UNSW Dogs Jasper and Luka Graduate

The campus dogs Jasper and Luka have been a fixture of UNSW for many years, brightening the lives of students and featuring prominently on UNSW social media accounts. This term, things are changing. As the dogs’ owners Jovi and Andy graduate from UNSW, so do Jasper and Luka.

Jovi has finished a Juris Doctor, her third degree at UNSW, while her younger brother Andy is graduating with a Bachelor of Information Systems. Meanwhile, Jasper is reported to have completed his Dogtor of Barkology, while Luka will be leaving with a Barkchelor of Paw. According to UNSW’s YouTube page, both dogs majored in being a good boy. 

Jasper previously completed a Law PhD in 2018, meaning that between the four of them, they have received seven degrees from UNSW. That’s one well-educated family. 

I reached out to Jovi about how the campus dogs came to be and some of their memorable moments on campus.

Jasper was the original campus dog, first arriving at UNSW in 2017, before being joined shortly afterwards by Luka. 

Jovi spoke to me about how Jasper ended up on campus, saying, “[Jasper] would start destroying the house when I wasn’t around.” Jovi was doing her undergrad at the time and living an hour away, which meant that she would be out of the house for 3 hours for a single tutorial; it also meant that Jasper would be left alone for long enough to destroy her parents’ house. Jovi had to find another solution, and that came in the form of bringing Jasper to campus.

She got permission from her lecturers to take Jasper to class, and when she couldn’t get permission to do that, a friend of hers who lived near the university would take Jasper for walks up and down Main Walkway, receiving lots of pats and brightening up students' days. UNSW’s social media manager at the time found out about this and reached out to Jovi, asking to make Jasper an official UNSW mascot. Luckily, Luka got the same treatment when he joined the family.

I also spoke to Jovi about some of the highlights Jasper and Luka have had over the years. 

She said that “Jasper and Luka love being on campus; whenever they’d see me bring my UNSW bag for classes out, they’d get really excited to come to uni too.” Some highlights Jovi mentioned were the ‘pupperchinos’ from Plume cafe (just frothed up milk). Supposedly, one day a trainee at the cafe said – rightfully – that dogs aren’t supposed to have dairy milk and gave them soy milk instead. Jasper took one lick and rushed over to the barista and started barking until he was given real milk. 

A highlight for Luka, especially, was people bringing him watermelon after hearing about it being his favourite food, and having red around his mouth all day afterwards. Other highlights have included dog yoga with UNSW Accommodation, finding balls around campus to play with, and shooting promotional videos with the uni.

Jovi will now be working full-time for the Federal Court of Australia, while Andy is moving to Melbourne. The future for Jasper and Luka is less clear, but with such sterling credentials, it will surely be bright. 

According to Jovi, the tradition of Samoyeds on campus will not end with Jasper and Luka’s departure, as moving forward, her friend Mel will periodically be bringing her three Samoyeds to UNSW. So keep an eye out for that, and be sure to offer them the same support that you would any first-year student.

We’re sad to see the puppers go, but grateful for their time with us, and looking forward to following their onward journey. Goodbye Jovi, Andy, Jasper and Luka.