How can you tell if your dog is a lhasa apso or a shitzu?

Question

Any sites that u have r welcome!

Answer 1

Look up the breed standard.

Answer 2

I think that the only way to really tell is to compare your dog to another one that you know is either a Shih Tzu or a Lhasa Apso.

All the references I've found go on comparisons -

the Shih Tzu has a short square muzzle roughly 1" from stop to nose, the Lhasa Apso has a longer & narrower muzzle.

The ST generally has an undershot jaw (lower teeth farther forward than top) - I think that the LA's teeth are generally a scissor bite or level ... though they can be undershot - oops that's not much of a good comparison for you, sorry.

The ST has large round eyes & the LA has smaller more almond eyes.

The ST is about 9 to 10.5 inches at the wither, the LH is about 11 inches.

At least with show dogs you can tell instantly as the ST normally has it's hair tied back from its eyes, whilst the LA has its hair dangling down over them.

Personality wise - the LA are meant to be more aloof & reserved with strangers, whereas, from what I've read, STs are inclined to be everybodies friend.

Hope this helps.

http://www.auspet.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000228.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shih_Tzu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lhasa_apso

Answer 3

Lhasas are a little bit bigger and a little bit longer in the snout than shih tzus are. Shih tzus are only supposed to have a muzzle about 1" from the tip of the nose to the stop, the muzzle of a lhasa apso should be "medium length" and "the length from tip of nose to eye to be roughly about one-third of the total length from nose to back of skull."

http://www.akc.org/breeds/lhasa_apso/index.cfm
http://www.akc.org/breeds/shih_tzu/index.cfm

Answer 4

Lhasa Apso's muzzle is longer, while the Shih tzu's muzzle is short and sorta flat.