The Lhasa Apso Price: (+LIFETIME COSTS of OWNERSHIP)

If the Lhasa Apso has drawn you in with her adorable little face and shaggy hair, then you’re probably interested in how much one of these cuties costs.

The Lhasa Apso dog price ranges from $1,300 to upwards to $5,100 or more.

If this seems like it’s a little too high for your budget, then you can always adopt or rescue.

An adoption costs around $150 or so, while a rescue donation is in the ballpark of $450.

Before you get too invested, though, you should research the breed’s temperament and personality to ensure a perfect match.

The Lhasa Apso, Up Close

If you’re looking for a watch dog, then the Lhasa Apso is a great choice

Tibetan monks bred Lhasa Apsos over 1,000 years ago as security guards of sorts for Tibetan monasteries. The Dalai Lama even had a few as pets!

This is something that has stuck with the breed over the centuries to make them the great watch dogs they are today.

Lhasa Apso Temperament and Personality

Here are some aspects of the Lhasa Apso’s personality that can sway you on whether you may really want to opt for this breed.

She Doesn’t Appreciate Harsh Scolding

When you’re trying to train your Lhasa Apso, it’s important to keep in mind that she is a very sensitive dog.

She responds much better to positive reinforcement, rather than spanking or yelling or other harsher forms of scolding.

You can be firm with her – just don’t be mean about it. Make sure she understands that you are her leader, or she will walk all over you.

Treats are, of course, the most effective, but don’t overdo it.

You don’t want to make her overweight, which can lead to a host of health problems.

She Doesn’t Do Well with Children

The Lhasa Apso is an assertive dog, so she doesn’t do as well with younger children.

Roughhousing and loud noises annoy her and make her nervous.

She Doesn’t Mind Exercising Indoors

If you’re not a big outdoorsy person, that’s okay – the Lhasa Apso is small enough and has the type of temperament that makes inside exercise okay.

Just don’t skip it entirely – she needs exercise to keep both her body and her brain sharp. Without it, she may engage in less than desirable behavior, like digging or barking.

Else, she’s perfectly capable of keeping herself entertained, so you never have to worry about separation anxiety with this breed.

She is Wary of People She Doesn’t Know

It stands to reason that a guard dog like the Lhasa Apso would feel suspicious of anyone she doesn’t know.

Therefore, if you have a new friend over the house, she will act suspicious for a bit until she gets to know and feels more comfortable with that person.

Something kind of cool about the Lhasa Apso is that she always knows when it is the right time to bark.

She has discerning hearing, so she can always tell when a sound she hears is normal or not.

Lhasa Apso Size

The Lhasa Apso is a decently small dog.

As an adult, she weighs between 12 and 18 pounds as a healthy weight.

As for height, she grows to a maximum of 10 to 11 inches tall.

Is this a good size for you and your household? If not, you might want to consider other alternatives.

Lhasa Apso Price – How Much Do Lhasa Apsos Cost?

The Lhasa Apso price range is not unheard of for a purebred dog.

You can expect to pay anywhere from $1,300 to $5,000 or more as a purebred Lhasa Apso price.

You can save a few dollars on the price of a Lhasa Apso, though, if you opt to rescue or adopt instead.

Demand

As far as her popularity goes, the Lhasa Apso comes in 77^th place of the possible 195 dog breeds the AKC officially recognizes.

This is a pretty decent number. It tells you that this breed is not so popular that you’ll have trouble finding them, but it’s also not that rare either.

This is also why the Lhasa Apso average price inches closer to what you could expect to pay, on average, for a purebred dog.

Lhasa Apso Rescue and Adoption

Rescuing or adopting a Lhasa Apso is a noble act that comes with several rewards, including saving a little money on the price of acquisition.

LhasaApsoRescue.org can certainly help you with any questions you may have. They can also help you secure a Lhasa Apso of your very own.

You don’t have to feel limited to just that one site, though. There are several sites throughout the country dedicated to helping people rescue Lhasa Apsos.

When you rescue a dog, you can expect to pay around $450 or so as a donation to support the organization’s effort to rescue more dogs.

At your local shelter, a cost of around $150 is all the shelter needs to take care of your particular dog, including shots and neutering.

However, it really is a luck of the draw with your local shelter. It may be tough to find the exact dog you’re looking for.

You can always put your name on a list to have them call you when one comes in.

Telling the shelter that you’re open to a mixed breed may get you a version of a Lhasa Apso sooner.

Lhasa Apso Cost of Ownership

You may find the cost of ownership more problematic because it involves costs you have to pay on a regular basis for your dog.

In addition to food and vet care, this could also include groomers and trainers, should you need a village to help you raise your child, so to speak.

On that note, here are some of the costs of ownership you can expect as a Lhasa Apso owner.

Cost of Food

For a dog of this size, you may want to opt for one of those smaller dog food bags with every weekly grocery purchase.

This should cost you anywhere from $6 to $10 a week, depending on the food you buy.

Check with your vet on the specific brand(s) you can feed your Lhasa Apso.

And don’t overfeed your dog, whatever you do. Keep her healthy and at a normal weight by giving her the recommendations provided by the food and/or your vet.

Since this is a breed who trains best with treats, you may also want to consider how many treats she’s had during her training session that day.

If you had to use a few more treats than you would have liked, you can probably go a little lighter on her food that day to compensate.

Health Care Expenses

The Lhasa Apso is a relatively healthy dog breed.

However, you simply can’t prepare for health problems sometimes. We all want our dogs to live to the extent of their expected lifespan.

No one wants to plan for things like cancer or, god forbid, a car accident that results in significant injury to your dog.

However, all unforeseen events aside, the only things that tend to affect Lhasa Apsos most often include:

• Kidney disease
• Eye issues
• Knee/hip issues

In the grand scheme of things, these are mostly manageable conditions that shouldn’t break the bank.

However, if you need to visit the vet more often or pay regularly for medication, you may not have anticipated that and end up suffering financially as a result.

Training Programs

You can always train your dog yourself, but if you don’t have the time, or if you have a particularly difficult dog, you may want to hire a trainer.

You can also enroll your dog in obedience school, where she can learn alongside other doggos the right way to behave.

There are many different training programs out there. You can opt for classes or individual lessons.

You can even hire a trainer to come to your house and work with your dog one-on-one.

It all depends on what you need and what you can afford.

It’s definitely a good idea to shop around before settling on a training program, as some programs offer certain discounts, depending on what you opt for.

Grooming Costs

Something that is particularly important for the Lhasa Apso is grooming.

For the most part, you can probably manage the Lhasa Apso’s coat by yourself, bathing her only when she gets stinky and brushing her regularly.

The problem comes when you want to give your Lhasa Apso a trim to keep her looking clean and well-maintained.

It’s always a better idea to hire a groomer for a trim because if you do it wrong, the dog’s coat can grow back permanently wrong.

If you’d rather a groomer handle the whole kit and caboodle, from clipping to brushing, then you can take your Lhasa Apso in once every 1 or 2 months.

You may also want to enlist a groomer’s help to deal with the “tear” stains that Lhasa Apsos frequently get underneath their eyes.

Kailyn C.

Kailyn has worked as a professional freelance writer since 2012, and during that time she has written about nearly every dog breed imaginable. Her mother loved Collies, and so Kailyn grew up with three of them throughout her childhood – including a blonde one who was half-blind! Now her home belongs to her first official dog, Macho, a Dogo Argentino rescue.