allen: dogs of the american aborigines. 455 



Sioux Dog. 



Characfcr.s. — A large wolf-like dog, probably elosely related to the 

 Plains-Indian Dog but larger and gray rather than tawii}- in color. 



Distrihvtion. — Probably the north-central plains area, from the 

 Missouri north perhaps to Saskatchewan. 



Notes. — No doubt the carrier-dogs differed slightly among the 

 various tribes of Plains Indians co\'ering the wide stretch of country 

 from Northern Mexico to Saskatchewan, so that local breeds of the 

 general type could be distinguished did we have opportunity to com- 

 pare them. Morton (1851), who tried to obtain information from 

 frontier officers in the earlier half of the last century, cjuotes a letter 

 from H. H. Sibley, a correspondent in ^linnesota, who avers that 

 " the Indian Dog differs much in size and appearance among different 

 tribes" but that they all have small, sharp, erect ears. He particu- 

 larly recalls that "among the Sioux, it is large and gray, resembling 

 the Buffalo Wolf." Packard (1885) has mentioned "whitish tawny" 

 Indian dogs seen in 1877, among the Crows of the upper Missouri. 

 Lewis and Clark, on their famous journey, came upon a scaffold 

 burial of an Indian squaw, near which lay two dog-sleds and the 

 carcase of a large dead dog, between Mandan and the Yellowstone. 

 These large gray dogs of the Sioux may ha^e been a distinct breed 

 from the tawny dog, of the size of a Coyote, and possibly the same as 

 certain large dogs seen by Hind (1859) among the Crees of the Sand 

 Hills. Sir John Franklin (in his Journey to the shores of the Polar 

 Sea, 1829, 1, p. 176) briefly mentions the large dogs of the Crees in the 

 Saskatchewan countrv. He adds that in the month of March, the 

 female wolves "frequently entice the domestic dog from the forts, 

 although at other seasons a strong antipathy seemed to subsist between 

 them." 



Hamilton Smith (1840) quotes an interesting letter from Prince 

 Maximilian of Wied, likening- the North American plains dog to a 

 wolf, "excepting that the tail is more curved, and the color either 

 "absolutely grey like wolves" or white, black, and black and white 

 spotted. The latter coloring, however, may apply to some other 

 breeds than that under consideration. 



Figures probably representing this dog, are shown in some of the 

 plates of Catlin's Indians (1841, colored edition, 2) small to be sure, 

 but showing the gray coloring, large erect ears, and scimitar-shaped 

 tail carried out behind. His Plate 103 in 2 is a spirited drawing 

 illustrating a dog-fight in which all the dogs of the party, though 

 burdened with their loads "en iravois," are rushing to participate. 



