***WARNING*** PLEASE READ and BE AWARE that some chapters contain vague representations that may be too vulgar and mature for anyone under 18. These mature themes include: suggestive breeding, dog fighting, blood and violence and suggestive or confrontational abuse/neglect of animals.***(more detail in next paragraph)
***also PBA that the dogs in this novel act like Dogs, so some are dominant, territorial or forceful. This is normal dog behavior when it comes to territory, mating rights, or guarding a resource among them. They are not overly agressive or overly sexual in the eyes of an animal, this is the normal behavior that I have researched weeks prior to writing this. I tried to realistically portray how male versus female dogs act. So if you think its odd how some of them behave, its because theyre animals not people. If realistic animal novels like The Sight or Ratha's Creature arent your thing, leave now. Ive had to adress this in the past.**
©-THIS CREATION IS COPYRIGHTED : ALL RIGHTS RESERVED IS A COPYRIGHT FORMALITY INDICATING THAT THE OWNER OF SAID CREATION DOES NOT AND WILL NOT ALLOW USE, EDITING, SHARING, PERSONAL CLAIM OR RE-WORK OF THIS CREATION WITHOUT AUTHOR'S DIRECT PERMISSION
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One of the yellow dog's earliest memories is of the cold. She felt strong hands lift her out of the knot of other pups, not all too aware of where she was. Waking up, feeling the cold air all around her like that, was not a comforting feeling.
Her litter-mates began to wake up, too, making noises from among the blanket folds they were tucked in and moving their little paws. The storage bucket they were in had been settled into the wide-open car trunk. The tan puppy was aware of it being moved out of the car a few moments earlier, while the light-headedness of sleep still had her in it's grasp. She began to realize her memories as she wriggled into wakefulness. The female pup could see clearer now, and began to squirm in the human's hands.
He was making noises to other humans. They we're gathered around the trunk of the car like giant furless trees. She had never seen so many humans, or been in a place like this- she could see so far. As if there were no walls at all beyond the hands of the human that she was being held in.
Though the young female had no way of knowing it, this was her first experience outside.
The tan puppy's belly rolled as a different human grabbed her by the scruff roughly, and passed the other a few squarish pieces of paper. The paper smelled like the hands of many different humans had touched it.
The woman walked away fast with the puppy, as well as a shopping bag hanging in the crook of her elbow. The dog passed some shopping carts and other cars as she was being towed in the human's arm.
She loved the things she could smell, apart from the gravel underneath them; there was a dewy grass smell, the scent of wind and mud puddles, as well as bird droppings- and sweet, salty human food. All these wafted on the breeze as the puppy was tucked under an arm and stuck her neck out towards the world. Before this, all that she knew had been a human's hard-edged walls and corners. She'd always felt that she should have been able to go father than the plastic walls of the puppy's bin.
She thought it was very strange how high up she was, and had never been held this long before. Just as she began studying the grass, signs and buildings farther from the grey parking lot, she was plopped into a different car, on a seat that smelled of sweat initially and then, more tantalizing things.
Distracted, she began sniffing everywhere to locate the food smell, and found a crumb of a fry right by the seat belt clamp. The pup kept herself busy by nosing into empty food containers, wrappers on the floors, and among other things.
She then came across a cigarette butt. For the first time, she scented something she didn't like, and twitched her ears and jumped away from it in giddy dis-taste. Since she was bustling with energy, she let out a volley of high-pitched barks to try and locate her mother and litter-mates and make them aware.
But there was no scent or sight of them here.... Were they still back in the puppy bin? Was her mother inside their human-home with the other pups again?
The human in the seat up front made a low noise at her, and she tried to make it back onto the seat unsuccessfully to investigate the new person further. The pup didn't let it frustrate her, and began burrowing under the seats trying to find more crumbs of salty, crunchy or sweet foods. If my litter-mates were here, they would be climbing over each other and shoving through pelts to reach my food first, she thought. Suddenly the tan dog was grateful all the crumbs were just for her. This new human must have a great house if their car was filled with food! Her tail wagged.
The car stopped it's vibrating and ticking and lolled to a stop. When the human came out of her door to open another, Flare got to see him for the first time. He had dark skin and a head scarce of any hair-tuft, that was usually classic among humans. His hands were firm, but not harsh as he lifted her by the scruff in a manner differently than that of before.
"I like being held rather than plucked by my scruff!" The puppy yipped indignantly but got no response. As per usual, humans could not understand her and she could not understand them.
The tan ball of fluff now spotted a smooth outcrop of raised sidewalk that lead to a brown front door. The sun was shining and making everything seem all the brighter as she was carried, so in no time at all her annoyance had faded. Excitement swelled in the young dogs chest at seeing new things, new places, new people!
Steps take the man and dog onto a tiny porch with a tiny overhang. The house is surrounded by frozen grass and unkempt greenery. The car has been parked diagonal to the house, on the slab of gravel that his property offers. The puppy, of course, notices it smelling gritty and just a bit oily.
Then her nose smells sharp-scented cigarette butts for a split second- before going through the brown door. Nose twitching wildly, the tan she-dog tries to adjust to the next new environment just as quickly. This guy is so fun, taking me to all these new places! And all by myself like I'm special...! Her tail wagged again best it could.
Immediately inside they are greeted by a kitchen area, bordered by an open-walled living room with two old brown couches, a television, and an assortment of other items that the pup cannot recodnize. She is swept past the couches and towards another door just as she smells the heavy scent of another furred animal, and begins squirming in reaction.
What was that?!
The door is shut right away and the puppy stops squirming.
A smooth slab of concrete and stairs is the only chasm from the door to the muddy, churned-up earth below the human's feet. The puppy is set upon it as soon as the human steps down.
She goes to sniff at the human's shoes and pant-legs right away, but is greeted by a flurry of barks all around her ears. Terrified, the tan pup crouches on the ground in fear. The sheer loudness of it caused her to naturally shy away from the rapid sounds.
Other dogs are blocking her vision, nosing her and staring her down, sniffing her and barking in her face. She sees several paws step near her head, stamping and circling and pawing at the ground. The yellow-tan puppy tucks her tail between her legs and flattens, the trick that always worked to get her litter-mates to leave her alone.
And for some reason, the dogs aren't speaking... They just continue barking all in her ears even after the nice man walks inside and shuts the door.
"Stop. PLEASE!" The puppy doesn't muster any force or control into her voice; she doesn't know how to, and her voice comes out in a nervous squeak instead.
One of the dogs, a grey-and-white pitbull that had continually barked in her ears, bellows loudly. The others join in his laughing, all different colors and most of them resembling somewhat of a bully breed. She lifts her ears the slightest, feeling relived that the dogs are now doing anything other than that.
"Stop?" The grey dog says in mock-innocence. He gnashes his teeth together and doesn't allow the pup to respond, glaring at her.
"Nobody's going to stop! This is how it is here," he growls slowly.
The puppy stole a quick glance at the other dogs, horrified. Her ears were definitely pinned back now. None of them looked sympathetic, not even a female dog that stood farthest from the others. Her ears seemed to be the only ones that weren't completely missing or filled with bite-holes and scars.
This pup's ears weren't cropped either; they stook up like a fox's when she wasn't terrified. But for a split second, she felt a bolt of fear about getting her ears mauled like the male dogs seemingly had.
"Did you chew each other's ears of?" She said with a rapid glance at all of them. Her voice came out tiny and terrified. The dogs stood tall and stiff-legged with their tails in the air. They seemed assertive more than cruel, but the puppy had no other explanation for missing ears.
Though a young black-and-white male had laughed at her question, the others looked pointedly at Grey Dog or stared down at her with a cold unwavering stare.
"All of our ears were taken by one Man or another as pups. Besides White Dog- his were bitten off." The Grey Dog then put his piercing stare upon another dog that was near to his shoulder- that would be the huge, hulking white male with extra skin around his face and neck. Apparently, he had a name and it was known as "White Dog." She would've thought this hilarious if she weren't in danger. But then... she didn't have a name at all. Her mother had called her "fourth."
She hardly had time to finish that thought, because the smallest male flew into her vision.
A black-and-white short bully breed no older than a year resumed his loud barking, snapping his teeth close to her ear. The puppy shook uncontrollably, and pressed her tail to her haunches tighter.
"We could make your ears missing, too, if you wanted!" He seemed to enjoying saying loudly, and moved around her with an energetic bounce. As if acting oblivious to the puppy's fear was completely normal, the young male let his tongue loll out, protruding his flattened face and wrinkles even more.
"Why did the Man bring home this dog, anyways?" The white canine cut in, the biggest of them all. He had barked in the pup's face the least, but his floppy jowls were pulled into a less than appreciative snarl now.
"Exactly," the grey dog agreed. The puppy noticed that his ears were cut so short that his ear canal was completely visible. How strange, and unnerving it was to see an earless dog.
But the white dog...
She felt a sick stomach looking at him closer this time. He had rips and scars all along his floppy pieces, so that his ears were barely there- at most, they were choppy and stringy pieces of skin that had been torn from countless rips. They had once been floppy, no doubt- and now they were horrible to look at. His ears hadn't been mangled at the hands of a human; those were surely dog bite-wounds, as the grey male had claimed.
"The Man hasn't chose well with this one. You know what he's got in mind... But it wasn't the smartest idea. We can't even use her for months." Spat the short and stout black-and-white dog. For some reason, he didn't sound truly angry. He growled playfully and got close to the puppy's face, even slapping her ears with his huge paws and then darting in to nip at her ears roughly. He looked barely more than a pup himself, yet he was clouting her over the ears. The fact that it seemed like more of a game to him than an actual attack was unsettling.
Astounded, the tan pup didn't speak and felt the sting fade away as she listened to the other dogs bicker in response. Already, it seemed like they hated his presence too. She whined openly, and then Jax smacked her again and laughed.
"It's so weak!" He snorted with a hint of delight.
"Shut up, Jax. You haven't been here long enough to know how things work. And you're quite young and useless yourself."
She looked at Jax warily, her forehead still reeling from the blow. The young puppy didn't know how old the playful dog was, but she guessed he was only about double her lifespan. The pup growing into his adolescent body wasn't a lot taller than her, if she could've stood up straight.
"I've been here long enough to boss this she-dog around. Now she's the runt of the yard, not me!" He sounded pleased and wagged his stump of a tail.
The tall white dog with ripped ears showed his teeth, which were stained. One of his canines were chipped, as if he had went to bite something that was too hard, causing his tooth to break in half.
"No you haven't." Before he had finished his words he sunk his teeth into the black-and-white bully-breed. It seemed to be just as painful as any other bite would be without two full canines.
The tan puppy had no choice but to tremble and watch next to the slab of concrete. Jax was swung up into the air and tossed aside roughly, nearer to the female dog. Upon this happening he flicked his paws out this way and that, whipping his tail and body around in a struggle.
The white dog took one look at Jax and then jumped on him, biting the soft parts around his ears hard. Jax whined and looked much less confident now that some other dog had a mouthful of his ears.
As Jax got bullied directly behind them, the other dogs stared down at the puppy ruefully. The grey male stomped one of his large paws onto the ground in front of her face.
"Listen here, she-dog. The Man inside the home is the Alpha of this pack. He feeds us once a day, and we get all the food. As in, the male dogs." He glanced over at the female dog as if he had just remembered her presence all of a sudden.
"'Cause we fight for it. If we fight or shove or bite hard enough, we get some." He didn't sound sympathetic about saying this in the least. Thoughtfully, the male then looked up. "Or, if we breed."
For the first time, the female pitbull spoke up. She would've been a beautiful brown-brindle dog, if not for the layer of dust covering her pelt; the thick fur stuck up in certain spots, where there was mostly likely scars and wounds hidden underneath. That wasn't all- the skin around her shoulders, neck and particularly stomach looked too loose to hug her body properly. A pup had no way of knowing, but this was the look of a dog who was close to starving and had a saggy belly due to past litters. The brindle Pitbull with white parts also had dry elbows that were so dry they had cracked and were hairless. The tan puppy noticed all of this through nervous flickering eyes, still too stunned to speak. She had never seen dogs like this in her short life-span.
"She's terrified!" The grey Pitbull said as if he would gain a laugh out of pointing this out.
"Nothing new there," the female said with a muzzle curl of distaste.
"Jax was the exact same way when he got here, and still is!" White Dog yelled over his shoulder. His words came out as an accusation tinged with a warning growl. "Annoying little runt-pup."
The puppy hardly heard what he'd said. Her eyes were locked on Jax and the tall white male. The smaller black-and-white Jax had reacted to White Dog's words with a rebellious snarl, starting the fighting up again. Both of them snapped dangerously close to each others ears, which weren't there. So the two dogs began biting at each other's forelegs, and one landed his teeth on the other.
The tall white dog roared and snapped at Jax with vicious blows that came fast, biting towards anything he could reach. He managed to bite the skin of Jax's white chest and the black-and-white pitbull flinched away in response, his front paws lifting off the ground. He let out a squeal as his skin was tugged on, and his paws swiped through the air as he sought purchase with the ground.
"PAY ATTENTION!" someone barked in the tan she-dog's face. The grey dog was close now, and he towered over her. She didn't think that it was possible to get more squashed against the ground, and darted her eyes around for some escape route through the dog's legs.
There wasn't one. Apart from the paneling of the house, and the tiny slab of concrete that led up to the door, she was completely surrounded by a tall wooden fence. The pup knew right away she wouldn't be able to jump over it. It was over five times her height.
"You might as well find out now that we call this place The Yard." He moved his face closer and his floppy jowels almost touched her head. It felt like a certainty that she had just stepped into a pile of chaos. As Jax howled in pain behind him, the grey Pitbull seemed completely oblivious to it. She couldn't pull her gaze away, once again.
"Never mind them! GET USED TO IT!" He snarled suddenly, and the tan puppy saw real rage creep into his eyes as he flashed his teeth and his jaws shook. His gigantic white paws were only a few whisks away from her, digging into the ground so hard that it left gouges in the earth.
The pup was so terrified that her heart pounded against her chest, and her flanks beat rapidly against the earth. She'd never felt such terror before. The whites of her eyes showed as she returned the grey dog's gaze.
The male looked down his thick snout at the tan puppy as if she were just that- a pup, and nothing else.
"This is a yard for fighting dogs."
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(Image shown below is Grey Dog)