The Serendipitous Story Of How A Stray Dog Changed A Former U.S. Ambassador's Life

This is the story of a puppy who had no name and no family.

He lived high up in the Himalayas of Nepal. There are lots of dogs all over the world who belong to no one. But this pup — and this story — are different.

One day, the man who was at the time the U.S. ambassador to Nepal, Scott DeLisi, crossed paths with the dog. What happened at that moment is the subject of “The Ambassador’s Dog,” a book he’s written for children and adults.

DeLisi and illustrator of the book Jane Lillian Vance join host Lisa Mullins.

Book Excerpt: ‘The Ambassador’s Dog’

By Scott DeLisi

The people of the village recognized that this handsome blue-gray puppy had a wandering spirit. And, although the people were kind, the puppy sensed that none of them were the family of which he had dreamed. And so he waited. And every day he gazed down the trail that led back to Tsarang and then to a world beyond the plateau.

Karchung had never been beyond the village of Tsarang. Neither had his parents. Nor had most of the people of the village. They were content with their lives in the mountains.

The chickens, the goats, and the donkeys the pup met had never left the mountains either. They had no desire to do so. They too were content with their lives high on the plateau and with their homes in Saukre. But the puppy – the bhote kukur born in the heart of those mountains – knew that his future lay down the trail and beyond. And so, he waited. He knew his dreams would find him and he would find his dreams.

The puppy waited quietly. He waited with dignity. Calmly. Sure that his future lay down the path he watched so intently every day.

The people of Saukre worried that the restless spirit in the puppy would lead him to follow some call only he heard and take him far away from them. So they used a khata, a ceremonial silk blessing scarf, to tie the puppy to a metal rod pounded into the ground on the edge of the trail. But the pup did not mind. He sat. He waited. He watched.

The days passed. Then, one morning, when the pup awoke, the air around him was alive with energy. Karchung did not feel it. The chickens scratching in the dirt did not feel it. The goats wandering through the lanes did not feel it. But the puppy felt it, and his heart raced.

He gobbled down his tsampa and then went out into the day. The worst of the winter chills were gone but a fog still shrouded Saukre early that April morning. The blue-gray pup was almost invisible, blending into the drifting wisps of mist as he raced for his perch overlooking the trail. Karchung knew where the pup was bound and followed along behind. As he had every day for the past week, he tied the pup to the metal rod. The pup did not mind. He sat on his rock, looked down the trail, and waited. The sun rose higher and the mists gave way to a blue sky that matched the puppy’s eyes. The village had come alive as the morning passed. Everyone was in motion. Except the pup. He still waited.

At ten o’clock, people in the village stopped for tea. But the pup waited. Every nerve was tingling. He sat so straight. So strong. So handsome. And he waited. Suddenly, the pup sat even straighter, if such a thing was possible. There. In the distance. People were moving. They came closer and closer and closer. In front was a man. A man in a white shirt wearing a blue cap.

His white beard spoke of the passage of years, but the fact that he hiked in these high mountain passes told the pup that his spirit was strong. The man’s eyes were kind and his voice gentle. The puppy knew that this was his man. This was why he had waited. He knew it, even if the man did not.

The pup mustered all the dignity that a five-week-old puppy could muster. He sat still. But his heart raced. He met the man’s eyes and held them and, for the first time, the puppy spoke.”

Excerpted from “The Ambassador’s Dog” by Scott DeLisi. Copyright © 2020 by Scott DeLisi. Republished with permission of DeLisi. 

This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2021 NPR]