are you going to make millie being able to speak dog relevant? i always LOVED that little plot point in the graystripe manga, but it never came up afterwards 😔
(Sorry for the rambles, I just love this girl, haha.)
Yep! She's the big translator. Lynx learns to "speak Cat", while apprentices learn to "speak Dog". I imagine speech in this world is a LOT of body language. Lynx is a very chill and quiet dog by nature. But she gets tons of exercise on her lone patrols where she gets to run, and chase (and catch!) squirrels, and bark at the neighbor cats! ;v; She often collects big sticks and of course old bones to contentedly nom upon at home. The Clan accepted very quickly that when she brought back prey, she would bring back a chew toy, too.. She does whine, being more emotionally driven than cats, but when she does get happy and start barking in camp, the rude cats hiss, and the mentors and apprentices come in and say "hey, time to go train!"
And the training is where she really won cats over! The mentors and apprentices quickly realized just how helpful it was to train with a completely different animal when they knew she wasn't gonna hurt them. While she is encouraged to hold back in camp, she's encouraged to let loose in training. Obviously not bite down too hard if she does catch another apprentice, and you know. No killing. But otherwise? Go crazy! Even snarling and barking threateningly is recommended in the mock fights, because it helps the apprentices (and mentors!) not to be scared in that situation and keep their wits about them when they face a dog who will actally hurt them. Lynxpaw/bite just pins them and licks their faces and wags her tail because she loves her Clan, and her friends and family. She holds back a lot because she kinda just wants to cuddle everybody instead, but at the end of training, she gets lots of good attention and a chance to nap and groom her sisters when they get home.