- July 12, 2025
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' leads a mourning blessing for attendees four-legged loved ones. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' leads a mourning blessing for attendees four-legged loved ones. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' invites the spirits and blesses the dogs. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' thanks his volunteer hand drum helper, Kaison Voltoline, 6. Courtesy photo
The totem pole, donated by Bill Angrick, is a permanent addition to the Bed and Biscuit Inn dog park. Courtesy photo
Bed and Biscuit Inn manager Alexandra Maj and her brother and inn owner, Rick, welcome participants to the dog park's totem pole celebration and pet remembrance ceremony. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' passes out sage to burn. Courtesy photo
People and their dogs gather around Dennis 'Mountain Bear' at the dog park ceremony. Courtesy photo
Bed and Biscuit Inn manager Alexandra Maj. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear'
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' sings blessings for people's dogs in attendance and those who have passed. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' burns sage and cedar during the ceremony. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' performed a blessing for the dogs 'in both the seen and unseen worlds.' Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' conducts a native American ceremony. Courtesy photo
Dennis 'Mountain Bear' recites Lokota tribe blessings at the Bed and Biscuit Inn's dog park ceremony. Courtesy photo
Kaison Voltoline, 6, helps Dennis 'Mountain Bear' on the hand drum during the ceremony. Courtesy photo
Dennis Mountain Bear performed a blessing for the dogs 'in both the seen and unseen worlds.' Courtesy photo
After the operators of the Bed and Biscuit Inn, 711 John Anderson Highway in Flagler Beach, received a totem pole as a gift, they decided to hold a special Native American ceremony on Saturday, June, 21, blessing the cremains of people’s beloved dogs.
The inn’s owner, Rick, and his sister, inn manager Alexandra Maj, installed the towering totem pole at the Bed and Biscuit's 3-acre dog park and invited Dennis “Mountain Bear” to perform a Lakota Tribe mourning prayer, blessing the ashes that people brought to the ceremony.
“This is a blessing for this property, for the people who come here and for their four-legged friends,” Mountain Bear said. “This is not like a powwow. It’s very sacred.”
He rhythmically struck a hand drum, burned sage and cedar, explained the blessings and translated Lakota words, such as sunka (dog). He asked God to watch over and bless the dogs in both the seen and unseen worlds. He invited the spirits and thanked them at the end.
Bill Angrick watched the ceremony from a picnic table bench. He had donated the totem pole to the Bed and Biscuit. The totem was carved from a walnut tree in his backyard when he lived in Iowa. When he made the decision to remove the tree, he chose to transform it into a totem pole.
“A friend of mine was a chainsaw artist. We read some books and chose our totem,” he said. “When we moved down here, it stayed in the garage for 10 years. I was talking to Rick and I asked him if he wanted a totem. I was in tears (during the ceremony). What a phenomenal way to take that old piece of wood and bring it new life.”
The event marked an informal reopening of the dog park, Rick said. The off-leash dog park is free and open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week. The area is sprayed, Rick said. The Bed and Biscuit Inn has rates for day care and boarding. There is a monthly membership for the dog pool. There are also air-conditioned cabins where dogs at the park can cool off and even watch television, Maj said.
