When you attend an AKC Meet the Breeds event, you’ll meet (and pet) hundreds of dogs. If you’re a repeat attender, you may even recognize a familiar face when passing by the Tibetan Spaniel Booth: eight-year-old ‘Tashi’ (Kan Sing’s Yarlung Tsangpo). Tashi has been a staple at the New York City AKC Meet the Breeds event for over six years now, and if he’s ever shown you his belly to pet, you couldn’t forget him.
But he’s not just a friendly face and a great representation for his breed: Tashi is also a conformation star who overcame a shocking and sudden injury that nearly left him paralyzed.
Meet Tashi at AKC Meet the Breeds
Lindsay has been with the breed for a decade now. She started off with Miniature Schnauzers, and was in the breed for 37 years, and did Meet the Breeds with them as well. Then, she discovered what would eventually lead to Tashi: the Tibetan Spaniel.
She got Tashi and joined the parent club, who were looking for members to go to Meet the Breeds in New York City. There weren’t many people from the club in the area doing it, so when the club asked Lindsey, who lives in Connecticut, she agreed. Tashi was a little over a year old at that point, and he immediately fell in love.
“It’s literally what he lives for,” Lindsay says. “I have some people that have taken a photo of him every single year and come back just to see him.” After two full days of getting pets and attention, a lot of dogs understandably get tired and worn out. But not Tashi. “He just loves meeting everyone. The parent club calls him their ‘little breed ambassador,'” Lindsay says. “They know he’s the one who loves Meet the Breeds, so they send me every year.”
A Life-Changing Injury
At six and a half years old, Tashi — and Lindsay’s — lives changed forever. Tashi was playing with another of Lindsay’s dogs when they collided. “When he was hit, he didn’t even make a sound,” she recalls. “All of a sudden, his back right leg was just collapsing.” She thought he had a knee injury, and into the night, it wasn’t getting better. She took him to the vet, who quickly advised that they go to an emergency clinic. The doctor discovered that Tashi couldn’t feel where his feet were.
In less than 48 hours, Lindsay was able to bring him to a neurologist who’d treated one of her other dogs. Dr. Hammond did the MRI and put him right into surgery. At that point, Tashi wasn’t able to feel his back legs at all — he couldn’t walk, he couldn’t bear weight. “I was hysterical,” Lindsay says.
He had not one, but two ruptured discs, according to the results of the MRI. He had to stay and rest for five days, and Lindsay wasn’t able to see him during that time. When he was able to come home, he was in a sling, because he couldn’t hold himself on his front legs, and couldn’t feel his back legs at all. “He took it all in stride, he never cried,” Lindsay says. “It was remarkable, if he needed to get somewhere, he would bark and I would put his sling under him and we’d go outside.”
When he first came home, Tashi’s legs were so stiff that they wouldn’t move. After awhile, they were able to do some exercises with him, trying to do range of motion and massaging him. Eventually his legs were able to bend again. “I had to try to get him to stand, to get his spinal cord to start sending signals down to see about standing and knowing where his legs are.”
This injury came after his huge win at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, where he won Best in Opposite. “It was a once in a lifetime win,” Lindsay says. “Especially for someone who is owner-handled, showing their dog as someone who doesn’t show him that often. It was a thrill.”
A Miracle Recovery
Only three weeks after his injury, Lindsay was shocked to find Tashi greeting her with a wagging tail — one that had previously been dragging with his hind legs. “This is good,” she remembers saying, and then came even more. “It was like these little progressions to the point where he didn’t need a sling, but his legs were still very all over the place. He just kept getting better.”
She was shocked by his progress, not only how quick it was, but that there was progress at all. “The part that’s always scary is when they say, if their spinal cord doesn’t regain use that they can actually start dying off, everything starts shutting down,” she says. “But his came back, and people couldn’t believe how well he was actually doing.”
Tashi had been doing conformation since he was a puppy, but after his injury, Lindsay wasn’t sure if he’d ever show again. “When this first happened, my only wish was that he could still go to Meet the Breeds,” Lindsay says. “That was really the only thing, if that last win at Westminster was it for him.” But Lindsay emphasizes that first and foremost, Tashi is her pet, and she wanted to make sure that he was comfortable and supported.
Now, he’s not only able to walk again, but he’s back doing conformation as well as other sports. “What he really enjoys is the attention in the show ring, especially since I don’t do it a whole lot.” Lindsay says. “So it’s fun when he’s in it — he just lights up.” He’s also back doing AKC Rally, Obedience, Trick Dog, and working on CGC titles, and best of all, will add another year to his AKC Meet the Breeds streak.
A Once in a Lifetime Connection
Tashi may love attention, but he’s also a great example of the breed to showcase at an event like Meet the Breeds. “This breed is extremely intelligent, extremely intuitive,” Lindsay says. “If you’re having a bad day, they’ll come right over, they pick that up.”
Since his injury, people were asking if he would be back at Meet the Breeds events. His first big event after his injury was the Tibetan Festival in New Jersey, which had one of all the Tibetan breeds.
Even though he was back to participating, Lindsay still worried that his condition could worsen again and things wouldn’t be the same for him. “Before, if he’s not getting any attention, he would do something silly like roll on his back so people would come running over. He did that this year too, which I was happy about because I was so worried that he wasn’t going to be able to do it anymore.”
Out of her six current dogs, three Tibetan Spaniels, two Miniature Schnauzers, and one Tibetan Mastiff, Lindsay says that Tashi is like no dog she’s ever met. “Tashi is probably a once in a lifetime dog, and he healed so well.” she says. “People have told me they gravitate to him, he just wins them over, and that’s so special.”
AKC Meet the Breeds, the nation’s largest educational dog extravaganza, gives dog lovers a unique opportunity to meet, play with, and learn about hundreds of dogs! It all happens February 7-8, 2026 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. Tickets go on sale October 1, 2025!