The Gift of the Sacred Dog

This is a folktale about the emergence and influence of horses on the lives of the Native American tribes living on the Great Plains. The imagery sends the reader right into the story and the brightly colored illustrations add to this beautifully written tale. There is a short explanation at the beginning of the book which describes the meaning of the title and the fact that this book centers on the nomadic buffalo hunters who struggled to obtain food before the introduction of the horse by the Spanish. This story is about respecting animals and the earth.

The Gift of the Sacred Dog by Paul Goble is a folktale about the tribes of nomadic buffalo hunters who lived on the Great Plains. One day the people of this tribe were very hungry and had walked many days in order to find the buffalo herds. However, they were no where to be found and the people had become too exhausted to walk any farther. So, the wise men from the village suggested that they must dance to bring back the buffalo. The peoples attempts failed. So, a young boy got tired of seeing his family hungry. So, the boy went up the mountains and asked help from the great spirits. The great spirits heard the boy's cry and gave him the "sacred dog" (horses). The great spirit instructed the boy to take great care of them and the show more "sacred dogs" would help the people follow the buffalo more effectively. I thought this was a very interesting folk tale. show less

Any book about the creation of something by a Native American is beautiful. I love to read about these stories. The gift of the sacred dog is about how the Horses became an important resource for the Indians because they lessoned the hardships of hunting for the Buffalo. Indians have wonderful believes about how to respect nature. The pictures were bright and colorful and reflected the story.

Gift of the Sacred Dog can be used to introduce students to the Native American culture. Teachers can use this book in when introducing or during a study in native american history, since this book tells the Native American's account of how they acquired the horse. It introduces students to the rich culture of oral story telling practiced among Native Americans, and can be used to teach students about the history of storytelling itself.

Summary:
This story is about the Sioux Tribe and how the horses came to them.
The Sioux people had been searching for the buffalo but could not find them, the people grew hungry and did the Buffalo Dance to try to bring the buffalo back.
A young boy goes to the hills to ask the Great Spirit to bring buffalo back. The Great Spirit shows him a vision of an animal called the sacred dog that was a horse. The boy had never seen such an animal. The Great Spirit told him that the animal would help them find the buffalo. The boy then was going to go see the wise man about what the Great Spirit had told him and then he heard what sounded like thunder and out of the hills came the Sacred Dogs. The boy returned with the horses and told the people show more that they would help find the buffalo. They Sacred Dogs helped find the buffalo and the people took great care of the horses.
Personal Reaction:
This was a good tale of how the horse came to the Sioux people. I liked the story and how it showed that legends/tales are used in the Native American culture.

Classroom Extension:
1. Have children color and paint their own Sacred Dog, by using horse template for younger children and older children can draw their own.
2. Have children think of their own tale/legend to make up and help them write it.
3. Do unit over Horses and use the story of Sacred Dogs to show how the Native American culture used horses. show less

The story is about the nomadic Plains Indians before horses were part of the culture. The tribe is starving and a young brave is concerned that the Great Spirit does not know about their dire circumstances. The boy ventures alone up a mountain to pray to the Spirit. While praying, the boy has a vision about horses, or in his words, Sacred Dog. On that day horses discovered. With the addition of. Horses into the culture, the Plains Indian no longer feared starvation.

A Native American folklore story about where horses come from. A boy who goes out to find help for his tribe. A man on a "sacred dog" tells him all about these animals and then many more come out of the clouds for him to deliver to his people