Welcome Home Tashi!

We adopted a new dog last month. Here's the picture of our new little guy that was posted on Petfinder from the Southside Animal Shelter we adopted him from.

I didn't go to the shelter to meet him specifically. A few of my friends were trying to talk me into adopting a different dog who was having a rough time at the shelter and needed to be placed in a home quickly.  Fortunately, he had already been adopted. So the very kind shelter attendant showed me all of the other dogs, spent a lot of time with me and was very patient. I held and walked many of the dogs there. But the last dog I walked was a seven year old Lhasa Apso Mix named Bernie Mac. He barked the least of the dogs there and seemed really chill and laid back. He didn't seem terribly interested in me but was excited to be out on a walk. He snuffed and coughed the way Margot does and reminded me of her. I couldn't take him home that day, but I called Greg right away and told him I'd found Margot's male counterpart.

Tashi's first afternoon at home.

When the day came to bring him home, I was so excited I could hardly bear it. After completing some paperwork, they brought him to me. We walked to the car and when I opened the passenger door, he jumped right in. We have been together ever since.

I thought we'd maybe continue to call him Bernie or Mac or Barney or Bennie, something similar to what they called him at the shelter. I'd also thought of calling him Tashi, which means auspicious or good luck in Tibet, where the Lhasa Apso breed originated. Once I had him home and walking around the neighborhood I knew he was a Tashi. He responded to the name almost immediately.

He had me completely fooled at the shelter. He is still very laid back, but he loves to run and play. He is truly a joyous creature, and now I think that he was a little depressed at the shelter. Also, while at the shelter he was not terribly interested in me, but now he never leaves my side and he watches my every move.

I did order a DNA test that verified the shelter's guess that he's a Lhasa Mix, and he has most of the Lhasa traits. He loves all of our family and friends, but I am his favorite person and he is very wary of strangers (the breed standard says "chary of strangers" but who uses the word "chary"?). Lhasa Apsos were bred to be watchdogs for the nobility and monasteries in Tibet. In fact the Tibetan name is Apso Seng Kyi, which means "lion sentinel dog". He has a bark to match that of the largest dogs and likes to sit on our front porch to watch traffic and passersby. He will bark at anyone who knocks on the door, and at anyone we see on our walks who is running. Sometimes he will bark when a large truck goes by, then I have to let him out on the front porch to show him that there is no one out there or else he will keep barking and looking at me expectantly. He definitely sees himself as a lion, and not a small one either.

So welcome Tashi to our home, his forever home. We are lucky to have him.