REZ DOGS FOREWORD
REZ DOGS:
Ruffin’ It On the Navajo Reservation
by
RICHARD KERRY HOLTZIN
© 2020
This fable is dedicated to the affable strays struggling to survive on Indian Reservations throughout America. May your search for food under adverse living conditions one day reward you with a loving home, sound health, and profuse happiness. You deserve all this and more. To all of you, especially Stumpi de Chelly. . .
LIVE LONG AND MOOCH OFTEN!
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Please note: This Tale About Tails could not have been conceived were it not for the fact the Native American Reservations throughout the United States, and especially those Indian Nations throughout the Southwest’s Four Corners region, that are constantly besieged by too many inconsiderate outsiders furtively dropping off their family pets on reservation land. Hopefully, the saga, as told throughout this narrative, will get the salient point across that abandoning dogs (also cats) on reservations and assuming these animals will continue their existence without threat or harm is akin to thinking animal welfare and humanity will prolong the lives of domesticated dogs. Actually, the chance of a rez dog’s survival beyond a couple of years is less than 85% If the dog manages to survive another year or so, the percentage dramatically drops, then continues dropping as time passes. On the other paw, finding a rez dog that manages to exist four or five years is as rare as discovering water on the surface of the moon! Think about these sobering statistics and the reality of a rez dog’s existence before assuming the Native Americans have the resources to do what deserters of pets do not have—a conscience in the guise of dogmanity
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FOREWARD
This novel is about strays running loose on the Navajo Reservation. Hence, the epithet, REZ DOGS RUFFIN’ IT! Although the fable of the narrative is just that––a fable––the background details of these peerless canines is verifiable. Thus, they have to make every moment count and not just the daily Zen-like routine of their desperate lives. And, yes, what’s at stake is that critical for survival. As all canine enthusiasts know, there are dogs and there are DOGS. In short, all dogs are special. Nevertheless, some dogs rate this tribute because the plight of their lives hangs in the balance every day they are on this side of the grass or dirt and breathing.
This novel that is solely dedicated to these stalwart campground moochers is indeed a realistic depiction of a rez dog’s daily life. The intrinsic fable, however, is an imaginative way to tell their story, with a mix of merriment and drama. Inspired by the main star of this novel, Stumpi de Chelly (pronounced, “de shay”), the narrative’s tale about tails refers to homeless dogs. Trying to exist anywhere on the vast Navajo Reservation comes down to the salient point: the dogs are most assuredly on their own. As strays running loose on Indian Reservations, there is a modicum of sovereignty given the canine cooperative community. Nevertheless, such seeming freedom always comes with a price. Namely, a relentless search to find a humane camper who will share food with roving canine mendicants. That said, some campers provide snacks, even meals, for the dogs and sometimes the dogs are ignored or chased out of campsites.
For those who are not familiar with the lifestyle and plight of rez dogs, their legacy is both heroic and tragic. Thus, either fortunate or unfortunate given the outcome of their mooching efforts and patrols. They are also heroic with respect to the odds each dog faces everyday. Equally, their lives are always at risk because many dogs in their community live relatively short lifespans.
As for a valid summation of their character, some of the common characteristic adjectives are pleasing, polite, and patient. Since these usually affable strays are comparatively classified as pack dogs, which off the reservation tends to instill a feral instinct, their usual calm demeanor typifies an atypical behavioral tendency that warms the hearts of most visitors. Hostility among their community is also very rare.
The setting selected for this novel’s narrative takes place at one of the Southwest’s most scenic places, Canyon de Chelly. Established in 1931 as a unit of the National Park Service, this national monument selected as the backdrop for the story is both personal and relates a familiarity with tribal lands. I have lived in the West and Southwest for over fifty years and have hiked and backpacked most of this territory spread out throughout the famed Four Corners region (aka the “Colorado Plateau Province,” which is due east from the Rocky Mountains). A good portion of the sprawling landscape’s mileage includes most of the Navajo reservation, as well as iconic landmarks (i.e., elongate plateaus and downsized mesas, buttes, spirals and totems, better known as “hoodoos”).
Also known as the Diné or “Naabeehó, like all Native American reservation land, Canyon de Chelly is one of the Southwest’s most scenic environs. Unlike the Grand Canyon’s five or so million visitors a year, Canyon de Chelly welcomes some two hundred thousand visitors. Hence, it’s never crowded. This national monument also hosts (but does not provide for) a large number of rez dog strays either born here or dropped off (read, “abandoned”). Thus, a rather sizable canine population, including feline strays. Therein lies the ubiquitous problem centered on all homeless dogs and cats: continuing proliferation. The reason, of course, has everything to do with a lack of neutering and spaying clinics and services. That being said, many visitors entering any part of the reservation tend to think or assume the greeting committee of rez dogs is owned by the residents. This inference, of course, is not the case. That said, for a more detailed background about these lovable pooches, as well as the backstory why I wrote this combined fable and factual narrative, this backstory is presented at the close of the book (see “AUTHOR’s NOTES”). The informative addenda also relates incidental details about the dogs, as well as the Navajo, which the reader can peruse now or later or disregard.
Before meeting Stumpi and the gang on a more personal level and closing this introduction, I want to share with you one of my favorite compositions relating to all creatures great and small. The poem’s connection with humanity and dogmanity also applies to the literary substance of this text whose familiar rhyme and couplet are from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner. For me, the import of his poem summarizes what Mahatma Gandhi wrote in a similar vein––If you can’t help the animals of the world, please try not to hurt them! (I also changed “people” to “animals,” though I am sure he meant animals, as well as people.) Hence, the lines that Coleridge wrote denote the very thought I have in mind about the rez dogs introduced and featured in this story:
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
I think most people agree Coleridge defines a spiritual bond between humans and all creatures great and small––domesticated, feral, farm animals, and wildlife. Some would also call it a spiritual relationship.
Richard Kerry Holtzin
Flagstaff, Arizona
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