The legend of Wahanpi; the protest dog

RAPID CITY – Ahani (a long time ago), before there were horses, Sunka (dog) was sacred to the Oceti Sakonwin. Sunka guarded the tipi encampments, and pulled travois’ when the camp moved seasonally following the buffalo.

Each spring when the Wakinyan Oyate (thunder beings) brought magazu (rain) to replenish the wakpana na wakpa (creeks and rivers) and nourish Unci Maka (Mother Earth), an ancient celestial ceremony was held to welcome them back.

In that ancient sacred ceremony the Heyoka (thunder dreamers) were assisted by the sunka nagi (spirits) to bring healing to the Tiwahe. The Heyoka would prepare a sunkpala (puppy) in a sacred manner, then feed it to the people, which would bring them healing.

In May of 2014, at the Zero Tolerance Camp, at White Clay, Nebraska a little sunkpala (puppy) was destined to become part of one of these sacred Lakota ceremonies to help bring healing to the Oglala Nation that has been ravaged by the plague of alcohol.

But the destiny of this little pup would change as he was destined to a greater calling, bring healing to those fighting the black snake, oil pipelines.

Dollar, a chow and golden retriever mix, had given birth to a litter of 12 puppies and the puppies were brought to the Zero Tolerance Protest Camp in White Clay.

One of the little sunkpala came and laid at feet of Chris Fire Thunder, an Oglala Lakota from the community of Porcupine. So the owner of the puppies, Lakota unci Wanda Siers, gave him the little guy.

“He chose me,” Fire Thunder said. “He was the runt of the litter. That’s when I first met him. I didn’t know they were going to sacrifice him at the Sun Dance ceremony. My mom was going to throw him into the fire.”

So that’s when the little sunkpala got his name, Wahanpi, which translates as soup.

Wahanpi and his new master would stay at the Zero Tolerance Camp for another eight months and as Wahanpi grew so did Fire Thunder’s love for him.

“When I first got him, he fit in my hand, Fire Thunder said. “We stayed in a tipi at the camp and he would lay next to me upside down on his back. His front paws were so big that when he ran he would trip over them, and would look at us embarrassed as if to say, ‘Did you see that?’”

After the Zero Tolerance Camp, Fire Thunder took Wahanpi with him to the Rosebud Reservation’s Spirit Camp which was set up to prevent the proposed Keystone XL pipeline from passing through Rosebud land.

There Wahanpi watched over the camp as well as two kittens, four chickens and even became father to his own daughter, Mato Sapa.

Fire Thunder said he was incarcerated for a time and during his incarceration, his mother Helen Red Feather took Wahanpi to his next destination, the No DAPL encampment on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.

This is when Wahunpi would became legendary, as the mascot dog for the indigenous protest movement. During the protest, even Wahanpi was hit by one of the rubber bullets that were fired at protestors by the police.

“Everybody knows him,” Fire Thunder said. “His pictures are all over Facebook. He is on the Zero Tolerance, Spirit Camp and No DAPL Facebook pages.”

“He’s more famous than I am,” Fire Thunder said as he jokingly quipped, “I’m jealous.”

Fire Thunder, and his partner Lisa Flying Hawk, from Rockyford on the Pine Ridge Reservation, now reside in Rapid City and Wahanpi goes everywhere they go, as he is now designated as a service dog.

Fire Thunder and Flying Hawk are part of the homeless community in Rapid City once lived under the 5^th Street Bridge and Wahanpi was there by their side.

“We had to sleep on cardboard and Wahanpi had it better than we did. Someone gave him a soft bed to sleep on,” Flying Hawk said.

“When we are walking around downtown, business owners will invite us over and say, ‘We have some food for Wahanpi.’ We would be hungry too and wondered, ‘What about us?’ He eats better than we do,” they laughed. They said his favorite food is Hoagies, “He loves Hoagies.”

When they walk around town they said people will walk by them and say, “Hi Wahanpi” and pet him. “They don’t even say ‘Hi’ to us but they always greet Wahanpi.” Even the Cankpa (police) know him.

Wahanpi was with his masters at the New Year’s Eve Ball drop in front of Alex Johnson. When balls were being thrown out into the audience to catch and win a prize, Wahanpi caught one and won a trip to the Watiki Water Park they giggled.

As Wahanpi lay relaxed in front of the band shell at Memorial Park taking his fame in stride, his master shouted out, “Squirrel!” Wahanpi immediately jumped to attention and began peering into the trees above him.

Squirrels and turtles are apparently the two things that can excite this usually calm canine, “One day he spotted a turtle over there by the pond. That was one of the only times we ever heard him bark,” Fire Thunder said.

Now that Wahanpi is eight years old, his master knows that’s a lot of dog years, “I don’t know what I will do without him.”

(Contact Ernestine Anukasuŋ at production@nativesunnews.today)

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