever got, and it does not look as if they would ever get as far again."
OUR DOGS February 22nd 1929, Cruft's Dog Show : "But the Lhasa Terrier came out in force, and here was a "trio of importeds", but as these were three owned by Mrs. Greig and known now to be what is known as Tibetan Terriers we see the first possible confrontation between the two breeds given the name Tibetan or Lhasa Terriers!
OUR DOGS of August 23rd 1929 . . ."Mrs. McLaren Morrison has a brace of quite exquisite Lhasa Terrier bitches, about due to be released from quarantine; one of them has already won top honors in India, where the experts declared her to be most perfect. She is almost a selfwhite. It is rather sad to think that the fascinating Lhasas have lost in these modern days the Challenge Certificates which were once their lot; had those supreme honors been still available the beautiful Tashi would certainly have been a champion by now, as he has proved a great winner in his not yet long career. Tommo, which is so like his imported and much lamented dam (which died when giving birth to her second litter), is, I think, the most typical Lhasa in this country, with his short legs, immense paws, heavy coat, lovely shape, and massive head. Tommo's brother, an allblack, has not yet been shown, as he exhibits a true Oriental quiet obstinacy as soon as the question of a leash is broached. Although Lhasas have lost their Challenge Certificate rights, I am convinced that these will yet be regained, as never before have we had the Lhasa numbers which are now in this country; while quality is higher than is has ever previously been."
THE WORLD ANNUAL for 1929 The Indian Toy Breeds, L.M. Medley (Editor of the Indian Kennel Gazette) : "Both the Lhasa Terrier and the Tibetan Spaniel have been exhibited at shows in India for over 30 years, but probably because they are indigenous, very few people have really gone in for cultivating either breed. Throughout the Himalayas, from the Hindu Kush to Mount Everest and Darjeeling, there are about eleven distinct breeds of dogs indigenous to the country: from the massive Tibetan Bhooteahs and Gaddi Dogs down to the Toys, which include Lhasa Terriers and Tibetan Spaniels, names which we have given to the distinctive varieties.
The Lhasa Terrier is quite a different type of dog, and might shortly be described as a diminutive Skye Terrier for its coat, and the most popular coloring in its native land, which is dark smoke color, in fact the natives very commonly name the petdog of the household of this variety "Dhooma" which you will recognize is a corruption of the Hindu word for smoke.
The Lhasa Terrier is very much smaller than the Skye Terrier, and should have a very much shorter back in proportion to its size. The typical colors are smoke, black, white, fawn or khaki.: dust colored as the natives call it. The Lhasa Terrier has a typical terrier head, and is thoroughly game and fights to kill, and with its sharp clean teeth usually attacks in a vital spot, but he is not really quarrelsome.
Sir Lionel Jacobs in 1901, or thereabouts, tried to put together a standard of points, and obtained measurements and particulars from owners of these two breeds, but was able only to get one photograph of a pair of black and white Lhasa Terriers, the property of Mr. Clarke of the Khedda department. The photograph showed a typical pair, except for the coloring, which was mentioned above should be selfcolored and not particolored; although personally my dogs which I exhibited in Calcutta about twenty years ago, were black and white, and I think, from an English breeders's point of view, this marking would be more popular than any of the self colors given above. For size, the Lhasa Terrier may be taken as the same as that of the Maltese Poodle, though not quite so diminutive as the smallest of this breed, exhibited at home nowadays, Old breeders in England will remember of the size of the Maltese in the 'nineties, and the earlier part of the present century. The coat should not be more harsh than that of the Skye Terrier."
OUR DOGS of August 22nd 1930. "I do not know if the Indian Kennel Club's decision to separate the Lhasa Terriers into two distinct breeds, calling the 1415 inch dog the Tibetan Terrier, and the 8 inch dog the Lhasa Terrier, will have any bearing on the Lhasa breed in this country or affect our Lhasa classification in any way. In the meantime I am making no comment on this except that there is a considerable amount of doubt and misunderstanding (not to add disagreement) creeping into Lhasa affairs just now; quite unnecessarily, I think, but all the same it is a subject which will have to be tackled sooner or later."