Dog Sled Team

Good guy. I can tell by his voice. 

2 of the team dogs are weredogs. I can tell. 

1 once met a weredog in Alaska who had been up there for 112 years. For all except for 3 of his dog lives he had been on sled teams. He loved it, the sled. For his human lives he had been a railroad engineer, a cop, a soldier, a truck driver, platform monkey at Prudhome Bay, and He also lived 1 of his dogs lives with a pack of wolves. His telling of that rattled my teeth, how and why he did it. But that's another story, for anther time.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/13/travel/escapes/20090313-dogsledding-audio/index.html

Chester
chester.weredog@gmail.com

On the Beach in Destin

I am in Destin, Florida. Can't say where exactly.  But, I hear the surf each night through open windows and could hit boats in the Destin Bay with a pistol round. 

How I got here is a long story. It involved flying the last leg in a single-engine plane with a weredog named Curl. He is a nut. Flew with Chenault in China. Says when he is in human phase he always either works as a pilot or has access to a plane. He said a mistake was made, that he should have been a bird and not a dog. He me awake with stories and flying antics. 

Twice, when he thought I was not listening to his stories, he did barrel rolls. He howled the whole way around. I asked him if he was sure he was not a wolf, and not a dog. He cackled and howled more, said, "I'm more of your wild dog."

I am in this area to find a weredog who is working at Hurlburt Field, on Eglin Air Force Base. I have met with him once, so far. We need to talk again, several times. He was suspicious of me at first. But after we exchanged SF bona fides - names, units, places - he relaxed, a bit. Now we're good. He has a boat and is taking me out to fish when the weather breaks. We should be able to talk freely then. 

I went into Northern Minnesota. Had to find a wolf named Lacwulfa. I found he and his pack northwest of Crane Lake, near the Canadian border, ran with them for a few days. It was cold most days, but so beautiful. But, got the answers I needed and headed here.

It is hard to get access to computers on the road, while traveling as a dog. I am staying in the house of a weredog here in Destin. So, I do not have to worry about getting caught in the wrong form. She is showing me the area. We go out in both dog and human forms, to get the full experience. Her insistence. 

It is raining and cold here today. The first few days I was here it was beautiful. Lots of beach time. My coat got filled with sand. But now it is cld and nasty out and I have lots of time to catch up on emails, messages, news, accounts, bills, etc. 

I've watched a lot of sun rises and sunsets on the beach here. They are moments of magic. Amazing what the sun does with colors when it creeps up in the morning and gives way at night. Sunsets are my favorite. There is something about them. The French have a saying about sunset: "Entre chien et loup." Means: Between dog and wolf. I wonder if there is a saying for sun rise that says: "Entre loup et chien." Have to find out. 

Going Out, Moving Tomorrow

Cliff and I are going out tonight. One more errand here, then I move on. I have to take human form most of tonight, so the next couple of days of travel will have to be in dog form. Cliff has arranged for me to ride with a weredog trucker hauling a load of special piping to Denver. 

Holly and Warin both have been sending me message and voicemails saying that if I ever intend to return there that I better get on back there. Lots of changes and dramas going on, they say, within pack and the family. Great. I so want to rush back to that.

But, I have a few more places to go, and dogs to see, before I can go back home to KC, to Jack and Sherry, Sven and Rick. And Jason. And Flecka and Bailey and Sparkle and Rooster. 

And having some down time sounds good, being able to nap half the day, days wherein my days' biggest exertion is barking at the UPS guy. I am tired from being on this roar. I have a stiffness in my neck that does not go away. 

OK. Got to go. Time to gear up, get ready. 

Religion May Have Evolved To Help People Exercise Self-control

This was sent to me by a weredog I have known a long time.

Religion May Have Evolved Because Of Its Ability To Help People
Exercise Self-control

"Psychologists reveal that religion facilitates the exercise of self-
control and attainment of long-term goals. A psychology professor has
found a strong correlation between religion and self-control, or self-
regulation. He explains that religious people may have at their
disposal a set of unique resources that makes them better suited to
adhering to long term goals."

Link to article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081231005355.htm

Religion is one of those things about you people that we, weredogs just do not understand. Werewolves, also, I am sure. My friend, who sent this to me, struggles to understand human religion. She was a nun once, a pastor another time, and a pastor's wife.  She says being the pastor's wife was the most challenging.

Below are some choice Biblical quotes she has shared with me over the years.

Romans 8:21-22 KJV:  "Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."   

Is that to say that we are all species in this together?

Proverbs 12:10:  'A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal.'   

Amen.

Psalms 50:10-11:  'Every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.'

Saint Francis must have found that one.

Job 12:7-10:  'Ask the animals, and they will teach you.' 

Oh yeah. That's a double "Amen!"

We understand the need for something to believe in, in higher powers, powers higher and more knowing than ourselves. But all the rules and conditions that you humans place in and around religion leaves us dumbfounded. I can almost grasp the concept of faith. But whenever I think about it and am nearly there I get lost in all the rules and qualifications about it, and I get worn out and just have to go take a nap.

Chester
chester.weredog@gmail.com

Size and Weredogs

Swiftpaw posted this comment:  "Can werefolk of any species become fat and are there individuals (who) like being fat?"

Of course there are weredogs who are larger. We don't think in terms of "fat."  When we first smell or see an individual for the first time, we take in more of that person than just their size and appearance.  It depends on the dog, male or female, as to what she or he prefers in terms of body type. But we also are very swayed by scent and voice. You can tell much from a person or dog's scent, and their voice. For me, and most weredogs, scent and voice are just as important as curves and coat. Matter of fact, for me, a luminous smile is worth more than a $50K pair of tits.

There are many things we do not fully understand about humans, such as religion. We understand the need for faith and hope, and the fear of death. But, we really do not understand all the crazy things that happen in the name of religion. Thus, religion makes us nervous. We also do not understand the "size zero" obsession human culture currently has with the female form. Tyra Banks and Jessica Simpson recently caught a lot of heat for letting themselves go, getting fat. What it amounted to was both women allowing themselves to no longer look like adolescent boys. Well, neither quite ever looked like that. But you get my point.

I think an important element in all this is confidence. Queen Tatifah is a big woman and is one of the sexiest women in Hollywood. No one, with a brain, would accuse her of being fat. If someone did she would just laugh, or pay them no attention. If Jessica did the same, just waved her hand to those who criticized her size and said, "Whatever," then her size storm would have never had wind. By the way, wasn't it mostly other women who who going after Jessica and Tyra, saying they got fat? Sometimes women are so much like cats.

Size only becomes a problem for a weredog when it negatively affects health and mobility.  This sometimes becomes an issue when a weredog gets too old, or falls into decline from staying too long in one form. A dog that needs to hunt  needs to run.

So, for me, and all weredogs, size is relevant. It depends on the individual and breed, on their needs and days. Attraction is the same. I cannot see a pic of a female and know if I am going to be drawn to her. I have to be near her, to smell her, hear her voice, see her move, and feel the reaction to our touch, hers and mine, when my hand or nose touches hers.

WereForms and Phases

The question was asked:

"So a weredog can't actually stay in one form as long as they like? Are they forced to change into a different form or do they just choose to?"

Good question. That is correct. We can are in, for example, human phase for 5 to 10 years, depending on the dog and his or her breed and unique physiology. Then we have to switch to being a dog for approximately the same amount of time. If we don't bad things happen. This shifting is key to our longevity.  We don't quiet understand it ourselves. It's like humans and hiccups. No one can completely explain why they happen.

During our phases we can take other forms, like I did in Grand Lake with Dionna, where I shifted between the 3 somewhat often, for the purposes of hunting neo's and playing with Dionna. But a weredog has to be careful about how long and how much she or he stays in forms other than the form of the current phase.  Staying too long in a form is like decompression sickness for divers. If I stay too long in human form I get the bends, so to speak.

This is a problem right now because I am traveling. Thus, I spend most of my time in dog form, wandering roadsides and finding food and shelter where I can. When I have to I shift to human, or weredog. 

2 night ago I was coming into Yakima, Washington, on Highway 97 and heard some howls. Pain. Distinct. Impossible to miss. I was standing alongside a greasy stretch of road, gas stations, body shops and various other such business and sad buildings lined the road. I loped over, quietly, to check it out. 

Behind a squat cinderblock building, inside a chainlink fence, in a dirt lot with scattered patches of mud and opaque water, a guy was beating 2 dogs, german shepherds, male and female, with a short, wood club. I smelled him form 30 meters away - the sour filth of a broken bully. Without thinking, I started to shift.

Now, I know. Not my business. I should have just kept moving, kept my muzzle out of it. But, I didn't. 

I came up behind him in weredog form. He sensed me when I was about 6 feet away. Or maybe he saw the 2 dogs' eye on me. Regardless, he turned. His face and body did what humans always do when they see a weredog, or werewolf, I assume. His eyes got big as floodlights and his mouth got wide enough to fit in my dinner bowl back home. He stumbled back a few steps. He moved forward, growling low. 

My only intent was to impress upon him the importance of respecting his dogs, and that I would be back to talk to him again if he did not do so in the future. Total bluff. I was passing through. But, this guy surprised me a little. He pulled a piece. 

It was a S&W .44 revolver. I recognized because I used to have one. Before he could bring it up I closed with him and made him drop it. My claws can be persuasive. My teeth were close enough to his face for him to smell the fresh roadkill I had for lunch earlier that day. I told him I never wanted to hear those 2 dogs whine or howl like that ever again. I was not surprised when the guy fainted. I felt his pulse building to it. I laid him down and went through hit pockets. 

I found a large package of beef jerky in his coat. I gave it to the 2 shepherds. Said their names were Rood and Wong. They weren't sure what to make of me at first. But after sniffing me and eating the jerky they got friendly. They told me that the man's name was Bill, that he is actually a decent enough guy, but falls to bad moods. Both said they would stay.

I am staying with a friend at the Yakima Training Center. Just found him today. He is a weredog I have known for a long time. Many stories. He works in Range Control. I am using his laptop to post this. I am here for information he has about new weapons and tactics being tested by the Army. There might be a neo connection. 

We're going to a nearby steakhouse tonight for sirloins and women. I told him I may have to pass on the women, depending on what crosses my path.  I have not had decent food for a while. Haven't been with a female for a while either, for that matter, of any species. 

I need to be real careful about how much shifting I do. Been taking human form too much this past week. 

Moving Again

I'll be moving again tomorrow. Can't say where. 

Holly, I have not heard from you in over a week.  Everything OK?  You're phone not working?  How is Jack, Sherry, the boys?  Can someone check on my family?  Any dog can check in with Flecka, Sparkle, even Rooster. 

Jason is recovered. I've been in communication with him. He wants revenge, for Jessica's death. He wants to know what those things were at the puppy mill. He knows they weren't human. I promised him an explanation, when I can, but for now to stay low. I told him he does not want those things to regain his scent.