We stayed in the wooded area just behind the human village and watched how they interacted with each other and the animals in their care. We hunted in small groups of two or three and kept the pack fed. I could sense Shaggy was unhappy. He spent many hours with his head hung low but would be poised and proper when his humans were around. It was sad to watch. The first night we were there, Shaggy made the mistake of howling.

His human came out howling and attacked him until he could no longer stand or make a sound. It took nearly a week for him to recover. The pack was getting uneasy and highly aggressive when ever they saw the human that attacked our pack mate but I kept them in line. We watched as Shaggy's human would let him off his chain for a little while each day and that was when we were going to get him away from the humans but we had yet to figure out how. The fence was too high to jump and the ground around the fence was encased with hard rock stuff; it hurt our paws when we tried to dig a hole.

Tank had been on watch one morning and he nudged me wake with his nose. I was about to snap at him as I had taken the night shift and had only been a sleep for a little while when I noticed the scent of fear. It was coming from Tank, in waves. I suddenly woke up and stood, I shook out my fur and followed Tank to where he had been taking his watch. Then I saw it. Shaggy was gone. I whined and looked at Tank and looked back to where Shaggy use to be. Suddenly I was surrounded by the pack. They too whined and nudged at me with their noses unsure what to do or how to act. I shook my fur again and they all backed up a few paces. I slowly lowered myself to the ground and huffed.

The others did the same. We were going to wait this out for as long as it would take. A few of us has dozed off but I stayed awake and waited and watched. I heard a sound and gave a low growl and everyone replied with their own. Now everyone was awake. We were behind some long grass and knew the human couldn't see us or they would have tried to hunt us down. We stayed low to the ground as we watched between blades of grass. Many of the humans were out and with their pets. The humans would just walk around their village with their pets on long ropes or chains.

Most of the pets seemed happy and liked to be out and about. But then I saw Shaggy and even though he had his head high and wagged his tail, the scent of fear and displeasure was apparent. The other dogs didn't seem to notice or don't care. Either way, all I knew was this had to end today. And I knew the perfect time to get Shaggy away from the humans once and for all. The pack must have picked up on my determination as they all started to become restless. I growled, and they tried their best to settle down but the time was soon approaching to free Shaggy and EVERYONE was excited.

It was starting to get late and I knew the humans would soon start to return to their dens and that would be the perfect time to get Shaggy and make our get away. But it wasn't to be. Instead of just Shaggy's human returning with him, the humans were moving towards the human den in a large pack. There was eleven of them and I knew that we could not take a group on at that size. The pack was angry. Gash, Nurse and Scar went out hunting but Tank and I remained.

We knew once the others got back that the hunting had not gone well. They seemed more aggressive now then when they had left. The three wouldn't even look at each other and all walked off and laid down in different locations to rest. Something was very wrong with my pack and I would have to fix it before we could save our pack mate. Shaggy had been re-chained to the tree and left for the night, but sadly I had bigger problems to deal with. But I would deal with that in the morning, I gave a soft yap to Nurse and she knew it was her turn to keep watch. 

Gash seemed upset with my choice and growled at Nurse as she walked by. I had had enough and rushed Gash and growled her into submission which took long then normal and then I knew that it wouldn't be long before she challenged me for alpha female of the pack. It suddenly hit me and I knew what was wrong with everyone. There was a ranking problem within our pack. And it had to be sorted out and fast before things got worse.

It was early morning when I woke and found Gash sitting and staring down at me with Scar not far behind her and I sensed Nurse behind me. This wasn't looking good. Gash gave me a warning growl and I knew the day had come, she was challenging me for alpha female and I was guessing she was going to take Scar as her mate so he would be the alpha male. I slowly got to my feet, and so did Gash. She stood tall and proud without a hint of submission in her stance. Scar also stood but stayed in the background.

Nurse was also in the background but I knew she would put herself in front to protect me. I couldn't allow that and gave her a warning growl to stay back and Gash did the same to Scar. This was between me and Gash. Gash stepped forward and slightly bowed her head but kept her eyes on me, then I knew this was a formal battle. I knew if Gash won the battle she would run me out of the pack or, worse, kill me. It was the moment of truth. I followed her stance and then the battle began.

I watched as Gash and I circled, sizing each other. I was bigger then her but I knew she had brute strength at her advantage and experience but I had a strong will and that would be her downfall but still I would need to be careful. The wag of her tail told me that she was just playing with me for the moment but soon the real battle would begin. I noticed the stiffness in her tail before she pounced towards me and I dodged her easily. She wanted to keep me on my toes and so I sat down and awaited her next attack and I wasn't disappointed. The moment my butt hit the ground she jumped high but hit nothing but the ground, as I quickly laid down and rolled then I got to my feet and yawned loud enough for her to hear me. Gash replied with a growl and a snort. I rolled my eyes.

This seemed to make her even more aggressive towards me. She came at me again running towards my left and I waited to evade her move but she switched directions at the last second and pounce onto me from the right and rammed her teeth into my shoulder blade. I yelped in pain and started to roll with Gash still with her teeth in my flesh but I must have taken her by surprise as she suddenly let go as I continued to roll. I could hear Nurse whining and getting ready to jump in. I spun around and snap at her and she backed up a few steps with her head hung low but still watching.

I also knew Gash would take this opportunity to attack me again. I heard her running towards me. But as she got near my recovered tail, I spun around and snapped my jaws down on her own tail and yanked her backwards hard. Gash let out a howl and I let go. I had no intentions of harming her but I wasn't going to allow her to kill me either.

Gash spun around and growled. Ok, enough fooling around, it was go time, I thought to myself. Gash ran and jumped and I followed suit, I knew my weight would overpower her leap and we landed in a heap with Gash on her back and me on my feet standing over her. I snarled my most fierce and held my teeth around her jugular and continued to growl so she could feel the vibrations throughout her body and soon she relaxed and whimpered in submission. I gave a little pressure at her throat and she stiffened and when completely limp. I was making sure she understood next time I wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

I let go of her and she let her body flop to the ground. I gave a sharp yap at her and she whimpered once again. Now I knew I’d gotten though to her. I limped away to Nurse and laid down as Nurse looked me over and cleaned my wounded shoulder. After she was done with me, she tended to a very sorry looking Gash, whom I would punish at a later time. But now we all needed to rest and get Shaggy away from the human village. He was pack and would always be one of us. Then I noticed Tank wasn't around...because of the fight I hadn't noticed he wasn't around but I was soon reassured as he walked into view with a fawn in his jaws. He first presented it to me but I just growled.

He then took it to Gash who was being fussed over by both Nurse and Scar. Gash looked at me, I have a snort and lay my head down to rest. I saw the relief in Gash's eyes as the three feasted on the small meal. Tank returned to my side and sat behind me. He nudged me with his nose and I growled in a non threatening tone. He licked my ear and sat up straight keeping and ear and eye out for anything that could harm us. Tomorrow we would get Shaggy back or die trying. This decided, I closed my eyes and slept, fulling trusting Tank to keep us all safe.