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The Gompa Lhasa Apso Preservation Program Trust, established in
2005, is a 501(c)3 public charity. A small population genetics
management program, GLAPP seeks to perpetuate the genetic
lineage of the Gompa Lhasa Apso and share their unique genes
with responsible breeders.
The importance of this program cannot be overstated: here, in
the Gompa dogs, lies the origin of the Lhasa Apso. Descended
from ancestors in a country whose spiritual traditions are its
culture, the Gompa dogs stand as a legacy from Tibet, where
thousands of monasteries (and their Apsos) have been
systematically destroyed since the 1950s.
The present colony of Gompa Lhasa Apsos in the United States are
direct descendants of the Apsos at the Drepung Monastery in
Tibet. Like messengers from the past, they connect today's Lhasa
Apsos with the shaggy little dogs that once ran feely through
the great halls and passageways as part of Tibetan monastery
life. Although genetically equivalent to the Lhasa Apsos in
current Western breeding programs, the Gompa dogs have not been
bred towards a written standard of perfection. This unique gene
pool represents the last remaining vestiges of the Apso as it
developed as a landrace in its native country of Tibet.
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