Can there be less than 6 months left on Passport for a visa?

My daughter is 3/12 and has a Canadian passport - so do I. My wife is a CHinese citizen - we are to travel to Thailand in a week and a half. She has a visa now (just extended because it will expire Dec. 11) with 0 entries. Her passport expires in April. Since it is her first passport and is valid for only 2 years we were advised to get it renewed a couple of months before expiry. The problem now is that the rules say there must be six months left for a new one which she would have to get in Thailand while we are there. Is there anyway around this - she only needs a one month one and we can get the passport renewed. Or do we not travel ( unfortunately, everything is paid for a 3 week holiday. Most is non refundable. Is it possible to get around the 6 month rule - she has 4 months left on Passport