This beautiful breed lives up to his nickname, The Bark Lion or Sentinel Dog. His standoffishness for strangers serves him well for his real position in life, as the guard for your inner sanctum. The Lhasa always stops the traffic with his stunning good looks and magnificent outline that takes more than its fair share of care for the perpetual show ring circuit. Once people understand that good coats need a good routine then it becomes easy – just do the hard yard and it will make show day a breeze.
An easy enough standard and a good brief one, it does nonetheless require your Lhasa coat to specifically be heavy, straight and hard and not woolly or silky. Must have good length and be very dense.
The head and expression created by their distinctive coat is an important part of the breed. Use Plush Puppy Let’s Face It Shampoo. Another one of the famous Plush Puppy products with the latest technology and the highest amounts of naturally sourced ingredients has developed into a product that is a must! This is a hypoallergenic sulfate free low foaming shampoo designed for faces. It’s a nil fragrance, no tear formula with the highest quality Blue Cypress Extracts, Panthenol with Pro-Vitamin B and SugaNate. These special ingredients clean soothes, add moisture, aids healing and has anti-inflammatory benefits. A small golf ball sized amounts directly to the face and eye area allows you to thoroughly clean without causing irritation. Can be used in and around ears also with the same benefits. Its low foaming design allows easy rinsing yet complete cleaning. Best used first and left on whilst using all other shampoos and rinsing off with the final shampoo rinse.
Dilute the shampoo also as this is a big coat you are dealing with and you don’t need to waste shampoo. Use Plush Puppy Natural Conditioning Shampoo at 5:1 and up to 10:1 – to maintain more texture use Plush Puppy All Purpose Shampoo or if out of coat then use Plush Puppy Body Building Shampoo at the same dilution ratio as the Conditioning Shampoo. If needing a whitening/toning effect to offset unwanted warm tones in a light-colored coat, use Plush Puppy Herbal Whitening Shampoo also diluted at the same ratio.
For light coloured dogs use Plush Puppy Wonder Blok – this product is one of our proudest achievements in helping to maintain a white stain free coat. It’s not a bleach and contains no harmful chemicals but with the use of modern technology and high amounts of naturally sourced vegetable surfactants and glycerin. This product is designed to gently remove unwanted warm/red tones to the coat. Best used on a damp/wet coat. Gently rub into the areas required allowing time (5-10 minutes) and rinse. For maximum effects repeat or allow a longer time for this amazing product to work. As with all products take care around eyes.
Plush Puppy Black Opal Shampoo for black dogs only. Use Plush Puppy Deep Cleansing Shampoo first and then for the second shampoo use the Black Opal. Dilute 50/50 and apply liberally for 10 – 15 minutes and then rinse off. This stuff works!
For those with a coat that is too soft try Plush Puppy Texture + Shampoo – another product formulated using the latest technology to retain and improve coat texture. Recommended to thoroughly yet gently cleanse and deodorise the coat of harsh or coarse coated breeds without softening or compromising texture. It’s ideal for boosting body and coarseness in coats of all colours and coat types. Formulated to be pH controlled, creates/ maintains texture, easy to rinse out and low irritant with a subtle apple fragrance. Incorporates Gentian Root Extract, Juniper Fruit Extract, St John’s Wort Leaf Extract, Norway Spruce Leaf Extract, Hayflower Extract, Lemon Balm Leaf Extract, Arnica Flower Extract. Use at 1:10 or apply undiluted directly to areas requiring cleansing. Rinse thoroughly. Use at 1 part shampoo to 5 parts water.
Use a conditioner that is not super slippery nor one that makes the coat look small. Plush Puppy Silk Protein Conditioner is specifically formulated for dogs and will give you the assistance you want in disentangling without overly altering the texture if used in a really diluted form. So, we recommend after the show bath to dilute in 2 L / ½ gal water, 3 tablespoons Plush Puppy Silk Protein Conditioner, 1 teaspoon Plush Puppy Swishy Coat (for anti-stat and smooth, straight finish) plus 3 teaspoons Plush Puppy Blow Dry Cream to flatten the coat so it doesn’t billow out too wide. Now, this diluted mix should be liberally applied to saturation throughout the coat ensuring evenness of application and to get right through the coat. No point applying to the outer layers only!
Between shows is the important part of the routine. Oil the coat. Plush Puppy Seabreeze Oil is a true Godsend. This plant oil, formulated from Evening Primrose Oil, Calendula Oil, etc, is water-soluble so it is not going to cause aggravation in trying to rinse it off when getting ready for a show. Add 1 – 2 teaspoons of Seabreeze Oil to 1/2gal/2 L warm water and saturate through the coat. For ear edges and hem of the coat, you can apply direct/undiluted from the spray bottle if this area is of particular concern.
For damaged coats, a good occasional treatment with Plush Puppy Coat Rescue diluted to 2 tablespoons to 250 ml of water enough to be able to work easily through the coat with the fingers once the mix has been applied liberally – will add some substance back into depleted hair that is ready to snap. Leave on for 10 – 15 mins and rinse. A daily dosage of Plush Puppy Reviva Coat, an aerosol leave-in moisturizing mousse applied directly to the hands and then wiped through the coat. If you do wrap or braid at all, then use the Reviva Coat for this too. This is a wonderful moisturiser and won’t make the coats greasy to live with!
So Show day and you have followed all the weekly duties of attention to coat protection and you have done the show bath routine finishing with the Silk Protein Conditioner/Swishy/Blow Dry Cream mix, make sure you use the Plush Puppy Ultimate Pin Brush for drying till ¾ dry and then switch to the Plush Puppy Ultimate Anti-Static Porcupine Brush for final smoothing and finishing. I advocate using the Pin Brush till ¾ dry so as not to stretch the coat when wet. Overly stretching when wet causes the coat to tear along the shaft and makes tangling worse.
For show day brushing and in between show brushing use the new Plush Puppy OMG Grooming Spray. This is not named lightly. Everyone involved in the testing of this product referred to the testers as “Oh My Gosh, that product works.” The name stuck. This is amazing! Available in 500 ml OMG Ready to Use Spray or in a 500ml OMG Concentrate which is recommended to be diluted 20:1 for average use. You can tweak the dilution to suit your dog but this is a good overall dilution ratio. The matts are so much quicker to get through and it is great for disentangling and general brushing. A real “must-have” for any tack box.
Finish with Plush Puppy Protein Coat Balm on the ends/hem of the coat just a few minutes prior to entering the show ring to weigh down the edges of the coat to prevent them flying around unnecessarily, especially on windy, wild days – a little on your hands through the mid-lengths is good too as this is not a heavy, greasy product and can be used repeatedly throughout the day.
Keep handy the Plush Puppy Powder Puff Regular – a quick clean for dirty feet and rear end or nether regions. This handy fling on and brush or blow dry off powder will instantly clean and deodorise which is essential for those emergency situations ringside. You can use the Plush Puppy Wonder Wash, a liquid self-rinse which actually foams when rubbed through the coat however for ringside speed I like the Powder Puff as it doesn’t wet the coat and having spent all that time blow drying smooth and straight, I don’t want anything wet near the coat.
A couple of quick things to remember – for a more cottony coat use more Blow Dry Cream, for a skimpy coat use less Blow Dry Cream and for a really out of coat situation use a little Plush Puppy Volumising Cream diluted 1 tablespoon to 250 ml water and applied through root area to mid-lengths before drying. This will add a slight coating to the hair to beef it up a bit. Also avail in Ready to Use formula, a light spray, brush in and then dry.
His gay and assertive nature and his free and jaunty gait give him a cheerful and cheeky appearance as he peers through the heavy furnishings of the hair falling over his eyes. Appearing in many colours we never get tired of this beautiful, flashy campaigner in the ring.