Neville

Introducing Neville! Our happy, affectionate, playful and funny little foster dog. Neville is a one-year-old Lhasa Apso with a beautiful off-white coat that looks like a slightly toasted marshmallow, and a feathery, curled tail and the cutest little underbite you’ve ever seen. Neville is average size for his breed standing a little under a foot off the ground and about 15 pounds. Neville has a lot of life left as Lhasa Apso’s have a life expectancy of 12-14 years. Neville is very affectionate; he likes belly rubs, giving kisses, having a good scratch behind the ears, or take a nap in his foster owner’s laps.

American Kennel club describes a Lhasa Apso as confident, smart and comical. That perfectly describes Neville. He is a merry soul who loves to run around the yard after his foster brother and is always overjoyed to see his foster owners. He quite literally was bouncing off the walls of the fence this afternoon when my partner returned from work. Don’t let his energetic happiness fool you; he is also a big snuggle bug! Neville’s favourite place to nap is curled up on a dog bed or, even better, on the top of the couch so he can kiss our ears while he leans against the wall.  Lhasa Apso’s are also known to be one family/person dogs and they bond strongly with their people.  It is important to note that Lhasa Apso are also cautious or wary with strangers, they are bred to be a watchdog and are on alert when “strangers” come onto the property.  With his acute senses, keen observation skills, and distrust of anything new or different, Lhasas take their watchdog responsibilities seriously.   Anyone interested in Neville needs to fully understand the Lhasa Apso breed and respect that he will be a devoted companion to his family, but won’t be that dog that wants to have others rushing at him or wanting to pet him and they need to continue the work we are doing with him to make him more comfortable with visitors.  

Neville was rescued as a stray dog who had clearly been owned in a home before, so he has been well groomed and cared for, Neville can sit, enter his crate on command, and is fully house trained. Neville still needs some training to be the best version of himself, he barks and jumps when new people come into the yard or house; as noted prior, he is a watchdog and is doing his duty.  We are working on socializing him to new people to remind him they are friends not foes as well as working to increase his confidence. He has improved significantly with intentional training, however, this is a work in progress that his new owners will have to take on as well. We just had friends over this weekend and after a short time safely on the leash, Neville was getting pets from them and asking them to throw his ball. We have also taught him to lie down and give a paw which was pretty easy to do compared to some of our other fosters! He is a quick learning, smart, dog! Neville loves to balance on his back legs, standing upright and can do it for a long time, which is very silly to see!!

Lhasa Apso’s are considered a hypoallergenic dog, however that doesn’t necessarily mean that someone with dog allergies won’t have reactions to a Lhasa Apso. This also means that he will need to have regular grooming including brushing and haircuts as he won’t shed his coat like a dog with regular fur will. He has been recently groomed (not pictured) and he is so handsome with his trimmed coat!

Neville loves his foster siblings (has had three in his time with us). He loves to play with other playful dogs and is quite comfortable with his less playful foster siblings. Neville does pull and bark when he sees stranger dogs out on walks, we have been training and correcting this habit with redirection and positive reinforcement when he can sit and be calm as a new dog is walking by. He really is coming a long way with consistent training. 

Another trait we are working on with Neville is how he likes to steal things; mittens, socks, a pen… really anything he can find, and he will hoard it on his bed. With a distracting treat we have been attempting to correct this behaviour as well.  Neville is crate trained and is used to spending his nights in his comfy crate as well as during the day if his foster owners are both out of the house; he is happy to curl up and be quiet in his safe spot. He does like to warn his owners of potential intruders though and barks when he hears a door outside slam or people outside

Neville loves treats, eats all his meals and is very food motivated for training. Neville wants to do whatever his people around him want to do. Whether we are playing in the yard, going for a walk, or having a low-key evening cuddled on the couch with some ear scratches, he is doing it excitedly. Neville has improved well with gentle correction regarding leash training, he will need to have this reinforced with his new owners to keep him from pulling. 

As for toys, Neville likes chew bones, and also likes to play with his squeaky donut, but mostly only if another foster dog in the house is chewing on it first. But the toy that has stolen his sweet little heart is his squeaky, green ball. Neville always knows where his ball is, and when you say, “Go find your ball!” he does just that. He will also play fetch with you with his special green ball as long as you have energy to do so. He has an adorable little growl noise and paw stomp that he does when he wants you to throw the ball, give him a pet or whatever he is asking for at that moment. Neville will also just bring his ball to his bed and snuggle it, chew it, lick it for hours on end. He really loves that thing! There have been many moments in the past few months of having Neville with us, that my partner and I just watch Neville’s antics and laugh. Whether he’s playing with his ball, wrestling is foster brother in the yard, or in the throes of some zoomies (he will roll and wiggle excitedly on the bed or couch when he gets a burst of excited energy), he will suddenly stop and look up at his humans with his silly lopsided under-bite grin and big brown eyes and it is the silliest and cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

Neville has been seen by the vet, neutered and is in good health. His signature underbite is adorable, but will require some consideration and a watchful eye to make sure he doesn’t have premature receding gums or other tooth concerns. 

 An ideal home for Neville would be an individual or family looking for a medium energy, jolly dog who has the energy to go for nice walks and run around the yard and who can also curl up and rest on the couch in the evenings. Neville will be best suited for a quiet and calm home without regular visitors.  He needs his person/people to be experienced, confident dog handlers as he needs to feel that confidence from his people when out on walks.  Neville’s family will have to be committed to continuing training to get his confidence up with strangers. He will need reinforcement of his training for resource guarding and leash manners, as well. Neville would thrive in an adult only home or a  home with kids over 12 years or older, he likes other dogs but if there is another dog in the house it should be a dog that would mesh well with an authoritative male dog in the house, i.e., he does well with our large submissive dog who doesn’t mind when his bone is taken from his mouth, but wouldn’t jive with another alpha dog in the house.. 

It has been such a pleasure to care for Neville while he prepares to be ready for adoption. He is just a joyful, affectionate, funny dog. He is full of happy kisses and trainability. I really think he will make a great pet for a very lucky person or family.