Hava-Apso

The Havanese originated in the 1700s in Cuba where this little ball of fur was bred to be a lap dog. She is a toy breed that is believed to be a descendent of the Bichon Frise, Bolognese, and Coton de Tulear. She was named after the capital of Cuba, Havana, which is where the breed became most popular. Some say that this breed was brought to Cuba by the Spanish settlers in the 1700s after being found in the Mediterranean by migrants and that they may be related to the Blanquito de le Habana and the Bichon Tererife. These two breeds are now extinct but were mentioned on the manifests from ships coming from Spain in the 18th century. In 1959, some of these Havanese somehow made it to the United States. Some folks believe they came with Cuban refugees during the Cuban Revolution. In 1979, the Havanese Club of America was formed and today it has about 400 members. The American Kennel Club officially recognized the breed in 1996 and they are the 23rd most popular dog breed in America.The Lhasa Apso was originally from Tibet and were bred by Buddhists to be guardians in Tibetan monasteries and temples during ancient times. Some believe that they were bred from Tibetan Terriers and DNA studies found that they were actually related to wolf-like ancestors. In 1933, the Dalai Lama gave several of these dogs as gifts to the Cutting family in New Jersey and the breed became increasingly popular after that. The breed was registered with the AKC in 1935 and they are the 71st most popular dog breed in America.