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COMPLETENESS IN CHARACTERIZING THE DOG:

A STUDY OF IGBO FOLKTALES

ALOY NNAMDI OBIKA

Department of English,
Madonna University Nigeria,
Okija Campus
08033820690
aloyobika@yahoo.com

&

OBIORA EKE, Ph.D.

Department of English,
Madonna University Nigeria,
Okija Campus
08033552388
obioraeke@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
It is generally assumed that all folktale characters are type characters because they are not
fully portrayed, and normally, each is identified with just a single idea or quality. But this
assumption is wrong because ideas about a particular character may be shared in many tales
since the children for whom these tales were composed have a limit to the extent to which they
can absorb ideas. This and more reasons are why the information about Dog is scattered in
many tales. When these tales are studied, a lot of ideas can be gathered about the animal. These
ideas trace the animal’s early stage of living in the wild to its domestication through its eating
habits, behaviour, physique, etc. These facts can also be seen in Igbo proverbs. In this way,
this essay is of the view that characterization done on this mammal is so complete that the
animal as it appears in Igbo folktales cannot be a type character.

INTRODUCTION
In folktales, any animal character mentioned represents all the animals of its kind. An
illustration can be given with the goat which represents all goats in existence. What is done
with each character is that every evaluation and metaphysical conception of the society
regarding the animal is encapsulated in that particular character. In other words, that animal
becomes a representative of all its kind, carrying inside it, everything known about its kind.
However, the animal with a slight difference is Tortoise whose father, wife and children are
mentioned in tales.
In assessing these animal characters, what the society highlights are the most overt
behavioural traits or the characteristics which are ascribed to them. That explains why Tortoise
no matter in which tale he is seen is always crafty. Talk of the cow and you see timidity and
foolishness; the lion can only exhibit imperial authority and power, crudely and harshly
executed. Can the sheep escape from foolishness and so being cheated in any tale? When is the

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goat bereft of envy? In all, these animals in contact with Tortoise must appear gullible in order
to highlight the trickster’s wisdom. A stand such as this explains Nkem Okoh’s statement that:
“There are norms of behaviour expected of the sheep, the elephant and so on in stories; the
stereotypes are, therefore formed through observation of the habits of various animals, their
appearances and the kind of response they usually make in particular situations” (32).
In all the tales, these animal characters are portrayed to highlight the societal assessment
of them, for in actual fact, these tales are based on facts of life. However, no scientific and
indepth study of them have been made and so, what is highlighted is just the little that is known.
Hence, Tortoise is just wise and tricky; Goat is nothing but a bundle of envy, etc. In other
words, animal characters in folktales are type characters since each “…is built around a single
idea or quality and …without much individualizing detail” (Abrams and Harpham 32).
Similarly, Jan Harold Brunvand also observes that: “Usually these animals correspond to
certain stock character types such as the clever fox or rabbit, the stupid bear, the faithful dog,
and the industrious ant. Frequently, these tales describe conflict between different animals and
between animals and men” (38).
Because of the above view, critics tend to hoist the observation of being type characters
on all the animals of the folktale. This is what this paper stands to refute for among all the
animals, the dog stands out as one whose physical, metaphysical and behavioural inclinations
are highlighted both in the people’s world view and in their tales. The result is that like other
animal characters, there is not just one regard or assessment agreeably given on the animal.
Call any Igbo child and ask about Tortoise, the child will tell you off-handedly that Tortoise is
a trickster but nothing of such can be said about Dog. In our investigation, at the Nsukka area
of the Igbo nation, Dog is said to be greedy. At Nnobi in Idemili South Local Government Area
of Anambra State, he is cantankerous. In Igbo Mysticism: Power of Igbo Traditional Religion
and Society, he is said to be a symbol of aggression (Adibe 210). This view is similar to his
being cantankerous. However, who knows from which place, Adibe got his information. If the
researchers have continued, they would have gotten more and different answers.
These various views are then inserted into the tales. Therefore, in these tales, one sees
Dog’s physical descriptions, mental acuity, sporting prowess, trickery, sitting posture, etc.
These considerations therefore remove Dog from the status of being a type character, for how
do we characterize round characters in creative works? Is it not through looking at them from
various perspectives through what they say and what they do, through what other characters
say about them and through what the narrators say about them?
In order to accomplish this work, the essay will make use of how this animal is seen in
modern life through mere observation and scientific investigations. Again, the essay will make
use of the perceptions which the Igbo people of south-eastern Nigeria have about the animal.
Some of these facts are what can be seen in folktales since “… the tale or story is an admixture
of fact and fiction” (Okoh 119). All these bits of information and knowledge are couched and
incorporated in the tales.

Totality in Portraying Dog

Of all domestic animals, the dog is the only one whose entrance into the human family
has been recorded both by the scientists and folktale racontours. This shows the interest man
has in this animal. Since both sources agree that it is Dog that came to live with man before
other animals, there must be an element of truth. If it is true, then more facts must have been
garnered from this long association with humans. This then can account for the animal being
given more elaborate observations in tales. In order to buttress this long association, let us read
the scientific presentation of Elizabeth M. Bodner in the Encarta CD-Rom of the Microsoft
Corporation: “Dog, mammal [is] generally considered to be the first domesticated animal. This
trusted work partner and beloved pet learned to live with humans more than 14,000 years ago”.

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This stand corresponds with the same observation in folk narratives of many nations –
though the tales do not bear dates. Many of such tales relate what caused the wild animal to
leave the forest with all its dangers and uncertainties. It then moved in to live with man. One
of such tales has it that Tortoise suggested that he would compete with him in a race. The
expectation is that a race where Tortoise is pitched against Dog has just one result – Dog
winning Tortoise. But this did not happen for Tortoise knew the love Dog has for bones. He
went and hid a bone along the route that Dog would pass. True to type, when Dog saw it, he
stopped and in the process, Tortoise passed him and won the race. All the animals started
booing him. “In shame, he [Dog] ran away to a village where children were playing. Later, he
stayed with them. From that day to this day, the dog has been the friend of man” (Akinsemoyin
40).
The way Tortoise tricked Dog here can reduce the latter to the level of other animals
who Tortoise cheats. But to show that Dog is not that foolish but a balanced personality, he
paid Tortoise back in his own coin when one day Tortoise wanted to cheat Goat of the games
he won in a wrestling combat. When Dog arrived on the scene, he settled the case without the
two contestants knowing his plans. It was only when he offered to help Tortoise swim across a
river that his plan showed itself. He ferried across the river, the six games which Tortoise using
his tricks got from Goat. Tortoise waited for Dog to help him swim across the river but the
animal had gone to Goat’s house to share the games. When it became clear to Tortoise that he
has been tricked was when later he met Dog who now “…turned to the tortoise laughing and
said, Mr. Tortoise, the trickster has been tricked. Things are now even; nobody is cheated”
(Onwu 34). So, in this case, Dog’s swimming prowers and intelligence are the two aspects of
the animal highlighted.
Again on Dog being the first domesticated animal, the Igbo people have many tales
reminding their children of the fact. One of such tales goes with the title “Ihe Mere Nkita Jiri
Buru Anu Uno – What Made the Dog to be a Domestic Animal” (Iroaganachi 58). The story
narrates how initially Dog was stronger than Tiger because of his powerful teeth and claws.
But one day, Tiger requested for these to be lent him for him to wear them to his in-law’s house.
Dog obliged him only for Tiger to use them to drive him out of the animal kingdom. It is in a
sad note that Dog’s kindness ended in his banishment for it is recorded that:
Nkita gbaara oso gbaba n’oke ohia; site n’ebe ahu gbara oso gaa n’ulo ndi madu …
n’ebe ahu, Nkita na madu biri.
Dog ran into a mighty forest, from there, he ran into a house belonging to humans …
from that place, Dog has been living with human (60).
These two tales highlight the interest that the precultural observers have on this animal.
In spite of these tales coming from two different cultural backgrounds, they agree that of all
animals, the dog is the first to be domesticated. This is in consonance with modern scientific
discovery about the animal. These years of association with the animal have resulted into more
knowledge about it. As was noted earlier, this knowledge has been couched in different tales
thereby helping to remove the animal from being seen as a type character.
Therefore, in these tales, Dog makes use of his brain which has been developing from
the days when he was cheated of his strong and sharp teeth and claws. These numerous tales
exhibits his activities to the minutest details – his eating habit, his sitting posture, strength,
running ability, servile nature, metaphysical prowess, etc. These are what man has observed in
this animal who for ages has been his friend.
However, we must own up that modern scientific scholarship has shown that all animals
have endowments similar to man’s. But folktale narrators of old did not study them well to
portray much of their activities in tales. When studied, these animals can be seen to correspond
with what Jean Craighead George means when she says that:

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Most natural scientists believe today that the birds and beasts are not automatons,
performing by instincts without thought or feeling but creatures of intelligence and
sensitivity that communicate in many ingenious ways. Will Cramer [a blacksmith living
in the valley of the Yellow Breeches Creek, Pennsylvania] was right: the animals do
talk, not only to each other but to us if we listen (4).
Here, it can be seen that contrary to most people’s view, these animals are not just mere
robots created in tales to imitate man. They are just characters talking and moving about in a
social milieu, doing those things that can result from such interactions. Therefore, like other
animals, Dog is a clearly delineated character with intellect. What is more, his long contact
with man has sharpened the innate ability imbued into him by Nature. If this is true and it is
also true that what the animal is, is what raconteurs portray, then he cannot be classified as a
type character.
This sharpening of the innate ability can be seen in an international event that happened
recently. During Britain’s Got Talent (of the animal series 6) competition, a “teenager trained
her pet (dog) to jump, dance on his hind legs, meander through her legs, and even got him to
run across the judges’ table.” Many Internet sources like this one in the Telegraph conclude
this message with the information that the pair won $500,000. Also, the duo would perform at
“the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen”. This actually happened and was
beamed to all the countries of the world and was seen by all who turned to the channels.
But it is with a sneering frown that some listen to tales of animals dancing. In one of
such folkloric dances, Dog lent his cloth to Tortoise who in the euphoria of the dance, forgot
himself and tore the borrowed cloth (Oruche 30). In this way and in many tales, bits of facts
about the animal are released to the public. When these pieces of information are fixed together,
one can get a composite view of this long standing friend of man. It is quite erroneous on our
part for us to assume that the encyclopedic knowledge on the animal can be released in one
tale. For one to know much about this animal, one has to bring together many of these tales.
Only then can the person see that indeed, Dog unlike other animal characters is not a type
character but one whose every aspect of his existence has been looked into but in bits.
Also in this modern age, scientists have started making use of the innate ability of this
animal. One of such abilities is its ability to “see” or perceive things which are hidden to man
or even to scientific monitoring instruments. For years, Igbo folktale raconteus have not only
been talking about this but been acting it out--in conformity with folktale sessions being made
up of both narration and dramatization. But it was only: “In 1952 [that] representative of the
US Army asked Dr. Rhime if he thought dogs could be trained to locate mines buried in battle
fields… If dogs did possess such a clairvoyant capability, many lives could be saved. Test
[because of this] were conducted in California along a beach, north of San Francisco” (Hill 43).
But for eons of years, Igbo folktales have been emphasizing this ability of the animal.
In one of such tales, Tortoise kills the children of his friend, Pig. At night, he stealthily goes to
the cemetery to exhume the corpses and convert them to food. No animal knows why Pig
should be losing his children one after the other. If not because of the clairvoyance of Dog,
none will ever know it (Onwu 45). Apart from countless tales showing this ability: “The Igbo
believe that animals can see spirits. When for example a dog barks without any visible cause
or when fowls begin to quack uneasily without birds or any other visible object inducing them
to do so, then the Igbo suspect that spirits may be around or that something mysterious is about
to happen” (Nwala 50).
This ability of being aware of something that is physically removed from somebody is
an ability that is in all animals and even in many human beings when they are young (Hill 22).
However, it is in most developed form in Dog, according to the Igbo people. To account for
this, the animal is linked to the god of healing, divination and medicine, Agwu. So, it is further
stated that: “It [dog] is used for sacrifices and equally serves as a messenger of Agwu, depicting

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its swiftness and perceptivity to finding, seeing through darkness any moving object and spirit
as it possesses four eyes; recurring of dogs in dreams is an allusion to Agwu possession for
special work” (Adibe 261).
Therefore, as a confirmation that Dog really has this ability as can be seen in many
tales, Caras, Roger A. in the Encarta writes that:
… a few years ago, authorities suspected that a policewoman had been murdered …and
buried in a park. A bloodhound was brought in that had been trained to locate bodies
hidden in illegal graves. He immediately fixed on a spot in the park, and the police dug
in…although the bones seemed somewhat large for the missing woman, were dutifully
packed off to the coroner. Then, the dog found another burying place and another and
a good many more as well.
The story concludes that all those bones were not those of humans but of old horses because
the place was formerly used in buying old brewery horses. But the point has been proved that
Dog has the ability to see and know that which is not within sight of humans. That is why Paul
Orude tells us in an Internet article that “the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Azubuike
Ihejirika said that the government of Nigeria would construct a 48-carriage to be used in
accommodating the specially trained dogs each of which he [Ihejirika] said would have its own
room and parlour as well as air conditioner”. These animals are to be used in detecting Boko
Haram bombs. This specially endowed mammal as the tales relate has the ability to see beyond
the physical.
To be sincere, Dog’s natural endowments have made him more real than many human
beings. This is in view of his ability to see beyond his surrounding, his ability to fight and
defend others, his strength that shows in his sprinting ability, etc. These numerous abilities are
hinted at in numerous tales. In conformity with the technique of folktale narration, facts are not
overtly stated but hinted at since the expectation is that the children for whom the tales are
narrated know a little already, being members of the community. At the same time, additional
information is also conveyed through dramatization. In this way, these children are being made
to know the flora and fauna of the society.
Further on the natural endowments of Dog, we are told that a man was trapped without
any hope of ever being released and at the same time, he was being circled around by a wolf.
This man, though a hunter, left his dog at home but after almost twenty-four hours, the dog
appeared and brought to him the trap wrench with which he set himself free. He mounted his
horse and with the dog barking, he rode home, there to learn that the night before, the brave
dog acted strangely whimpering and watching the timber trail and at last, when night came on,
in spite of attempts to detain it, it had set out in the gloom and guided by a knowledge that is
beyond us had reached the spot “… in time to avenge me as well as set me free” (Seton 163).
Note that as it is here, so it is in Igbo folktales. These similarities help to solidify the
assertion that what the tales relate is what is happening in the actual world. It is in view of this
that we refer to a story in E. Nolue Emenanjo’s edited book Omalinze: A Book of Igbo
Folktales. In the tale titled “Dinta na nkita ano ya – Hunter and his Four Dogs,” a hunter strays
in the forest without his four dogs. There, he meets two lions who want to kill him. Then, he
climbs a tree, and the lions after some time, climb after him. He starts crying and calling his
four dogs whom he left at home. Then it is recorded that:
Nkita ano ahu na-anya oku n’uso oku, enwela mkpata n’ahu ha na dinta ha no n’ahuhu.
Ha amaputa n’ezi, kwuru jim na-efe odu ha na-elegharikwa anya imata ebe nsogbu ahu
si abia. O bughi na ha nuru oku dinta na-akpo ha kama ozuzu o nyere ha mere ka o
titu ha n’ahu na o nwere ihe dakwasiri ya. Ozigbo ha etikapu oso wuru jim na-agbaje
n’uzo ohia (40).
These four dogs while enjoying the heat at the fireside had the feeling that their master
was suffering. They then ran outside standing at alert in order to know the source of

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that problem. It was not that they heard the hunter calling but the training that he gave
them alerted them that he was in trouble. Immediately, they started running, jumping
jim jim towards the forest (140).
It was in this way that they rescued their master.
When one looks at these two stories – the real experience from Seton’s book and this
folktale – one can see a lot of similarities that highlight the character of the animal. In both, its
fearlessness is highlighted: Dog is never afraid of trotting in the forest even at night. Also, it is
never afraid of embarking in a fight. What can we say of his being a reliable friend and servant
who can, at a distance know what is happening to his master? However, the folktale is more
informative in portraying the nature of the animal. Dog, we see, stays at the fireplace. Also,
when running, it seems to be jumping which the raconteur dramatizes with an onomatopae –
jim jim. But the restlessness that the animal exhibits when a dear one is in trouble is attested to
by the two stories.
Because of the animals uncanny power of knowing that which is far removed in time
and place from it, the researchers went to town to get first hand information – not relying only
on published materials. The first port of call was in the house of late Chief Anaezeafor
Okongwu, popularly known as Ochendo--an indigene of Amansiodo in Oghe, Enugu State.
When he was alive, he was a well known native doctor and diviner. We met his son, Charles
Okongwu who, though a born again Christian, knows one or two things about Dog. He agrees
that Dog has such power attributed to him in Igbo folktales. He further has it that if one wants
to get that power, all one needs to do is to get the mucus from the eyes of the animal and put it
into one’s eyes. Automatically, the person will acquire the ability of seeing beyond the
physical.
Further in the course of the study, the researchers were led to Awudu, Nnobi in Idemili
South L.G.A. of Anambra State. There, Oluwa Wato Nwamamuo, a young native doctor
confirmed Okongwu’s information but added that even if the mucus is put into water and the
person washes his face with the water, the person will start seeing spirits and visions. He then
cautioned that such visions would always be negative and the person would ever remain
aggressive and pugnacious. If care is not taken, what the person would start seeing may turn
his brain for him to become mildly insane. Going further, he said that in the course of his
training, his teachers suggested that means of acquiring the power of vision to him but he
rejected it since his natural ability in that area was untampered with.
In these interviews, one can see the high regard the ability of Dog enjoys among Igbo
occultists. In other words, this animal is well delineated in the Igbo-man’s life. This explains
the ritual of slaughtering a dog at the burial of a full fledged man. Talking about this is John
Bosco Madu from Umuamadi village, Nguru, Aboh Mbaise L.G.A. of Imo state. This ritual
which is known as “Iwa nkita anya – Extracting the eye of the dog” seems to fortify the dead
man in his journey to the great beyond. Explaining this further, D. I. Nwoga asserts that:
“…when an initiate dies, onye turu any … the dog is killed for the cleansing of the eyes, igbu
nkita anya Is it coincidentally that the pupils of the eyes are called nkita anya (dog of the eyes)
in Igbo?”
Therefore, as the dog guides the living in their spiritual works, so it does for the dead
in their final journey. This seems to be suggested by this Internet article. But then, when such
beliefs are mentioned, the activities of Dog in folktales tend to make them more real. In this
way, associations are made in the minds of the hearers. In this way, the animal escapes from
the general notion that all folktale animal characters are type characters.
In support of this view that such an idea is encapsulated in tales but sometimes in coded
form is Connie Hill who studies psychic animals. That such issues are sandwiched in tales
cannot be wondered at since folktales are stories of wonder meant to fire the imagination of

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children. That can explain Hill’s assertion that “Stories of pets and other animals with psychic
powers have inspired legends and campfire tales. But many of these stories are true” (34).
The stand of this essay is that as it is in the tales, so it is in actual life. If modern man
wants all the activities of the animal to be in one tale, then let him know that extended prose
narration is a recent formulation. He should also know that folktale architecture does not allow
lengthy narration or the children who are the chief recipients of these tales may lose interest
and fall asleep. Also, since the tales are not sequentially arranged, any one desirous to know
the wealth of knowledge encapsulated in them will collect many of them. The person will start
linking the activities of the animal starting from its days in the forest to what it is doing now--
serving man in man’s house.
In one of such services, Arthur Martin tells in an Internet article about a “two-year old
Connie [a dog that] takes a watering can around the garden, loads the washing machine and
carries Mrs. Carter’s [its owners] shopping bag”. The woman, Mrs. Hazel Carter from
Uckfield, East Sussex is suffering from arthritis but she, a dog trainer, has trained Connie to
help in the house. Then, the article goes on to state that “… the dog’s tidying skills rival that
of a professional cleaner. When Mrs. Carter leaves anything lying around the house, Connie
knows exactly where it came from and returns it to its rightful home”.
The activities of this dog are similar to those of the folkloric Dog. In the tales, Dog
behaves like humans. When earlier analysts studied the way he was portrayed, they just
concluded off-handedly that such humanized behaviour was not possible in real life and that
the creators of the stories gave human attributes to animals because they were afraid of
mentioning names of people. But today, it is now crystal clear that the raconteurs of old created
what they saw. Therefore, if Dog is capable of doing as the tales and scientific investigators
credit him, do we still call him a type character? If we do, then no literary production can ever
come up with a round character.
Further in these tales, we see the animals in their town sometimes called Obodo
Umuanumanu. It was from such a town that Dog carried a message to God, telling Him to give
immortality to man (Ogbalu 6). In this way, different tales bring out different aspects of the
animal’s life in the attempt to highlight that he is far from being a type character. However,
Dog’s greed in that mission debarred him from arriving early. Before his arrival, the slow-
footed Tortoise had delivered a minority report that people would be mortal. When Dog relayed
his message, “God in annoyance threw a fire brand at him. With his mouth, he picked it up and
returned to man disgraced. This was how man came to be dying and the origin of fire” (Ogbalu
7). Also, constant breathing or puffing on the fire brand has left Dog today with quickened
breathing thereby showing more aspects of the animal’s life.
It is not only in this tale that social activities among animals are portrayed. In fact, all
tales show that. Some show Dog in conflict with other animals. In one of such tales, Dog
according to his normal and present day behaviour, stole a lump of meat belonging to Tortoise
for whom he was making a new knife because of his work as a blacksmith. In anger, Tortoise
“…withdrew the red-hot iron from the fire and thrust it at Dog’s nose. Dog quickly dipped his
nose into the pot of water he used to cool down his steel. Since that day, his nose has never
been dry” (Bordinat and Thomas 74).
Although this is an aetiological tale that explains the wetness of Dog’s nose, one can
understand from it a further description of the animal’s physique. Here, one can understand
that his nose is always wet and cold. This is how it is in real life. In real life, the animal is
always aggressive; this is also part of the animal and human social settings as depicted in the
tales. These different descriptions in tales help to highlight that Dog can never be seen as a type
character.
Also, about this animal that can be a very good and caring servant, a seer, a pugnacious
and able security man, the Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite has this under the title “dog”:

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When it meets another dog, its ear position indicates how interested it is in the
newcomer. If its ears are erect, it is concentrating on the other. If its ears are pointing
forward, it is on the alert. If the dog holds its tail high or wags it, the animal is happy
and confident. If it drops its tail and remains still, the dog is apprehensive. If it pulls its
tail between its legs, the dog is afraid. If on meeting a person or another dog, it pulls
back its lips and growls, it is making a threat. If it bares its teeth, without growling, the
dog is ready to attack and bite.
What modern scientists get from the animal’s ear movements, the traditional Igbo
naturalists got from its tail, and in a proverb, they have it that “Ana esi n’odu amalu ihe di nkita
mma – one can get from the tail of the dog what is good for it”. The stand of this essay is that
these are inbuilt into different tales –however, not in this detail, keeping in mind that the tales
are meant for children some of whom have this animal as pets. The expectation is that the mere
mention of the animal coupled with the dramatization that accompanies folktale narration will
rouse in them all they know about it. Therefore, the demonstration of the raconteur of how two
dogs meet or how a dog prepares to attack another one will rouse in these children all the
descriptions above in a moment. Then, the question now is, “How do we call such an animal
the activities of which and the body structure of which have been demonstrated by a raconteur
and conveyed by the same raconteur, a type characters?”
Concerning the social relationship the animal has with other animals of both its kind
and others, all we know is that we sometimes see dogs clustering at a place, sometimes barking
and disturbing our peace. That is the much we can go without giving it a further meaning. But
no matter our interpretation, it is a social gathering whether these dogs do so in harmony or in
disharmony. But what we do not know is that sometimes, these animals go to a place in order
to know or be informed by others, about current happenings in their society. This is the view
of Ernest Thompson Seton who took pains to study the activities of the best friend of man and
came up with the discovery: “Each dog or wolf makes a point of calling at these stations that
are near his line of travel to learn who has recently been there, just as a man calls at his club on
returning to town and looks up the register” (145). Is this not the sort of stuff folktales are made
of – animals meeting, discussing on issues concerning them, etc. In other words, these tales
help us to understand these dogs to an extent not possible without the help of modern scientific
investigation. Since the dogs above discuss and share information, one may ask if such is
possible if these are just type characters.
Finally, some tales relate the activities of the animal in his house. That sounds funny
since none has ever seen him in such a house. The general conclusion usually made on this is
that such stories are narrated in order to study what happens in human houses. Such a house is
reported in “The Tortoise and the Dog” (Ogbalu 55). In that story, Tortoise in the face of an
excruciating famine went to Dog’s house where the latter gave him a lump of meat. The truth
is that despite our sneering attitude because of the giddy pedestal we are occupying, first as
humans and second because of modern civilization, such a house does exist but not in the sense
we are regarding it.
Before our minds’ eyes are houses of different sizes and designs. But who says that all
houses must be like that? We humans build such because of our nature. Other animals build
any type that suits them. An illustration is the bee. Which is better for it – a modern building
with modern furnishing or a hive? For Dog, we are to know that: “A male dog establishes a
territory by marking the boundaries with urine, scent from the anal glands, or even faeces. The
dog will then defend that territory against intruders”. The above information with the title “dog”
is from the Encyclopaedia Britannic Ultimate Reference Suite. That demarcated zone is his
house and being a pugnacious creature, it is ready to defend it with the last drop of blood
running in its veins.

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143, (ISSN: 2276-8645)

CONCLUSION
Studying this animal well can show that many are his activities. At home, it is useful –
so useful to the extent of being a capable servant and a reliable friend--an acolyte so to say. It
interacts not only with other dogs but with other animals. These can be seen in many Igbo
folktales--tales being one of the ways of teaching children about the animals of their
environment. Also, the tales in the course of doing this, highlight the physique of the animal,
its mannerism and the metaphysical regard that he enjoys among the people.
In fact, when many of these tales are studied, almost everything about this animal can
be learnt. In this way, Dog may be the only animal about whom the tales portray fully.
Therefore, contrary to the general belief that folktale animal characters are used to highlight
one or two ideas, stories about Dog are different. In short, whatever that is worth being known
about the animal is in Igbo folktales. Many are the aspects of the animal but they are portrayed
in different tales.

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