Dharamsala
To read some of the latest editions of the Gonpa Gazette, see below:
The Puppy Project grew out of the need to look look after sick little street puppies that would be dumped at a South Indian monastery located in Bylakuppe, India.
At Kagyudpa monastery lives Ani Samten, a Tibetan Buddhist nun. She has the job of looking after the educational, spiritual and emotional needs of young orphan monks.
In 2012, when Dr Michael Heath was desexing street dogs at Kagyudpa, Ani thought to match the little monks with the weak little pups. The idea was to teach the boys how to care for the pups and for the pups to survive and thrive so that they would be healthy enough to be desexed.
Both the boys and the Pups have benefitted by introducing the Human- Dog bond. This bond is one that we take for granted here in Australia. In India dogs carry Rabies and so adopting street dogs is not a common thing to do.These dogs have been vaccinated against rabies and so are considered “safe” to play with. Kagyudpa monastery now has about 20 adopted street dogs living there. The boys now consider these dogs as “their” dogs and love them to pieces.
It has been our privilege to be able to help Ani Samten and the little monks over the past few years. Dr Michael’s most recent visit was in November 2015. During this visit he was joined by Ms Libby Smith who assisted Ani conduct end of year exams while Michael attended to other veterinary needs in the area.
Ani Samten is a gem of a human who works all day and night to look after her monks and her pups. We are committed to ensuring that she has the help she needs to maintain the health of her Monastery pack and also help her little monks education.
Ani writes a monthly newsletter called “Gonpa Gazette”, follow her on Facebook here and like her page for her heartwarming updates. Message her if you would like to be added to her Gonpa Gazette mailing list.
