Journal

In the book The Way to Rainy Mountain, it talks about many important things to the Kiowa Indian. In chapter three it talks about the importance of dogs. Before the Kiowa were introduced to horses, they had dogs. Dogs were the Kiowa's best friend. The Indians were so in touch with nature that the dogs could be heard talking to them. To this days. dogs are still a man's best friend. Whether it is for hunting, sport, or just for a pet, dogs are great to have.

I remember when I was 7 and I would always visit my grandfather every other week. My grandpa's house was extremely boring so I dreaded going there. The only exciting thing that i could do was play with his golden retriever, Malcolm. Malcolm was very skinny and frail. He almost resembled my grandpa in a way. The only thing that was different about the two was that Malcolm was always lazy and my grandpa was full of spunk.

When I was about 8 or 9 , my grandfather passed away from a heart attack. My grandmother passed away about 10 years before that. It was very depressing for my family when we had to help move all of this furniture. My aunts and uncles split up what they all wanted and it came down to what they should do with the frail dog, Malcolm. I never had a real pet before so I decided to just take care of him and to see how it went. We grabbed Malcolm's kennel and drove home.

When we got home we let Malcolm out of his kennel in the backyard and he immediately started to play around. It was a little weird since I was used to him just laying around and accomplishing nothing with his life. Malcolm and I would play all afternoon in my backyard and go for walks. With all of his added energy he was actually exciting to play around with. My mom would always joke that maybe a little of my grandpa's spunk had drifted into him. I was young at that age so I actually believed that a part of my grandpa was in him. I could never really look at Malcolm the same because it made sense since he all of a sudden got this random energy. Malcolm passed away when I was around 10 from a reason that I'm not aware of. To this day I still feel that a little bit of my grandpa was in that skinny, frail dog that was full of energy.

Dogs have always been a man's best friend when they were introduced to humans back to the tribal Indians. Dogs have an almost humanlike personality that us humans are fond of. Just like the Indians had believed that dogs had humanlike capabilities by talking to them, I feel the dog that I had for a year had a little of my grandfather's spirit in him. The close relationship between man and dog will always be there.