Literature / Survivor Dogs

The time has come for dogs to rule the wild.

Survivors is the third series from the bestselling author Erin Hunter (actually several authors working under the same pen name), after Warriors and Seekers. Instead of being written by the original Erins, it is instead written by new authors using the Erin Hunter Pen Name.

The series begins with the not-so-lucky Lucky in the pound. Not long afterward, an earthquake destroys the building, and Lucky escapes into a world where it appears that all the humans are gone. He has always been a Lone Dog, fending for himself and relying on his instincts, and he's happy to remain that way. But then, after being rescued from a sticky situation with a gang of foxes, he realizes that the dogs who saved him are led by his sister. He realizes that being in a Pack might be safer, but he also quickly comes to realize that these former pampered pets probably won't make it without someone teaching them how to live without humans. Relying on other dogs and having them depend on him brings new dangers that Lucky isn't prepared for, but he may not be able to survive on his own. As the dogs travel to safety, they must learn how to become a true Pack.

The books have ended and consist of two arcs. The books released are:

Original Arc

• The Empty City
• A Hidden Enemy
• Darkness Falls
• The Broken Path
• The Endless Lake
• Storm Of Dogs.

The Gathering Darkness

• A Pack Divided
• Dead Of Night
• Into The Shadows
• Red Moon Rising
• The Exile's Journey
• The Final Battle

As with the Warriors novellas and books showing those novellas, the Survivors series has three novellas: Alpha's Tale Sweet's Journey, and Moon's Choice. All three of them are released in a paperback book called Tales From The Packs.

Not to be confused with Survivor.

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Survivors provides examples of:

• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Alpha gets his own E-Book story called Alpha's Tale.
  • Sweet has her own called Sweet's Journey.
  • So does Moon, one called Moon's Choice.
• Advertising by Association: The series is advertised as "From the author of the #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series" right on the cover. Fans consider this rather misleading: Survivors has an entirely new team and isn't connected to any of the people responsible for Warriors.
• After the End: It takes place after a huge earthquake which results in humans evacuating (to the point that every single one seems to have left their beloved dogs behind), and something happening to make the area radioactive (as one or two humans in biohazard suits with radiation sensors are seen).
• Agony of the Feet: Twitch has a lame left paw, which he complains about. The Broken Path reveals that he chews it off, helping him get around better even if he's three-legged now.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Alpha/Dog/Wolf/Omega was constantly bullied by his pure-blooded Wolf-Pack for his Domestic Dog heritage.
• All Dogs Are Purebred: Subverted. Almost all the non-Leashed Dogs are mixed breeds, and even some former Leashed Dogs (Bella, Daisy, and Bruno) are mixed breeds as well.
• The Aloner: Lucky, the series' main protagonist, is proud to be on his own. This changes later.
• Alpha Bitch: The Beta before Sweet in Sweet's Journey, literally and figuratively! Also Blade.
• Alpha and Beta Wolves: Dog and wolf packs all have one Alpha, one Beta, and one Omega. These dogs are referred to exclusively by their titles. The Alpha is The Leader, the Beta is their Number Two, and the Omega is the weakest adult member of the pack. It's mentioned that Alphas and Betas are commonly mates. In order to advance in the pack, you must fight a higher ranking member one-on-one. Lucky disagrees with this Fantastic Caste System and briefly tries to create a democracy in The Endless Lake, but the other dogs find this too unnatural and confusing.
• Anger Born of Worry: In the prologue for "The Endless Lake", Lucky's mother was angry about Yap (a younger Lucky) wandering off, but she's happy he's okay.
• Angry Guard Dog: In a series of talking dogs, these are bound to happen quite often. The most notable ones are the three Fierce Dogs from The Empty City.
• Animal Religion: In flashbacks, we see that Lucky and Bella were brought up with legends of godlike dogs, such as the Sky Dogs, Lightning, Earth-Dog, Sun-Dog, Moon-Dog, and River-Dog. All wild dogs seem to have been taught similar stories, and they have customs to perform to appease them (especially Earth-Dog). Terror controls his pack by convincing them that his epileptic fits are conversations with the "Fear-dog", a deity only he can speak to.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Dogs have various mythological and religious characters that are anthropomorphic personifications of nature.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership:
  • How pack hierarchy works. Dogs challenge one another in non-lethal fights to get higher in the pack.
  • Firmly deconstructed with Alpha, who has the skills to get into that position but is otherwise a terrible leader.
• Automobiles Are Alien:
  • Whether the dogs see "loudcages" (cars) as neutral or not depends on whether they're a former Leashed Dog or whether they were born a Wild Dog. Most of the Leashed Dogs don't fear loudcages on default, and City Dogs like Lucky don't fear them much either, but dogs that live out in the wilderness have little contact with them. Even then, dogs don't fully understand how they work. They see them as living beings similar to animals.
  • None of the dogs understand "loudbirds" (aircrafts). They notice longpaws being inside them and "feeding" others to them, but they don't understand what's happening.
• Ax-Crazy: Blade believes that any dog born after the Big Growl is bound to bring danger, so she sets out to kill said dogs, even her own pup.
• Bears Are Bad News: Bears often appear a few times as nuisances to the dogs, just as badgers are to cats in Warriors. Sweet actually uses a bear to cause some mayhem in the Fierce Dog camp.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In A Pack Divided, Storm gets irritated with Whisper always following her and making sure she's safe and tells him bluntly to leave her alone. Near the end of the book, Whisper gets killed, and Storm finds herself thinking bitterly that she got her wish, all right.
• The Big Bad Wolf-dog: The alpha of the Wild Pack is a rather unpleasant wolf-dog hybrid, talking down to anyone who questions his authority and doling out harsh punishments. He also never hides his dislike of the Leashed Dogs and is harsh on Storm for being a Doberman pinscher. He also betrays his own pack by joining the Fierce Dogs and becomes their Omega.
• Big Guy: Bruno, Martha, and Fiery.
• Bigot with a Crush: Alpha is heavily Fantastic Racist towards Fierce Dogs, yet he becomes mates with one.
• Big Stupid Doo Doo Head:
  • Lucky's first attempts at distracting the Fierce Dogs are "Hey, stupid!" and "Mad dogs, sad dogs, stupid crazy bad dogs!"
  • He also does this to the Fierce Dogs in The Endless Lake.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing / Evil Genius: Whine (the Omega) in the wild pack. He may look meek and useless, but he arranges for an innocent yet whiny dog named Mulch to be framed for eating before the pack so that he could move up a rank.
• The Bully: Alpha.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Mulch, who's often talked down to or bitten by older dogs.
  • Being Omega basically makes this your position in the pack.
• The Caligula: Terror, who will beat on his own Pack for no good reason and claims to be the chosen one of Fear-Dog to keep them in line. Lucky even notes that his pack will fight to the death for him because they're so terrified.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": As with the other Erin Hunter books this is used frequently, possibly more than the others even. Examples include:
  • Nature related: The seasons are referred to as Tree Flower, Long Light, Red Leaf, and Ice Wind. Day is sunup and night is no-sun. The ocean is the Endless Lake. Snow is usually referred to as "frost". A "Growl" is an earthquake. Dogs like attaching "-Dog" to the end of words. There's "Sun-Dog" for the sun, "Moon-Dog" for the moon, "Earth-Dog" for the earth, "Lake-Dog" for the lake, etc. The latter are also religious terms, as dogs view various natural occurrences as anthropomorphic beings. Rabies is referred to as "water-madness".
  • Animals such as foxes and rabbits are referred to by their human names. Others however get this treatment. Cats are "sharpclaws", otters are "river rabbits", bears are "giantfurs", and boars are "tusknoses". Humans are called "longpaws".
  • Human related: "Clear-stone" refers to glass, "hardstone" refers to cement/sidewalks, "loudbird" refers to an airplane or helicopter, "loudcage" refers to automobiles (and thus "loudcage blood" is car oil), "cold-box" refers to fridges, "floatcage" refers to boats, "light-beam" refers to flashlights, "light-power" refers to electricity, "loudstick" (sometimes "longstick") refers to guns^note However, Bruno knows them as "guns" because his owners hunt, "Power Snake" refers to cables, "rope-cage" refers to nets, "spoil-box" refers to trash bins, "fire-juice" refers to liquor, and "soft-hide" refers to blankets. "Food Houses" are restaurants and the "Trap House" is an animal shelter.
  • Dogs understandably have a lot of terms to refer to canines. Leashed Dogs do know their breeds by human terms, but Wild Dogs prefer to use their own terms: "Dog-cousins" are canid species that aren't domestic dogs, such as a coyote or fox. "Mother-Dog" (often shortened to just "Mother") is what dogs almost-always call their mothers, "Sire-Dog" or "Father-Dog" is what they call their fathers, and "litter-brother"/"litter-sister" is what siblings are usually referred to. Wolf-dogs are usually called "dog-wolfs". Similar to Warriors, puppies are usually referred to as "pups". "Fierce Dogs" refers to guard dogs or fighting dogs such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, and pit bull breeds, though wolves call them "longpaw fangs". A "swift-dog" is a Greyhound, "chase-dog" is a broad term that refers to hunting breeds, "farm-dog" (or "farm-work-dog") refers to herding breeds (though all shown thus far have been Border Collies), "water-dog" refers to breeds that can swim well, and "fight-dog" refers to dog breeds that were bred for fighting or protection (though it's only been used to refer to German Shepherds). A "Leashed Dog" is a pet dog, a "Lone Dog" is a dog that lives alone, a "Wild Dog" is a feral/stray dog that lives in a pack, and a "Free Dog" is a general term for dogs that aren't pets.
• Canine Confusion:
  • Realistically, a lot of the dogs should have a tougher time surviving in the wild than depicted. Sweet, for example, is a greyhound. Due to their low body fat, they're known for getting injured very easily and getting cold very easily. Sweet still fares perfectly well in cold forest environments and is powerful enough to quickly become a Beta and then later become an Alpha. Alfie is also pretty athletic for a British bulldog. He's never shown any difficulty keeping up with the other dogs. Bulldogs in general are known for only being able to run in spurts due to breathing issues.
  • Dogs are depicted as monogamous, unlike real dogs. This is accurate for the wolf characters, however dogs aren't monogamous like Grey Wolves are.
  • Dogs follow the outdated pack hierarchy system. Alphas are the leaders, betas are the second-in command, omegas are the lowest of the caste, everything is decided with fighting, etc. This system is considered inaccurate to how wolf packs actually work. It's fine for the protagonists as they're unrelated dogs, but Alpha implies all packs should be like this.
  • The dogs do not like scavenging on waste left by longpaws, finding it demeaning and unsuitable for wild dogs. However, real feral and especially stray dogs do scavenge a lot (frequently more than they hunt). Real stray dogs are also awfully clumsy hunters compared to wolves (though true ferals are better hunters), but the dogs in Survivors are much more effective.
  • The characters form packs like wolves. Studies have indicated that domestic dogs don't do this. They scavenge (or hunt) smaller prey either individually or in parallel from one another.
  • Sweet has a lengthy screaming birth. Dog births are usually much easier and less painful than human births.
  • The Fierce Dogs are vicious but dimwitted dogs. In real life, dobermann's are a notoriously intelligent breed. They're, in fact, considered one of the smartest dog breeds. The Fierce Dogs are also naturally blood-thirsty, with even the White Sheep Storm being unusually violent for a pup. Dobermann's (especially American ones) aren't nearly as dog aggressive as the Angry Guard Dog trope makes them seem.
  • Alfie is a "small" dog that is so fragile he's killed with one hit of Alpha's (a German shepherd/wolf hybrid) paw. Alfie is a bulldog, which are on average 18-23 kg (40-50 lb).
  • Foxes are described as living in "packs" and having "cubs". A group of foxes is actually a "skulk" or "leash" while the most common term for a young fox is a "kit". This could all be choked up to dogs using their terminology on foxes, except that there's a fox kit named "Cub Fire".
• Cats Are Mean:
  • Cats (AKA "sharpclaws") appear a few times and are hissy nuisances to the dogs, though one cat does show gratitude to the dogs for rescuing it in The Broken Path. The cat in question is still a bit of a jerk as it's mentioned that it was the only meat-eater who didn't help rescue the other animals (instead, it ran up a tree).
  • When Lucky sees the Fierce Dogs torturing a rabbit for fun he's horrified and compares them to cats.
  Lucky's belly tightened. This is horrible! Prey were hunted for food. But killing for sport, torturing an animal like that... It was against the laws of the Forest-Dog. It was barbaric—something a sharpclaw would do.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The bear that appears in Storm of Dogs. Earlier in the book, Lucky and his splinter group find a bear tormenting a member of Twitch's pack. They assure the dog that if they were all quiet, the bear would stop thinking they were a threat and go away. It works. During the final battle Sweet and Lucky torment the bear to draw it out to use as a weapon. Guess which pack would never back down from a threat and just make it angrier? Blade's pack
• Cool Old Guy: Bruno is mentioned to already be old in The Empty City and usually is a genial if rowdy dog. This gets downplayed in The Gathering Darkness, where he Took a Level in Jerkass and starts ostracizing Arrow.
• Demoted to Extra: Lucky doesn't get as much screen-time in the second arc as he did in the original arc.
• Ear Ache:
  • Grunt's ears are crudely mutilated into points by the Fierce Dogs.
  • Storm suffers the same fate...but only one ear gets torn off.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • In the first book the characters know what a stuffed bear is. Later books have bears referred to as "giantfurs". Likewise, the characters know what an ocean is but they later refer to it as an "Endless Lake".
  • In the second book, Lucky treats burial as unusual for dogs. He believes that dogs naturally let dogs waste away where they die and that burial is something only longpaws do. In future books, "giving dogs to the Earth-Dog" is established as a normal part of their Animal Religion.
• Eldritch Abomination: Lucky sees Terror as this, having strange wide yellow eyes, sores all over his body, and having seizures that make him believe in the "Fear Dog".
• Enemy Mine: A pack of foxes join Bella and her pack in attacking the wild pack for more territory. It does not end well, leaving both packs to fight them off together.
• Enfante Terrible: Fang, who seems to relish in the stereotype of Dobermans being attack dogs.
• The Exile:
  • Lucky and Twitch get kicked out of the pack in Darkness Falls, the former for supposedly bring misfortune on the pack and the latter for having an injured foot. Lucky makes it back while Twitch becomes the new leader of Terror's pack.
  • Whine leaves the Wild Pack after suggesting betraying Storm to the Fierce Dogs. Later on, even the Fierce Dogs kick him out of their pack when their ultimate attack fails.
  • At the end of Red Moon Rising, Storm leaves the pack in fear of having gotten one of Lucky and Sweet's pups hurt. In fact, The Exile's Journey will tell about Storm's time as a Lone Dog.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Oh, where to begin. Fierce Dogs despise every other dog as weak, and all the other dogs think Fierce Dogs are sadistic brutes. Wild Dogs look down on Leashed Dogs as weaklings and City Dogs as traitors. Leashed Dogs dislike the roughness of Wild Dogs and City Dogs. Alpha was the recipient of scorn in his former wolf pack for being half-dog. The pack is mostly Wild Dogs, but contains former Leashed, City, and Fierce Dogs.
  • In The Gathering Darkness arc, Storm and Arrow face this from several members of the pack (mainly Bruno and Dart) for being former members of the Fierce Dogs who terrorized them.
  • Some of the dogs, especially Lone Dogs and Wild Dogs, don't like longpaws much. Others just want to keep away from them but know that not all longpaws are bad.
• Fictional Constellations: Dog constellations include The Rabbit, The Wolf and her cub, the Great Tree, and the Running Squirrel
• Four Is Death: The wolf pack in The Final Battle has a penal code that seems to invoke this trope: each time one commits a particular infraction results in increasingly severe woundings, with the fourth offense resulting in execution. Storm came very close to this as she wandered onto their territory (a huge no-no to them) three times over the course of the book.
• Freudian Excuse: Alpha's need to always be in control stems from growing up as a half-dog in a wolf pack, and vowing to never be a victim again.
• Heaven Above: Dogs and wolves have many gods; however, the Sky-Dogs are their supreme gods.
• Heel–Face Turn: Arrow leaves his pack to fight with the Wild Pack and Twitch's Pack. It's because he realized that he would have suffered the same fate as Wiggle and Fang had he been born just a few weeks earlier, and that Fang's loyalty meant nothing to Blade.
• Henotheistic Society: Dogs and wolves worship Nature Spirits in a manner similar to deity worship. They revere various Spirit-Dogs, however they tend to feel a connection towards one in particular. Lucky's favorite Spirit-Dog is the Forest-Dog, while Martha (who is a newfoundland) is associated with the River-Dog.
• Hypocrite: Alpha hates Fierce Dogs for what they did to him as a pup, yet he later became mates with one of those Fierce Dogs and later betrays his own pack to be the Fierce Dogs' Omega.
• Humans by Any Other Name: Dogs refer to humans as "longpaws".
• In Name Only: The only thing connecting it to the other Erin Hunter books, Warriors and Seekers, is the name on the cover. They're written by different authors and they're written in a different style.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: The dogs refer to most humans as "it", even their owners with few exceptions. It's similar to how humans call their own dogs "it". There are exceptions, such as Mickey referring to his owner's son (and "his boy") by male pronouns.
• It's All About Me: In the blurb for "The Endless Lake", Alpha declares that his own safety comes before the Pack.
• Jerk Jock: Hunter in Moon's Choice. Moon, Mulch, and Snap calls him out on being a terrible pack leader, and two terriers named Rush and Meadow leave because they don't want to put up with his behavior.
• Kick the Dog:
  • Terror beats up his pack members for only the slightest of faults.
  • Alpha declares that Storm's Naming Ceremony was false and tells the others to keep calling her Lick instead of Storm. Then he does one for real...and calls her Savage.
  • Believing that Fang was one of the prophesied pups born after the Big Growl that would destroy them, Blade slaughters him in front of everyone.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Alpha kills Alfie in A Hidden Enemy.
  • Also Fiery in the Broken Path. First, he gets captured by humans and poisoned. Next, he gets attacked by Terror's pack and later dies from his wounds.
  • Blade and the former Alpha both bite the dust in Storm Of Dogs. Martha also dies from battle wounds in this book.
  • Whisper is killed at the end of A Pack Divided.
  • Bruno ends up getting Killed Offscreen, his lower jaw having been ripped off like Terror's had been.
• Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: The earliest sign that Blade is worse than the other Fierce Dogs is when Lucky finds a dead puppy with the same fur marking as Blade. Blade killed her own son because she thinks all pups born after the "Big Growl" earthquake are ominous.
• Leader Wannabe:
  • Lucky's sister Bella tries to assert herself as the alpha dog throughout the first book. In the fifth book, she challenges Sweet for position to be the alpha dog of the pack.
  • Whine from A Hidden Enemy. Though he's not trying to be the leader; he just doesn't want to be the Omega anymore.
• Mama Bear:
  • Sweet Gentle Giant Martha acts aggressive towards Alpha for acting hostile towards the Fierce Dog pups.
  • Don't forget Moon herself. Losing one of her puppies to foxes makes her fight even harder.
• Manchild: While most of the characters do "childish" things such as playing (they are dogs after all), Lucky feels like the Leashed Dogs are especially childish and immature. It takes a while for their pampered pet lifestyles to rub off.
• Meaningful Name: Lick gets renamed to Storm, most likely referring to the last book in the series: Storm Of Dogs.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The dogs of the Fierce Dogs pack; their names are Blade, Dagger, and Mace. As seen in the allegiances for The Broken Path, every Fierce Dog is named after a weapon. Except Pup/Dog/Wolf/Alpha/Omega.
• Nature Spirit: The Spirit-Dogs.
• Nature vs. Nurture: Storm. She was born a Fierce Dog, and clearly still has their instincts, evidenced by her ripping off Terror's jaw and later killing him, but is fighting to become a Wild Dog.
• Noble Wolf/The Big Bad Wolf: Alpha often zigzags between these two until landing in the latter.
• No Fathers Allowed: Male Leashed Dogs are usually not in their pup's lives. As a result, fathers are usually called "Sire-Dogs" while mothers are called "Mother-Dogs".
• Number Two:
  • Sweet to Alpha. She becomes the alpha dog after he joins the Fierce Dogs.
  • Lucky becomes the beta in The Endless Lake.
• The Oathbreaker: Whine promises not to tell Lucky that he's working for the Leashed Dogs if he helps him get promoted. So how does he pay him back? By ratting him out anyways.
• Parental Title Characterization: Mother dogs are called "Mother-Dog". Due to the fact male dogs are usually Glorified Sperm Donors, fathers are usually called "Sire-Dog", though present fathers are called "Father-Dog".
• Pets Versus Strays: Due to his bad experiences with an abusive owner and his handsy children as a puppy, Lucky has a sour opinion on humans. He knows not all are bad, but he doesn't trust them and prefers to avoid them (aside from begging for food). He looks down upon pet dogs for not being in touch with their "dog-spirit" and thinks they're soft. To him, Leashed Dogs act like overgrown puppies and are too attached to their owners. Lucky especially hates the idea of wearing a collar. In contrast, the Leashed Dogs think Lucky and the other Free Dogs are in the wrong for not trusting humans and that they should want to be around people because dogs are supposed to be with longpaws.
• The Prophecy: Alfie's spirit tells Lucky that his death has set him and the Leashed dogs on the path they're on now. He even says that Storm is vital for winning the battle of the Storm of Dogs and Lucky will help her. It later comes true, for Lucky kills an interfering Alpha/Wolf, and Storm finally defeats Blade.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Alpha's line: "Who. Has. Done. This?"

• Rage-Breaking Point: The Trial Of Rage is designed to make Fierce Dogs reach their anger point and kill their opponent. Unfortunately for Blade, Storm overcomes her rage and refuses to kill her brother Fang.
• Raised By Wild Dogs: The Wild pack adopts three Fierce Dog pups, and one of them still lives with the pack. Wiggle dies and Fang joins the Fierce Dogs, but Storm (the only female) stays.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Fiery. Although he respects Alpha, he's a lot calmer and more friendly than he. When he challenges Alpha for the position of leadership, Lucky even lampshades how different the pack would be under Fiery's rule.
  • Sweet becomes this after the former alpha "dies". Lucky is relieved that she's a much better leader than the former alpha.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Alpha gives Lucky one of these about his wavering loyalty to the pack...which becomes hypocritical two books later when he joins the Fierce Dogs.
  • Fiery gives one to Alpha while challenging him for leadership, calling him out on making bad decisions for the pack and treating the pets like crap while not recognizing their potential.
  • Lucky finally gives one to Alpha for betraying the Wild Pack while making them think he was dead.
• Rite-of-Passage Name Change: Dogs are given a pup name by their mothers at birth, and choose their true name when their back teeth come in.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • After wanting to see Storm get killed by Blade, Whine suggests handing her over to the Fierce Dogs. When the pack refuses, he decides to leave and rat on them to the enemy.
  • Rush and Meadow, two terriers in Moon's Choice, leave the pack when the dogs are getting sick. But they get fed up with Hunter's bossy attitude and leave him too.
  • Bella and Arrow end up leaving in Into The Shadows after the Wild Pack keep being hostile towards the latter.
• The Smart Guy: Mickey.
• Shout-Out:
  • Lucky and Alpha's final confrontation in Storm Of Dogs is similar to the fight scene between Simba and Scar from The Lion King (1994).
  • Dogs have a religious ritual where they turn around several times before sleeping. This is shared with Tailchaser's Song. In it, cats turn three times before sleeping to honor the life-givers Goldeneye, Skydancer, and the Allmother.
• Spiritual Successor: The series isn't written like the other Erin Hunter series (understandable because it's a new team). With its huge amounts of Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" and its complex amounts of Animal Religion and animal mythology, it's written more similarly to Watership Down and Tailchaser's Song.
• Smells of Death: Dogs refer to spirits as "scents" because they associate scent with death. When someone dies, their spirits leave their bodies and their body's scent instantly begin changing.
• Title Drop: "We're survivors, you and me."
• Too Dumb to Live: The Leashed Dogs, from Lucky's point of view (and probably the readers' as well). Individual dogs' antics include going back into a house they just established was filled with carbon monoxide (especially since it had caused the one dog to become unconscious and they had just rescued her), swimming too far out in the river after Lucky had just warned them about it being deep and fast, and one dog trying to put a collar back on after he'd gotten it caught on a bush and nearly choked himself to death.
• Took a Level in Badass: The former Leashed Dogs eventually become reliable pack dogs, ready to hunt and fight for the pack. Even small and dainty Sunshine gets her own moment of awesome by chasing away the traitorous Whine.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Bruno and Dart get hit with this in The Gathering Darkness, showing disdain for Arrow for being a Fierce Dog.
• Trash Talk: Lucky does this to the Fierce Dogs in The Empty City and The Endless Lake, calling them smelly or dumb. It's hinted that he's done it plenty of times in the past.
• Somewhere, a Mammalogist Is Crying:
  • The dogs hate scavenging, especially through longpaw trash, and find it beneath them. Real feral dogs don't hunt much. They usually scavenge off of humans and other animals.
  • Sweet giving birth to her pups is depicted as long and painful, unlike most actual dog births.
  • The pack system is based off the inaccurate "alpha wolf" model that has been debunked by scientists since at least the 1990s.
  • Sweet is a Greyhound yet has no issue surviving in the wild. Greyhounds are fragile dogs for their size. They lack muscle and fat, plus they are short-furred dogs, so they're susceptible to cold and they get injured easily.
• Stray Animal Story: The series stars a group of dogs living on their own. Some were born and raised in the wild, others became strays later in life, while most were forced into the wild after their owners evacuated.
• Unexpectedly Human Perception: Dogs and wolves see the same colors as humans. For example, autumn is called "Red Leaf" despite the fact that real dogs can't distinguish reds well.
• Vague Age:
  • Most of the dogs aren't aged. Lick and her siblings were young unnamed pups but were still able to have conversations like older children. Word of God pins them at around 3 months.
  • Aging the pups can be difficult. Dogs are considered fully-grown when their back teeth grow in, but they're still often referred to as "pups". This suggests that they're the equivalent of teenagers: almost adults, but not quite.
• Was Too Hard on Him: Even if Whisper had unwittingly annoyed Storm by constantly being with her, she berates herself for scolding him when he ends up dead near the end of A Pack Divided.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: The books take place somewhere in North America that is near an ocean and has earthquakes. Some of the wildlife included in the series are wolves, otters, black bears, gray foxes, coyotes, gophers, moles, voles, deer, and black-footed ferrets.
• Winds Are Ghosts:
  • Dogs use "scents" as another word for "spirits". When someone dies, their scent changes and their spirit blends with others in the air.
  • The Great Howl is a spiritual ceremony that dogs and wolves do on full moons. It creates a peaceful bliss amongst the pack and helps strengthen their bonds. When a particularly powerful Great Howl occurs, it gets windy and dogs can feel the Spirit-Dogs amongst them.
• Would Hurt a Child: Blade will do anything to prevent a second Big Growl, even killing puppies (including her own).
• Your Mom: Lucky distracts the Fierce Dogs by barking insults at them. These include claiming that their mothers had worms and were tailless, and that their fathers were foxes.

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