Loki: A Life of Courage

I received this, along with the tribute, last week and, with Ted’s permission, am sharing it.  

 I recently came upon your website as I conducted did a search for information about the lineage of two Lhasa Apsos that were part of our family. I first became acquainted with Lhasa Apsos in the Tibetan village of Upper Dharamsala, India (McCleod Ganj) where I lived for a period of time in 1973-74. After my return to Canada I maintained close contact with the Tibetan community in Canada, and later became involved in Tibetan cultural affairs.

 In 1989, during the first visit to Ottawa by the Dalai Lama, my wife and I met Gerry D’Aoust during private audience with His Holiness, where he had come to present a pair of Lhasa Apsos puppies to His Holiness as a gift. My wife and I were quite taken with the exceptional beauty of these dogs, and sometime later, in the autumn of 1990, we purchased two beautiful Lhasa Apsos from Gerry.

Because of our association with Tibetans, we understood the significance of the lineage of our dogs, who we named Tashi (male) and Loki (female), and who were two beautiful little Gompa Lhasa Apsos. At the time that we purchased the dogs, Gerry was hopeful that we would eventually be able to have the dogs registered, but this never happened. A number of years ago I did send an email to the monastery  where Gerry’s dogs were first transferred, to try to get information from the registry, but received no response at that time. Although both dogs are now deceased, I would still like to have a record of their parentage as far back as the records show, at least to Gerry original breeding stock imported from Nepal and India. I am hoping that you are able to help me. 

Loki was a white and black female, and Tashi was a beautiful red-tipped golden male. They were a sister and brother from the same litter, of 4 if I recall correctly. The father was Ngo-Su, but I do not recall the mother’s name. This is part of the information that I am trying to find out, and I am therefore inquiring to see if your organization may have copies of the records which Gerry D’Aoust kept of his litters from that time. Or if not, would you know who has those records. I have also attempted to contact Gerry but have no received a reply as yet.

 On a final note, Loki passed away this week, just a few months short of her 17th birthday.  I have written a tribute (below) to this precious little being who brought us great joy, along with her brother Tashi who left us 5 years ago, at the age of 12.

 I have also attached a series of pictures of our dog that may be of interest to you, including one taken of the puppies at seven weeks old! You can see the resemblance of Loki’s (black and white) facial coloring to some of the dogs shown in early photos taken in Tibet and Nepal.

 Sincerely,

 Ted Paull

Read Ted’s tribute and see more photos.