History

Tru Blu came into being in 1972 with the purchase of Jamboree Ann Tudor. Sally was a cute cuddly Old English Sheepdog puppy. A friend of ours brought over a few puppies from England and asked if we would like one. Well who didn't want an O.E.S. puppy at one time or another. Sally gained her Canadian championship in October 1973. This was followed by two more sheep dogs from the Somebuddy Kennel.

Living in the city we found that a breeding program of O.E.S. was not going to work, so we set off in search of a smaller breed. After a lot of searching we found a cute gold brindle Lhasa Apso bitch named Las-A-Rab Mai Lee and home with us she came. A year later we bought another bitch Raja Ram Kumari (Panda). We then decided that we were ready for our first male. After six months of looking we bought San Jo's Soshome in August 1976 and so started the foundation of our breeding program.

Marianne Nixon had invited us down to look at her dogs. She had three males for sale at that time. Picking Shome out as the one we wanted was the most important step in the success of Tru Blu Lhasas. Marianne had been the most influential and knowledgeable person we had met in dogs up to this time. She has a wealth of information on the breed.

In 1977 Shome was shown in Canada and ended up #2 Lhasa Apso. In the following year 1978 Shome returned to the Nixons to attain his American Championship. Since we did not have a Special to show in 1978 we brought American Champion San Jo's Raaga Looki Mei (Yucki) to Canada and entered into a co-ownership with the Nixons. We showed Yucci all that year collecting five Best In Shows and National Specialty Best In Show. Yucci ended up #1 Lhasa Apso and #4 in the Non-Sporting Group.

The first litter for Tru Blu out of Shome and Mai Lee produced seven males, amoung which were BIS Can.Am. Ch. Tru Blu's Shome A Rerun, multiple Group winning Can. Ch. Tru Blu's Shan Sou Te Chin and Puppy Group winner Ch.Tru Blu's Midnight Bandit. Raja Ram Kumari (Panda) was bred to Am.Ch. San Jo's Shenanigan,CD, ROM** to produce Can. Ch. Tru Blu's Sugar-N-Spice

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At the same time Looki Mei came to Canada, so did another foundation bitch that became Can. Ch. Hudai's Meiti Nijin. Nijin was also bred to Shenanigan and produced BIS Can.Am. Ch Tru Blu's Hudai Easy Does It, Can. Ch. Tru Blu's Mr. Karalan, and Can.Ch. Tru Blu's Hudai R and R the only bitch in this litter. Next Nijin was bred to Shome and produced multiple Group-winning Can. Ch. Tru Blu's Dudley Do Rite and multiple Group-winning Can.Ch. Tru Blu's Hudai Tahna. Nijin was bred next to Zhantor the Contender, a Looki Mei son, to produce Can.Ch. Tru Blu's Ruckus at Jalco, and then to Ch.Gyantse of Abbotsford to produce BIS CanAm. Ch Tru Blu Stop The Press.

Angus came to Canada and to Tru Blu in 1984. This black dog took Canada by storm, by earning three All Breed Best in Shows, a Canadian record for a black dog that still stands in Canada. He was the top Lhasa Apso that year.

The next dog that shone for Tru Blu was "Shankara's Domino". This stunning black and white was the top male in Canada in 1985. Domino was a multi-group winner. 

Tru Blu brought out "Easy Does It" once again in 1986, after a two year sabbatical. Easy went to be number one Lhasa Apso in that year and then was retired.

The years 1987 & 1988 saw a beautiful bitch owned by Barbara Sellwood named Cookies and Cream go number one. This bitch was sired by a beautiful male from Tru Blu, Ch.Tru Blu Hudai Tahna.

1990 saw a change for the Tru Blu Kennel, we had bred and shown a number of top winning dogs. Our breeding program was producing consistency, but we wanted to go one step further, being unable to do this with our current stock, we decided to do an outcross. This brought about the purchase of Am.Can. Ch. Hoshira Hylan Sho Tru Fedora a beautiful Lhasa bitch bred by Midge Hylton and Pat Keen-Fernandes. We then brought up BIS Can. Am. Ch. Sho Tru Hylan Rock N' Robin, and a multi BIS winner, Can. Am. Ch. Hylan Sho Tru Heartbreaker (Duster). We then entered into a co-ownership with Pat Keen-Fernandes with Am.Can.Ch. Sho Tru Hylan Top Secret and multi BIS winner Tru Blu Sho Tru Sun Seeker.

Our decision to outcross produced many beautiful dogs for the Tru Blu Kennel. Two beautiful Tru Blu bitches, multi BIS Can. Am. Ch. Tru Blu's Crespen and Am. Can. Ch.Tru Blu's Rhythm-N-Blues. This continued on to Crespen producing multi BIS Can. Am. Ch. Tru Blu's Quester. We then entered into a co-ownership with Pat Keen-Fernandes's Chakpori Up to Date. This dog was Pat's Dutch import who produced a winning bitch for us, BIS Can. Am. Ch. Tru Blu's Chicka Cherry Cola, along with two of Cola's brothers. Cola's one brother was sent to Australia to Jenny Longmire's kennel (Amesen), Tru Blu Amesen "This Ones for Me". This stunning boy earned the title of Grand Champion with seven BIS's. Cola's other brother Can. Am.Ch. Tru Blu Sho Tru Special Issue was sent to the U.S.A. where he earned his American Championship. It also produced a beautiful male out of BIS Am.Can. Ch. Hylan Sho Tru Heartbreaker, Am. Can. Ch. Palasa's Tru Blu Dusters Destiny, who now resides with Sherry Yadley in the U.S.A.

This now brings us to the year 2002, and some young pups are just getting ready for their show careers to carry on the Tru Blu legacy. 
Since 1977 Tru Blu Kennel has been the dominant kennel in Canada with the kennel having over 50 Best In Shows to its credit. Tru Blu kennel is now slowing down due to a change in direction within the show world. We are no longer campaigning our dogs due to my being an all breed judge. We still breed but now co-breed with a number of other kennels in Canada and the U.S.A.

Due to my  focus on the judging aspect of the dog show world., the Lhasa Apso kennel was closed on January 1st 2008.

Neil Wm. Graves