The area between the last rib and thigh is called the flank. It is on the sides of the dog. This area, if the ribs are extending well back, will not be overly long but neither should it be too short or the dog will lose it’s ability to move well.

The standard also asks for a well laid shoulder. Many have taken this to mean that the static shoulder should have an angle of 45 degrees. However, this restricts dog’s movement! Rachel Page Elliot, in her x-ray cinema of dog movement, has shown that the angle of the shoulder blade becomes more horizontal as the dog reaches forward. The blade will move, on a normal moving dog, 15 degrees, so as the dog moves it’s front leg forward, the angle of the shoulder blade will become about 30 degrees and when the leg moves backwards, that same angle will increase to 60 degrees. However, if the static angle of the shoulder blade was 60 degrees, the angle formed when moving forward would be 45 degrees and when moving the leg back underneath the dog, the shoulder blade would have an angle of 75 degrees. This allows the dog to make maximum use of it’s forward movement with the least effort. Again, because of the rarefied air and the terrain, the least effort the dog has to put into moving the better.

Another important characteristic of our breed is it’s hard coat. The standard makes this point very clearly-an Apso coat should be hard. It needs to be because of it’s original environment. A soft , voluminous coat is the complete opposite of what is required and is detrimental to the dog in it’s native land and is not part of the correct type of a Lhasa Apso.

The head description is clear in our standard. It asks that the nose be about one third the total length of head-from tip of nose to occiput. It further asks that the nose be about 1.5 inches long, thus making the total head length about 4.5 inches. Now it says this of a 10 inch dog. So a dog of 11 inches in height, in order to keep the correct head ratio, would need to have a head that is 10 per cent longer, thus having a nose 10 per cent longer. Equally, a bitch of 9.5 inches in height, would need the head length reduced by 5 per cent.
A shorter nose, that does not keep to this ratio of 1:2, is not wanted on a Lhasa Apso. It would have difficulty in breathing in it’s native land.

If we fail to understand our standard, or worse, ignore it, we are going to lose this wonderful breed. It will become no more than a small hairy show dog. The signs are very apparent now that this happening. If your preference is for a short backed, short nosed, soft coated dog, it would seem you don’t like the Lhasa Apso and would be happier choosing a breed of dog that matches your requirements rather than destroy an ancient and wonderful breed.

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