Dog – human’s best friend and trusted companion – but are they more than that? Can dogs give insight into human strengths and weaknesses? Some say that animals bring with them unique wisdom that we humans can glean from and, if embraced, become better through what is shared. This wisdom is called ‘animal medicine’ by ancient native people.

Kirby Peterson grew up in a small town on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico in a culture he described as unaccepting.
While some American Indian tribes are reverent of their gay and lesbian members, Peterson described his school years more like those of many LGBT teens around the country.
“Life was very hard on the reservation,” he said. “I was abused, called names and bullied.”
He said he was not accepted by his parents and thrown out of his house.

At the northeast edge of the Big Horn Basin one can explore a chapter in Western history that predates the founding mountain man and cowboys lore of Cody Country.
The Big Horn Medicine Wheel has been used in rituals for many centuries by different Native American tribes, but historians say the wheel is 700-1,500 years old – placing it on the prehistoric timeline.

For Barry Beaver, the sweat lodge at Three Rivers in Manteca was part of his daily purification and prayer rituals.
A Choctaw, the Oklahoma native was one of the early clients at the alcohol- and drug-treatment facility for Native Americans on North Union Road who took advantage of the sweat lodge on a daily basis.

OTTAWA - More than 500 people jammed the ballroom of Ottawa's Chateau Laurier Hotel for the first annual National Aboriginal Prayer Breakfast June 21.