History Literature / TheDogs

->''"Fuckin right. I'm better." Bligh's lips remained parted, and Cody stared at his elongated eyeteeth – ''fangs.'' "This is who I really am. This
is how I changed…"''

->''"Fuckin right. I'm better." Bligh's lips remained parted, and Cody stared at his elongated eyeteeth – ''fangs.'' "This is who I really am. This is how I changed…"''

Many of the stories are, as a result, ''highly'' NSFW, and possess a potent sense of tragedy and dread. (The novels are [[LighterAndSofter a little more romantic and sweet]], but that's not saying much.) Using [[AllMythsAreTrue real-world folklore and local history]], the stories usually bring in the geographic location where they are set [[FisherKingdom as a central engine of the characters' actions and personalities]]. More often than not, it posits that the [[SocietyMarchesOn abrupt and traumatic abandonment of how life used to be]] causes people to lose touch with their true selves...which can come back to haunt them [[BodyHorror in unsettling and shocking ways]]. The whole thing is deeply steeped in the lore, traditions, and culture of {{UsefulNotes/Appalachia}}, West Virginia in particular.

* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Cody]] is easily seduced by [[spoiler:Bligh]] the first night.

** Andrew's brother doubly lampshades both this and [[spoiler:[[MrSeahorse Cody's pregnancy]]]] when they are first revealed to him in ''Litany'':

''The Dogs'' is a series of novels, joined by a pair of short story collections, by Christopher Veidt. The first novel was begun in April of 2012 as an experiment in [[TransformationFiction transformation fetish stuff]] for a [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom Furry audience]] that eventually mushroomed into a full-fledged novel when the original notes for the story were codified and revised in August of 2013.

Many of the stories are, as a result, ''highly'' NSFW, and possess a potent sense of tragedy and dread. Using [[AllMythsAreTrue real-world folklore and local history]], the stories usually bring in the geographic location where they are set [[FisherKingdom as a central engine of the characters' actions and personalities]]. More often than not, it posits that the [[SocietyMarchesOn abrupt and traumatic abandonment of how life used to be]] causes people to lose touch with their true selves...which can come back to haunt them [[BodyHorror in unsettling and shocking ways]]. The whole thing is deeply steeped in the lore, traditions, and culture of {{UsefulNotes/Appalachia}}, West Virginia in particular.

** By the second novel, both Andrew and Stephen's accent soften to become something like their mother's -- broadly Appalachian without being as shrill as Bligh's is, something like (for instance) Music/DollyParton.

* FictionFiveHundred: Stephen and Andrew's family, the Lightfoots, is enormously wealthy and ''extremely'' old, tracing their roots back to [[UsefulNotes/TheThirteenAmericanColonies when Jamestown was first settled in 1607]]. The disproportionate amount of money the family has amassed in a poverty-stricken area [[DefectorFromDecadence eventually disgusts and disillusions Andrew]]. Stephen, on the other hands, [[MrViceGuy milks it for all its worth]].

* FreudianTrio: Bligh, Cody, and Andrew for the first novel. Although unintentional, they end up representing, respectively, the [[UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud Freudian]] concepts of [[IdSuperegoAndEgo the id, ego, and superego]].

* HealingFactor: It's only barely hinted how, but [[spoiler:Stephen is pretty much immune to every injury and sickness.]]

** In the second novel, Cody's motherly Puerto Rican boss, Gabby, is introduced, and plays a small but vital role in the early part of the book. Her presence lessens this trope (somewhat) due to how [[MinimalistCast how small the cast remains]].

* TheNoseKnows: One of the attributes that Dogfolk possess is a superior olfactory scent to that of humans. The distinctive wood-like musk that males of the species give off [[SmellsSexy has a pleasant, calming, and arousing effect on each other]].

* ReferenceOverdosed: A plethora of (mostly passing) literary and pop cultural references which populate the novels, as disparate as ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' to ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray''. There are also a large amount of references to the culture and geography of both West Virginia and Florida, see "Shown Their Work" below.

* SecondEpisodeMorning: PlayedForDrama in the first novel.
* SceneryPorn: Both West Virginia and Florida, when introducing new locations, are given this treatment.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: [[spoiler:Andrew, when he makes the final decision to transform into a half-dog with Cody and Bligh]].

* TransformationHorror: A salient feature of all of Veidt's work...
* UnevenHybrid: After transforming, the new half-dog is permanently this. Despite [[InsistentTerminology the term used]], these creatures are actually little over 60% canine, both externally and internally.

* YouAreWorthHell: More or less invoked when [[spoiler:Andrew]] says [[spoiler:"I told you -– dog or not, if I can be with you…I don't care what I look like or –- or –- if I ain't even human."]]
* YouSexyBeast: Invoked by [[spoiler:Andrew]] when he says to [[spoiler:Bligh]], and in reference to his dog-like nature even before his transformation, that [[spoiler:"I've always been in love with a beast."]] Earlier, [[spoiler:Cody]] is easily seduced and willingly gives himself over to [[spoiler:Bligh's]] advances as chronicled in "The Beast That Shouted 'Fuck' At the Heart of the World," which takes major cues from the dynamic in [[spoiler:Literature/LittleRedRidingHood]].

* SuddenlySexuality: All his life, because Bligh never said anything to the contrary, Andrew was in love with him but assumed he was straight, so when Bligh pulls him into a ForcedKiss, it comes a completely genuine shock.

For a time in 2014-15 the novels and their successive spin-off stories were rather popular on [=SoFurry=], where Veidt made his creative home. Following the completion of the first book, ''Not Exactly Night,'' in July of 2014, and the second, ''Litany'' in March of 2015, Veidt slowly but surely gained a dedicated following in the TF (transformation) community, usually through stories that had explicitly spooky or horror themes. However, in 2016 Veidt shifted gears and moved away from horror-based literature and more into UrbanFantasy, specifically MythPunk-like stories featuring [[OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious regional cryptids]]. As his output became [[DarkerAndEdgier more and more transgressive]], his followers evaporated, and by 2017 he had lost complete interest in keeping a public profile -- [[CreatorBreakdown he convinced himself that nobody cared about his work and, worse, that the website he was posting them to was going to steal his copyright]]. This led him to take all of his work down everywhere, and indeed, references to it were quite scarce except for this very website.

For now, you can find his work on his Website/{{Tumblr}}, where he is slowly rebuilding his online presence, right [[https://christopher-veidt.tumblr.com here]].

* CanineCompanion: Although both deceased well before the start of the events of the novel, this was Duke for Bligh, and Walker, the Beagle, for Stephen.

** BitByBitTransformation: ...particular of this type.

* RealMenCook:

Many of the stories are, as a result, ''highly'' NSFW, and possess a potent sense of tragedy and dread. Using [[AllMythsAreTrue real-world folklore and local history]], the stories usually bring in the geographic location where they are set [[FisherKingdom as a central engine of the characters' actions and personalities]]. More often than not, it posits that the [[SocietyMarchesOn abrupt and traumatic abandonment of how life used to be]] causes people to lose touch with their true selves...which can come back to haunt them [[BodyHorror in unsettling and shocking ways]]. The whole thing is deeply steeped in the lore, traditions, and culture of {{Appalachia}}, West Virginia in particular.

* {{Appalachia}}: Flashbacks take us here when Andrew remembers his life growing up with Stephen and Bligh. Special care is used to describe the mountains and [[GhibliHills gorgeous hilly scenery]].

* ClusterFBomb: Andrew when he gets frustrated, Stephen [[SirSwearsALot almost every sentence]].

* RetroUniverse: Played with. Despite nominally being an exact parallel to our own, people buy clothing from antiquated (and long-defunct) department stores like Burdines and Hecht's, who are assumed to be alive and well in this alternate 2013.

* ThePowerOfLove: Doubles as a {{Tearjerker}} when Andrew confesses to Bligh that: [[spoiler:He would always love him, "dog or not."]]

For now, you can find his work on his {{Tumblr}}, where he is slowly rebuilding his online presence, right [[https://christopher-veidt.tumblr.com here]].

* HealingFactor: A feature of the Dogfolk to which Bligh belongs. [[spoiler:And, as it turns out, Stephen as well.]]

* TransformationHorror: A salient feature of all of Veidt's work.
* UnevenHybrid: After transforming, the new half-dog is permanently this. Despite [[InsistentTerminology the term used]], half-dogs are actually little over 60% canine, both externally and internally.

* WithAFriendAndAStranger: Andrew spent his entire childhood and teenage years with Bligh, and has been dating Cody for a year. Bligh and Cody, as a result, do not know each other well at all.

* '''[[TheDogsBeforeTimeAfter The Dogs: Before Time After]]''', a volume of prequel stories [[RotatingProtagonist from different characters]] which narrates how the events, characters, and people of the main novels eventually coalesce [[SwitchingPOV as told and seen by several people]] over the course of almost three centuries.