Short Stories Volume 1

Man's Best Friend

The domestication of wolves is considered to be one of the many great feats of man. Taking something wild and vicious and taming it to serve us. To obey and protect us. We were their masters. We were more intelligent, stronger, bigger and they were at our mercy. It didn't matter whether we showed them love or the end of the stick.

That was the circle of life. The breed didn't matter, although some experts would disagree, all dogs showed unconditional love to their owners. It made sense that they were called Man's Best Friend.

But what if we had it wrong? After all they also say to keep your friends close but your enemies closer. All the while we were dressing them up in those silly little dresses and suits, forcing them to participate in those stupid shows and competitions. Taking every hit, kick and drop off in the side of the road. The entire time we thought that we had the power, they were there just waiting.

Waiting for the right moment until it was time to give back what they had received. Sure there were some that slipped up and cracked. Finally snapping and biting a human. But nobody's perfect. It was to be expected. Not everyone can handle abuse the same.

At first it was just odd. All at once, the dogs just stopped playing. From the tea cup pups to the giant mastiffs. No matter how much they threw the ball or how many treats were offered, they just sat there. There wasn't a wagging tail to be seen in any household.

Blood tests, screening and examinations came up clean. Since they were all still eating and going to the bathroom normally with no signs of any aggression, vets had no choice but to release them back to their owners. There were some that were a little hesitant but it wasn't as if they could just leave them there at the shelter or hospital, though many did try.

About a week later it got even stranger as some of them began to disappear either overnight or for days at a time. No one was ever caught or reported to have been taking them. Some homes had security cameras so you could clearly see the dogs calmly leaving the house and just casually walking down the street until they were no longer visible. Then when they came back, they had the same demeanor. There were no injuries or marks on them.

Many began putting a tracker on their pets to see if they could follow them to wherever it was they headed off to but it was like they knew that they were being followed and would find ways to get their owners lost before they could ever get close. It didn't matter what the family did. How secure they made the house, how many locks they put on the windows and doors, if they even put chains on the crates. The dogs always seemed to find a quiet way out.

This went on for about a few months until one night, all together, they just left. You could see them even in traffic cams all walking down the street like some mindless zombie horde. Unlike the last times, this wasn't for a night or a couple of days. They stayed missing for almost six months before they all came back.

Each family was startled to see their four legged member back in the house waiting in the kitchen. I think the most startling part of it was that in some cases it wasn't just their pet but other dogs as well. Ones that they know they had never seen in the neighborhood before.

No one knows when the first call came in only that within an hour all emergency lines became flooded with the frantic and terrified screams of people being attacked by their dogs and other canines. It didn't stop at bites at the ankles or grappling on the forearms. No. They looked as if their inner wolves had taken over and were going for the throats. Going in for the kill.

Animal control really had no control at all. For every dog catcher on the street there were twenty dogs surrounding them. A lot of them were torn apart instantly. Only a lucky few were pinned down and guarded like prisoners of war.

While a handful of the fatalities were children, a majority were from adults. Most of them male. There were actually a lot of families that appeared to be unscathed by the onslaught. They seemed to be in the same position as those lucky catchers. Simply being watched by their own pets and those that had come with them.

America, Canada, Greenland and a few other countries were fortunate. The ones that really suffered were places like Russia, Costa Rica, New Zealand, South America where their dog population rivaled that of the humans. Those places had gangs of street dogs long before any of this chaos occurred.

As the dust settled, people began leaving their houses. Yet, never alone. Every person was always accompanied by a dog. It was why a lot of homes found themselves with more than one dog in their house when they only had one dog. It was to match the number of humans to dogs. Perfect strategy in order to make sure that no human was left alone.

Some humans faired better than others. A few were under strict watch as if they were freshly out and on parole, being supervised by Caucasian Shepherd dogs. Meanwhile, some had adorable but tough and headstrong Puli dogs.

Each dog served a purpose, not simply to look after us. Like I said, the Caucasian Shepherds were in charge of those who were closely monitored. If the human stepped out of line badly, then they would act as executioner too. Golden and Labrador retrievers were the doctors. They alerted many that were brought to their attention to an illness that many human doctors may have missed.

From the looks of them, Cane Corsos were the soldiers. They were at every city crossing and border. Alongside them were Rottweilers and Doberman Pinschers. The children were the most protected and most oblivious to how much the world had changed.

A large number of dogs separated the children and the adults in the beginning right after the slaughter.

Of course there were many other breeds in between but that was the gist of it. In total, over the span of a year, the human race basically went into one giant camp. The really good and well behaved humans were allowed not just to go back to working but able to move more around their cities. Of course they had to check in with the big dogs when they crossed any border but as long as they passed they were free to enter the new places. But just as many had family outings before like going to the beach and all before everything changed, they were allowed to resume doing so.

The schools had reopened after a while. A few parents did try to argue against it, seeing as with everything else guard dogs were posted outside the schools. Those were the Boxers, Beauceron, Poodles and the Irish Setters to name the main breeds. These breeds were so protective and loyal to children it was no surprise really to see them gently guiding kids to their classes. Ensuring no danger came their way.

There aren't a lot of us left that remember the way things used to be. In fact, besides myself I think there's only a handful of others that can recall when we were the masters. In fact I know that if I were to walk down the street to someone and told them that there was a time when gave the orders to the dogs, they'd laugh at us.

It's been fifty years since that day. I was very pleased to discover that I was one of the humans who were considered the good kind by the canines. Throughout those fifty years, I had three retrievers accompany me in my life. My current and what I think will be my last one alerted me last week that I needed to see my own doctor.

The news wasn't great but at least I'd get to enjoy a few years of retirement. Honestly my dog seemed to had taken harder than I did. He just laid beside me every day, began slowing his pace for me, made sure I took my medicine when needed. Those big golden honey colored eyes, that beautiful pink tongue that licked my nose every morning were the last things I saw before I closed my eyes for the night. If I didn't wake up tomorrow, I'm happy to say that while it was a drastic change to the world, I became a good loyal companion to my four legged masters.