Many aspects of life on the rez are different than life outside. One of these aspects is the treatment of dogs. The dog is a sacred animal to the Lakota. Puppy soup is sometimes eaten ceremonially. I have a hard time reconciling this with the fact that people let their dogs roam free here. They are just one step above wild. Dogs that hang around are shooed away by clicking or kicking. My roommate Courtney has two dogs, Atlas (who is part pit bull, part pekingese) and Scout (who is a rez dog that Courtney took in). The funniest thing happened the other night. Courtney gave the dogs bones to chew on and put them upstairs because she had to go to a staff meeting. Of course minutes after her leaving the dogs wandered downstairs to check on me in my room where I was reading Harry Potter in bed. They only brought one bone though, which Atlas dragged onto my bed. He’s afraid of my hedgehog stuffed animal so I picked it up and let him smell it. When he wasn’t looking, Scout stole his bone and ran upstairs with it. Moments later I heard this “thump, thump, thump” down the stairs. Scout had pushed the other bone down the stairs for Atlas! Then he came in my room, stood up on his hind legs, and stared me straight in the face. I’m starting to think there’s something more to that dog!