History Literature / SurvivorDogs

* FridgeBrilliance: Throughout the series, most of the litters born at least shortly before the Big Growl lose one member before making it to adulthood. One of Moon and Fiery's pups is killed by foxes, and later, one of the three Fierce Dog pups, as well as [[spoiler:Blade's Fierce Dog pup who appears to be an only child.]] don't make it past their puppyhood. [[spoiler:In ''The Gathering Darkness'' arc, one of Bella and Arrow's pups is stillborn, and Arrow mentions that his sister, born a runt, was taken away as a puppy, presumably to be euthanized. However, despite the dangers they face, all of Lucky and Sweet's pups make it to adulthood. They've literally inherited some of their father's luck!]]

* FictionalConstellations: Dog constellations include The Rabbit, The Wolf and her cub, the Great Tree, and the Running Squirrel
* FourIsDeath: 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.

* NoFathersAllowed: 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".

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Arrow]] leaves his pack to fight with the Wild Pack and Twitch's Pack. It's because [[spoiler: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]].

** The half-wolf leading the Wild Pack is only ever called Alpha to show his leadership. [[spoiler:After he's revealed to have joined the Fierce Dogs, the narration calls him either "the former Alpha", "the half-wolf" or "the wolf-dog". His backstory, shown in ''Alpha's Tale'', reveals he was originally named Dog by the wolf pack he grew up in due to being half-dog, and after being captured by Fierce Dogs and made to work for their master he was renamed "Wolf" due to looking like one.]]

** [[spoiler:Bella and Arrow's pups in ''The Gathering Darkness'' arc choose the names Golden and Tough as adults. Golden to honor a few patches of fur he believes are from their mother, as well as their mother herself, and Tough to honor his Fierce Dog heritage and his deceased sister Tufty.]]

* RiteOfPassageNameChange: Dogs are given a pup name by their mothers at birth, and choose their true name when their back teeth come in. If they cannot come up with a name defining them, the Alpha will choose one for them. Averted by the Leashed Dogs, who are given a pup name by their mothers at birth, but their true names are chosen by their longpaws.

** [[spoiler:Zorro to Sundance, the Longpaw Fangs in ''Alpha's Tale''. Though it's downplayed, as the pack is small and he's never shown giving orders to anyone directly, and they all frequently take orders directly from their longpaw master.]]

** [[spoiler:A few of Lucky and Sweet's pups in ''The Gathering Darkness'' arc are named Tumble for rolling around, Fluff for her long hair, and Tiny for being small.]]

** The Fierce Dog pups found in ''Darkness Falls'' are named Lick (for licking everyone else), Wiggle (for constantly moving), and Grunt (for the way he speaks). Lick is later renamed Storm (most likely referring to the Storm of Dogs), while Grunt is renamed Fang to show strength and ferocity.