It is true to say that the mysterious country of Tibet has for many generations been the subject of an undiminished fascination. There is no written or recorded history of Tibet before the seventh Century, and even then Tibet mainly had contact with China, mostly through wars and marriage. Mount Everest was discovered by the great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1852. Before then, little was known about the Tibetan people or their country. It was not until 1921 that the Tibetan flora, fauna and geology were documented.

The dogs in Tibet were bred in isolated monasteries and villages and kept “pure” because of this isolation. We, today, reap the benefit of this in-breeding and the purity of the survivors. They had to be hardy and self-whelping to survive and had to exist on hard rations as did the people themselves. Because the Tibetan people were Buddhists they only ate meat on rare occasions—mostly religious feast days. While it is true that of all the Tibetan breeds the Tibetan Spaniels are the only ones to breed “true” without any throwbacks, there are still several distinct types even today.

The birth of Buddha in 557 BC probably had a great deal to do with the origins of some of the Oriental dogs; the relationship between many of the Oriental breeds and their descendants stretch far afield. The lion was associated with Buddhism possibly from as early as 260 BC. We know that both the Chinese and the Tibetan people set out to breed a race of small dogs resembling as closely as possible their respective ideas of a Buddhist spirit lion. It is the sacred writings of Tibet that clearly define the connection between Manjusri, their Buddha, and a small dog. Manjusri was always accompanied by a small ha-pa (here meaning pet) dog who could transform into a mighty lion—usually depicted with Buddha riding on his back.

These small indigenous dogs were sent as curiosities and political gifts to the Manchu Emperors of China. They were intended to be a flattering reminder of the Lamaist sect of Buddhism and the connection with Manjusri, the God of learning. This suggested to the devotees of Lamaism that the idea of breeding “miniature lions” was a pious duty and they would acquire heavenly merit by doing so. Sadly, the number of male Tibetan Spaniels who today carry the “lion’s mane” is decreasing (only the females have a “shawl”). Some Westerners have the mistaken idea that Buddhists revere dogs and that Chinese dogs are sacred. It is thought that this fallacy has arisen because of the likeness between the sacred lion and the Pekingese breed.

Tibet did not have any contact with the outside world until 1645. In 1653 the then Dalai Lama, probably the fifth, paid a visit to the Emperor of China (probably Shun Chi, the first of the Ch’ing (Manchu) dynasty. Among the gifts he took were almost certainly some of the small indigenous dogs of Tibet for the ladies of the Chinese courts. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Jesuit and Capuchin Christian Missionaries lived in Lhasa until they were driven out of Tibet in 1745. Then they almost certainly took some of the Tibetan dogs with them to Italy.

One of the earliest known portraits of a Tibetan Spaniel was painted by Simon de Vos (1603–1676). It is a very unusual subject for this painter to have undertaken: the dog was probably owned by a famous nobleman who was very eager to have this rare specimen painted. There is little doubt of the breed, easily distinguished by its ape-like expression and its long hare feet.

Besides the well-known relations of the Tibetan Spaniel, the Pekingese and the Japanese Chin, there are a number of others, little known and overlooked when met in their native countries. Among these are the little dogs of Laos, now almost extinct. The body of the Cambodian dog is much like the Shih Tzu, its colour is like a tri-colour Cavalier King Charles, but its head is, I am told, pure Tibetan Spaniel; as is the movement and gait. The now possibly extinct Afghan Spaniel is another relation, believed to have been brought over the “Silk Route” to Afghanistan about 600 years ago. All these breeds were household pets carrying out their duties as hunters of small vermin. They are descended from the small soft-coated drop-eared hunting dog—itself a descendant of the Gobi Desert Kitchen Midden dog of Neolithic times.

The Tibetan Spaniel was a useful breed to the Tibetans as it was the watch-dog of Tibet. They would lie perched on the flat roofs of the Tibetan houses, or lie along the walls and battlements of the monasteries and forts—giving tongue to warn of the approach of wolves, other predators or thieves attacking the monastery flocks grazing below, or to advise that strangers were approaching the monastery gates. They still like to sit on high places today and keep a watch in the house or garden. Their fur, which has a tendency to felt, was spun and used with the fur of other Tibetan dogs to make clothes and felt boots.

When important visitors arrived at a Tibetan Monastery, they were shown into an inner room where the Abbot was sitting on a cushion, his legs crossed and his hands folded inside his capacious sleeves. You saw no sign of a dog, but when he arose to greet you he unfolded his hands and his sleeves came apart. A small, hairy bundle, a Tibetan Spaniel, would jump from his lap. They did much to mitigate the extreme cold of Tibet and for this reason the smaller sized dogs were favoured. Even today their inner radiant warmth is appreciated on many beds at night, and this breed does seem to get a great sense of security if they can lie touching their owners.

Tibetan Spaniels have been bred for more than 2000 years in the monasteries of Tibet and, because they were supposed to have been trained to turn a prayer wheel, they earned the name of “prayer dogs”. Traditionally, prayers were written on pieces of parchment by the monks and placed in a revolving box. Recorded on the parchment over and over again was the mystic Buddhist prayer “Om mani padme haum” (O God in the jewel of the Flower of the Lotus). Each time his dog turned the box, the Tibetan considered all his prayers had been duly said. So, without any mental or physical exertion on his part, he was able to fulfil his religious obligations and reap the benefit stemming from his devotions! There were also massive prayer wheels that were turned by a band of monks. We now know that this legend is totally impracticable. It is obvious that a Tibetan Spaniel would be incapable of turning such a wheel, so the legend is, alas, untrue.

We know that the thirteenth Dalai Lama (born in 1876) owned and bred Tibetan Spaniels: his other favourite breed was the Tibetan Mastiff. He kept the Spaniels for companionship and entertainment. He found them enchanting and very clown-like.