#weredogs

https://archiveofourown.org/works/83606291

A prequel to “things that go ‘bump’ in the night” is finally here! This one tells the story of Jack and Robby before they met Dennis. I really loved the world I built with the first one, and love it even more now!

SO right off the bat, a rougarou is commonly either a werewolf or a weredog. Dogs are not the same as wolves, they behave and can look rather differently (tho weredogs in folklore are about as dangerous as their werewolf cousins). And that's just commonly. And commonly =/= all.

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I’m gonna get flamed into the next century for this one, I know. Not really looking forward to it. Anyway, here we go:

I was sent a message while I was on vacation asking me about what I mean by werewolves as zombies and werewolves as dogs and why I cannot stand either option. This person did not want to be identified, so I won’t refer to them - and I disabled anon asks on my blog due to getting too many hate messages over the years. Anyway, I never got around to answering the message (not been doing well at all lately; sorry about that), but I feel like maybe it’s something I should answer in a post, so here we go.

Here is a quick and dirty guide to how to tell if your werewolf might just be a zombie or might just be a dog.

Please note these are not complete lists. These are things that irk me on a deep and profound level, so I could go on about them for quite some time. But this is the short version.

Your Werewolf is a Zombie

Your werewolf is probably just a hairy zombie if...

They are only remotely powerful/intimidating in groups of 3-10+ and/or massive hordes of 10-80+, and they generally move in groups of these sizes

A single werewolf is not even a threat at all

The ONLY thing that makes them scary is they might infect you

They are extremely easily dispatched

They turn into a werewolf and never turn human again, and/or the transformation process “could kill them”

They are an “infestation” or a “plague”

There are literally entire villages and cities of nothing but werewolves (and all they want to do is kill people)

They are crazed, extremely stupid, and have not even the remotest vestige of human intelligence at all, they just want to essentially eat brains like a zombie

They were created by a virus/fungus/some other form of infection, and that is their centerpiece

They are ugly, mangy things that don’t even remotely resemble wolves. They have no actual wolfish features at all and are largely just mangy/hairy people with gross teeth, or else some kind of big mangy monster with large teeth and generic, gross semi-animal features

They have no fur or even hair at all and are just slick muscle zombies

They are all mindless and pure evil/insane and/or becoming one makes you evil and insane

Being turned into a werewolf is a death sentence

Characters are relieved to know it’s “just a werewolf” instead of something actually bad

They look and behave more like zombies than werewolves in general

They are essentially the first random effortless lowbie encounter/group fight in a video game (or a video game trailer...), often literally

Your Werewolf is Just a Dog

Your werewolf is just a walking dog joke and should just be a “weredog” instead (it’d honestly be infinitely better) if...

They bark

They exhibit domesticated behavior (fetching things, easily distracted by things, etc.)

They are a walking dog joke (bark at mailmen, pee on hydrants, shedding jokes, humping jokes, and whatnot) and other people also make dog jokes about them

They lack intelligence and revert to simplistic animal behavior, especially silly/harmless animalistic behavior, at the drop of a hat and they might be embarrassed by it in comically endearing fashion (howling at sirens, chasing things, etc., also see above)

Being a werewolf is just some kind of embarrassment (”I shed and bark at things and scratch and lick my balls :(”) instead of something scary, powerful, and/or potentially a real problem or hardship

They are just a “good boi” and want “head pats” etc.

They’re basically just big friendly dog-people

They resemble a dog instead of a wolf (they have dog fur patterns [spots, merle, brindle...], dog ears [floppy or cut], jowls, pink nose/pink spots on nose, etc.) [this is such a big problem lately and it drives me insane]

They are largely comedy and played as such

They aren’t even scary at all, nor are they remotely vicious, and if they tried to be everyone would see it as a joke and have to be forced to take it seriously under extreme duress (and then the viewers/readers still wouldn’t be able to because the werewolf is still just a dog joke)

They are, in fact, so ultimately harmless that other characters refer to them as the walking dog jokes that they are (Fido, Fluffy, etc., tell them to fetch things, the whole nine yards)

They are literally just someone’s dog on a chain and wear a collar and refer to themselves as someone’s dog

They may not even be a character at all but are literally just a humanoid dog who never turns human, and/or the human also behaves exactly like the dog-werewolf

If any of these things and especially multiple apply to the werewolf, please just let them be called a weredog instead. I could tolerate that. I’d vastly prefer it. More weredogs. Weredogs for everyone. Let’s do it. I’m not kidding! I’m fine with weredogs! I just don’t want werewolves to be weredogs. Let’s keep them different, please. Wolves are not domestic dogs! They are very different, especially in that wolves are not and cannot be domesticated! There are tons of scientific articles and studies, and more releasing every day, that serve to highlight this!

...

And if your werewolf/werewolves meet these criteria, that is fine for you, but I’m really sorry, but they are not for me and I would much prefer to not even know they exist. No hard feelings.

I like werewolves to be werewolves. To me:

Your Werewolf is a Werewolf

Your werewolf is probably a werewolf of some form if...

They are powerful and terrifying as individuals and only that much moreso in groups. Taking down one werewolf is literally the final bossfight and will take all of one’s willpower, intelligence, and abilities; taking down several at once is basically impossible

What I’m saying is I like them to be among the very scariest of monsters in a setting

They may be able to curse/infect others, but that is not the centerpiece of their entire being

Being part of a group/pack and identifying solely as “a werewolf” is also not their entire being (they’re still people, and people have histories and cultures and identities, too! They’re not some alien hive-mind or something!)

They are still human individuals; being a werewolf is not the entirety of their character or their most important aspect (related to that previous one but also in general)

They retain intelligence (but perhaps not necessarily the ability to speak) in werewolf form; they will not bash their brains against walls in a fit of rage or go after the mailman or howl at sirens

They have poise and pride instead of licking their balls or “scritching” or whatever

They can be vicious, they can be noble, but they are always predatory and scary

They are taken seriously

They do not bark or otherwise exhibit domesticated behavior of any kind

They do not have any obviously non-wolf features (spots, stripes, slit pupils [WHY are slit pupils such a thing now!?], merle, jowls, floppy ears, curly fur, pink nose or paw pads [if they have paw pads], etc.). Weird eye colors are fine and great. A few stranger fur patterns might be fun and interesting (like maybe just a few stripes or something), but anything that makes them too obviously look like just a dog or even a cat really throws me off. My favorite werewolves will always look like wolves above anything else, no matter how odd or stylized or supernatural of wolves they might be. Wolves have their own distinguishing, incredible features and werewolves should have those too; save the rest for other shapeshifters and creatures.

If they have animalistic behavior, it’s predatory and wolfish, not domesticated

Being a werewolf is not a convenient button one can push*

They don’t just walk around, talk, and interact like humans while they are werewolves; they are more animal than human, while retaining their intelligence (they are more likely to go hunt and kill in terrifyingly intelligent ways than play a game of poker, even if they might be capable of the latter)

They turn into a werewolf and turn human again; they are not always one or the other

They actually resemble a wolf in at least some fashion (they are not just a bland horror creature with big teeth and mangy hair)

*: Some werewolves in stories are less cursed than others. That’s fine. I do like my cursed werewolves; to me, that’s part of what makes a werewolf a werewolf instead of just a shapeshifter, but I know that not all werewolves in legend were that way (obviously). That’s a personal preference storytelling thing.

Again, as I am fully aware, this is just my opinion. But I was asked, so there it is. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but hopefully this clarifies what I’m talking about.

You can, of course, consult my werewolf facts and related ask responses for more on my opinions and why I hold these opinions.

Another helpful list can be found here and also here, for potential clarification on werewolf tropes I like and dislike, especially in regard to the dog joke things. And here is more on what people call “werewolf angst” (I call it werewolf anxiety), and here is some more on my personal preferences and advice on writing werewolves and werecreatures.

AND! One more thing! This doesn’t necessarily condemn the werewolf product for me. It just has a 99.99% chance of doing so. Execution is everything. I love Resident Evil: Village/Resident Evil 8 because the hairy zombies are referred to as “lycans” like twice and are just hairy zombies that never resemble wolves or behave as wolves and I can just completely ignore that they’re supposed to be werewolves and overlook that. I love that game. But if there’s this emphasis on big wolfish werewolves being zombies, it honestly makes it worse for me. For instance, I cannot even look at ESO anymore (and that makes me really sad).

And as for the dog jokes... I’ve only ever enjoyed the original Teen Wolf movie insofar as that goes, and some of the things in there still make me groan. But I did enjoy the movie and story enough that I still like it a lot. But will you ever see me watching that Goosebumps movie again? No. I’d sooner hang myself up on meathooks.

I just... would very much love to see werewolves be their own thing instead of zombies or dogs, and if they are just zombies or dogs in a thing, chances are incredibly high that, no, I won’t like it, and I may even have extreme dislike for it.

So let’s let werewolves be werewolves.

In lieu of finding images for myself, I'm going to reference and use images from another tumblr user who's done a deep analysis of this from a different lens from me.

Reading his post, I feel it important to also designate there may be some subjects that could be read wrong. I think in the case of this episode, it's important to understand that the furrification of Abby could also be used as a form of recognizing how black children are targeted by racist individuals and structures. Though Abby is just as skilled with her homework, even surpassing her peers, she is still laid a victim of a structure that others her. With me less-than qualified critical analysis of this episode aside, we're also here to talk about the placement of anthropomorphism in this instance.

Abby's anthropomorphic animal placement is seen less as a celebration, and more of a deep misfortune she must fight. She primarily sees a negative trait of beings under which she now suddenly recognizes herself. She actively strives against what she sees as dangerous. Through this allegorical approach to her own internalized racism, Abby also develops the aesthetic of the thing in which she fears most.

Now, could I have just said, yeah sure, these designs are furrybait? Yeah. And for the most part they are, but they also approach the concept of werewolf transformation in a way that could receive more in-depth analysis. Transformation does not always happen at chance in all media. Sometimes, the approach could be a forbidden knowledge for which one was unaware until things turned ugly.

Not, oh they become the HP movie version or Some other humanoid version.

Werewolves...

... that become Dogs.

People who carboload before every transformation, Who fill their basements with chew Toys and peanut butter and treats And the occasional steak and Blankets, and overall just prepare for the Change.

Their wolf side doesn’t need To hunt, because there’s food. It doesn’t need to Try and escape, because TOYS!!

So the form Domesticates. Instead of a hulking Wolf with razor-sharp fangs and a Slathering muzzle, there’s a pupper with Bright eyes and a thirst for Whatever you’re holding in your Hand!

A girl who worries About hurting her friends takes the Precautions her first night. Her BFF comes to watch, A camera ready and a stick Should he need to protect himself, Though he assures her she won’t hurt Anyone.

The moon shines down, and She turns... into an enormous fluffy Dog. Her bestie doesn’t even Try to film, instead burying Himself in floofiness. She doesn’t worry After that.

A man who Wonders what being a wolf is like finds Himself instead becoming a yapping Chihuahua that bothers His wife all night.

A boy enthusiastically waits For his boyfriend to turn into A hulking English Mastiff so he can go Make more posts on Instagram of his ‘pet’.

Two enbys prepare For a night of adventures, Their SO waiting by to Chaperone.

Just werewolves that are Only werewolves by classification, not by What they actually become.

No prompt. It’s been a long time since I drew Fuka! He even got a slight redesign to have more similarities to a Belgian Shepherd. Bonus, original drawing under cut + description of his abilities. His claws are hard to draw sometimes, hhhhhh

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