[Half Tree]

Adopted

Owner: Marz-Barz
Name: G&S Point of the Spear // Rost
Gender: Male
Height: 17 in
Weight: 37 lbs
Color: Bleached Mask Liver and Tan Agouti Piebald Herding Harlequin
Genotype: awaw bb cchcch Dd EmEm- hh Ii kyky Mhm spsp tt UU ll

Breeding Notes: Bleached has a 2% chance of passing to offspring.
Their flopped ear cannot pass and they cannot enter conformation in the title program.

--

in true milestone fashion, we have a new gene for you all, this one is called bleached!

personality comp! you may use a minimum of 150 words to describe an event that showcases a key personality trait this dog has without outright stating it. optional singular art extra that goes along with the story in some fashion.
will end sometime after 01/25

[Chanceuxcat]

Username: Chanceuxcat
Name: Chameleon // Karma
Name Meaning(s): Show name is after the fun song "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club. It also reminds me a bit of the way her face seems to almost be shifting colors due to the merle. Call name is based on her personality! Read the story below to find out more :3
Gender: Female
Prompt:

"Hey! You better not keep hurting him or karma will get you!" Wintry exclaims, trying to stop the pup from biting her littermate again.
"Karma doesn't exist!" she says, wrinkling her brow in irritation. After all, she wants to keep playing!
"Karma? Yes, she exists. And there are a few things you should know about her."
"What?" the pups ask, stopping their play, intrigued by Trevi's words. Trevi is different than the other adults in their eyes. For one, he doesn't often tell make-believe stories. All of his have some truth to them. And for another, all the other dogs, adults and pups, stop what they're doing to listen to what he's saying.
"There are three things you should know about her," Trevi continues. "One: she's always alert, always watching. Two: she cares only about your actions, not your reasons. And three: she doesn't forgive."
The pups cock their heads, pondering this.
"Really?" Wintry asks with some doubt. "How do you know?"
Trevi shrugs. "That's what my parents, and my parents' parents, and my parents' parent's parents have always said. If these rumors have existed that long, then surely they must have some truth. But if they aren't, well, someone will tell me otherwise. Eventually."
The pups choose to believe them. They begin playing a bit gentler and the kennel resumes its normal activities.

Trevi is, in fact, wrong on all three accounts.

---

One: she's always alert, always watching.

Karma yawns. Curled in a ball with her snout in her tail, she softly groans with exasperation. It's probably time for her to get up already. And although she fell asleep around sunset, it seems that night is never long enough. She opens one eye, quickly squinting it from the sun's bright glare. Judging from how high the sun is (and the clock in the hallway of this school) it's already 9 am! Karma wills herself to get up, opening the other eye and eventually getting onto all four paws. Shaking herself out, she quickly walks down the hallway and leaps onto a trash can at the end, giving her enough boost to leap over the wall separating the school from the city.

Karma walks through the street, letting her nose explore all the delicious scent of the pop-up festival. It's a weekend, and in winter, so the plaza is busier than normal.

"Hey Karma! Over here!" a dog beckons her with his tail.
"Hey Fate! Find some good food?"
Fate nods. "Oh yeah! This man gives us some scraps of that gyro he's cooking! It's pretty good meat too!"
"Oh? Is that so? Maybe we should cook up something special for him."
"Way ahead of you," Fate grins. "When he gets home, he'll find that his daughter's hospital bills have all been paid for by a mysterious donor-"
"-and she's getting stronger every day, expected to make a full recovery," Karma adds.
"That's pretty generous!"
Karma shrugs. "He's just getting what he deserves."

---

Two: she cares only about your actions, not your reasons.

Karma heads back to the festival center after a delicious and filling breakfast. That man definitely deserves all the good that would soon come his way, giving the street dogs as much meat as they wanted.

Looking around, it seems this day would be quite pleasant. Kids run with balloons trailing behind them, young adults walking with their friends to glance at each stand, and people, young and old, laugh and talk with each other. None of them catch Karma's interest. Except- one.

She watches the man navigate the crowd, appearing to be looking at the stands as well. But his right hand darts into people pockets as he passes them, dropping the contents into a bag at his hip. He reaches the end of the plaza humming a light tune, seeming to be quite pleased with himself. Karma, however, is not smiling upon him.

She follows the man, slowly closing the distance between him and herself as the streets become less and less crowded. He ducks into an alleyway. Karma follows.

The man dumps the contents of his bag onto the top of a dumpster and begins to sort through them. Karma decides it's time to intervene.

She walks up behind the man and lets out a low growl. He whips around, still holding a wallet in his hand.

"What-"
Karma growls again, eyes fixed on the wallet. The man drops it, beginning to plead with her.
"Lo... look dog, I... I need the money. If I don't pay my landlord by tomorrow... well, me and my friends will be kicked out of our apartments. I... I can't go back to the streets."
Karma's eyes narrow. She can smell a lie from a mile away- if the person was a bad liar. This man doesn't seem like he's lying. But she had met one too many good liars who had tried even to deceive her, so she still remains suspicious. Karma growls at the man again, forcing him to back away from the bag. Then, with practiced delicacy, she springs towards the man and slips off one of his gloves with her teeth. The man, thinking she had tried to bite him, turns and sprints away. Karma lets him go. She'll deal with him later. First, she scoops up all the items back into the man's bag and carries it back to the festival.

---

And three: she doesn't forgive.

After dropping the bag at the festival's lost and found, Karma begins her search. With the thieving man's glove held in her jaws, nose bathed in his scent, she follows the trail. Left, then right, then right two more times before another two left turns. She arrives at the building, the most dingy one she's seen even after walking around the city all day. There's nobody at the entrance to notice her walk through the doors, and she didn't see anyone as she climbed up five flights of stairs. She nears the man's door but stops before entering. His scent comes from the apartment across the way. The door is open a crack, so she silently pushes it open a bit more to peer inside.

The man sits at a table with two young children, helping them fill in math problems on a worksheet.
"John, when will mom be home?" one of them ask. The man, John, looks at the clock on the wall. He doesn't have a watch, Karma notices, which is rare for an experienced thief. Usually, they keep some of their stolen goods.
"She'll be home soon," he says.

While the humans continue working on their homework, Karma keeps busy by exploring the rest of the apartment. She notes the red slips of paper on the counter of the small kitchen, second notices that the electricity will soon be shut off if the bill isn't paid. She sees a paycheck for the mother of these children, a measly amount despite the number of hours she's worked. And everything in this place, although clean, is in desperate need of replacement.

Tiptoeing past the humans, Karma makes her way to the apartment across the way belonging to the man, John. Conditions are much the same as the other apartment. Karma walks back to where the man sits, watching him explain the problems to the kids and telling them jokes to help them learn. As the three of them laugh, despite the state of their surroundings, Karma makes her decision.

It is wrong to steal. It was wrong for the man to steal, very wrong indeed. The rules of karma go as follows: people get what they deserve based on their actions. Do good things, good things happen. Do bad things, and, well, bad things happen. But although those are the rules, or at least those are the rumors, things don't always work that way. The man and his friends in the apartment across the way, his family, were promoted in their jobs the next week. And within the month, they moved to other, nicer, apartments.

---

One: she's always alert, always watching. Two: she cares only about your actions, not your reasons. And three: she doesn't forgive.

The three rumors most dogs, and some humans, have come to know are false. In fact, Karma is quite the opposite of them. And because of this, she is able to make the world a much better place.

[1,387/150 words]


pose reference
(Art was made by me, I just shortened my user for the sig. If I don't win, a transparent version will be available free for winner's use <3)

[avaloafe]

Username: ajohanna

Name: blackfire if i had a heart || karin

Name Meaning(s): he's named after a
song by fever ray, and his name is the
artists real name

Gender: male

Prompt: karin padded around his owner's house, waiting for her to open the door to the yard. she's sleeping in today...
he thought to himself as he sat down next to her bed. karin huffed some air on her face and gave a quick and quiet bark. his tail began to wag when she yawned and started waking up. her had patted his head and he stood up, racing over to the door with one paw up, patiently waiting. when she finally opened the door, the male bolted out and ran around the yard. the kennel was located in the mountains and his owner has a plot of land of over 200 acres. karin is usually out of the house for hours, running around and feeling the wind blowing into his fur.

out of the corner of his eye, he spotted some poles and jumps. he tilted his head, his flopped ear standing up when he does this, and he trotted over to the new setup. sniffing the poles, karin realized that it was a jumping course. he barked with excitement and began speeding towards jumps, leaping as high as five feet in the air, even if the jumps were short. he kept running the course for a few hours before collapsing in the grass, tired from the activity he did. he was happy. running just wasn't enough and these jumps brought a new side out of him.

238 words.


dog ref | tree brush pack

[AustrianAce]

Username: AustrianAce
Name: Laika
Name Meaning(s): "Laika (Russian: Лайка; c. 1954 – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who became one of the first animals in space, and the first animal to orbit the Earth"
Gender: female
Prompt:

res <3

[buckskin.]

Username: buckskin.
Name: SV Red Queen || Scarlet
Name Meaning(s): (optional)
Gender: female
Prompt:

wip <3

[god is a woman]

Username: god is a woman
Name: chamming's error in assumptions , call name honu
Name Meaning(s): honu is hawaiian for turtle
Gender: male
Prompt: wip

[Lex.]

Username: Lex.
Name: CHK's "Blame it on the Boogie" | Jackson
Name Meaning(s): Named after that rockin' Jackson 5 song.
Gender: Male
Prompt:

It was an overcast day. Every time the sun peeked out, even for a moment, Jackson looked to the sky and barked. He then waiting in excitement for it to show itself again. After a minute of waiting, he got up, pouting, and sat under a large oak. Then, something catches his eye. A glimpse of a small furry creature. He chased after it, eager to catch whatever it was. The then recognizable squirrel ran up a tree, and much to Jackson's demise, it was out of reach. But as they say, "out of sight, out of mind." Jackson quickly found something else to distract him. A family of ducks. He had never been up close to ducks before, and decided to go check them out. He trotted over to the ducks, and began stalking them as he came closer. Maybe he'd get the jump on them?

Pounce! He landed a muzzle length away from the mother duck, causing them to panic and run. Jackson rolled around in amusement. How fun! It wasn't too often Jackson came to this park, and whenever he did he usually "passed out" from exhaustion after chasing every moving thing. After all, he needs his exercise. He is a very active dog, and keeps fit.

After rolling around in the grass for a bit, he sat down, giving his ear a scratch. What else could he do? He scanned the park and saw a man sitting at a bench. Was he holding something? Ah, yes! I delicious hot dog. Jackson got up, and went to the pond. He dipped his face in the water to give him a scuffed up look, and went over to the man. He sat by his feet and gave him the sweetest face he could. The man chuckled, and gave him a piece. What harm could it do? Jackson took this hot dog, and ran back to his owner with it. He sat by them, chewing away at his food. A little sustenance to replenish all the energy he spent running around, being the best pup anyone could ask for.

[DigitalLinx]

Username:
Name:
Name Meaning(s): (optional)
Gender:
Prompt: res

[Skihtols]

Username: ~Lord Skittleburger~
Name:
Name Meaning(s):
Gender:
Prompt:

Huge wip

[Marz-With-A-Z]

Username: Marz-Barz
Name: G&S Point of the Spear "Rost"
Name Meaning(s): A quest and a character from Horizon: Zero Dawn
Gender: male
Prompt:
Rost was out for a morning walk when he saw it. A tall pine tree had fallen across his usual path. It must have been knocked down by the winds the other day that had had him constantly shaking dust and grit out of his ears and fur. The tallest gap closer to the stump was big enough for him to go under, but Rost wanted to go another way. He wanted to go over. He could also have picked a shorter spot, but he wanted to go over the tallest part.
His first jump sent him back to the ground after a rather unceremonious smack into the trunk. His second ended about the same. Over and over he threw himself at the tree, but kept falling short. He came back the next day, and the next. Once he got so close her had to scramble to try and get over the top, but his claws couldn't grip well enough and he fell once again. A lesser hound (and maybe a more intelligent one) would have turned back, or gone under, but Rost was not backing down.
It was close to a week when finally, finally he found himself sailing over the top, only to have his rear foot catch on the trunk and send him head-over-heels towards the ground on the other side. He may have a headache now, but he'd done it! He barked and howled excitedly and he went back and forth under the tree. With another jump, he managed to land himself on top of the trunk and continued his noise making. The tree may be tall, but now he was taller.
Art: