[requiem,]

Here is my first entry, North, and her pup; Arctic.

[requiem,]

Pit Bull | Dark gray | Female | Adult | Mother of Arctic

On a cold winter night, a pit bull gave birth to three pups. There was one black, one light grey and a dark grey pup, the runt of the litter. This pup was named North, as she was as grey as the cloudy sky reigning over the tundra. Her two brothers were greedy, they took all their mother's milk for themselves. The little North was hungry, but her brothers pushed her away when she tried to have a sip. North was starving, but her mother was too tired to notice. Her two brothers grew quickly into huge, muscular beasts. Not North. She was malnourished, small and weak. As they grew older, the dogs' owner seemed to finally realize there was something wrong with North. Not wanting to keep a weak pup, he separated her from her family and gave her to a pit bull trainer. This trainer was harsh with his dogs, and whipped them whenever they did something wrong. He was especially harsh on North, wanting to train her into a killing machine; as this is what the trainer did with every single dog he had. This trainer took innocent pups and turned them into savage beasts used to win for dog fights. But North didn't want to turn into what her brother now were; champions of the arena. Unfortunately, her resilience to the trainer's hard whips made him see past her weak exterior. Inside, she was just like her brothers. So the trainer whipped and whipped her until she had enough. North gave up, and the trainer won the fight.


In a few weeks only, North was ready for her first fight. She was now vicious and merciless, not like her old gentle and kind self. North quickly climbed up the ranks, winning fight after fight. The trainer had nursed her back to health, but had also turned her into a killing machine. North knew what she was doing was wrong, but if she did one single error, her trainer would whip her. She had lost hope and given up. But one day, her luck returned. As she was preparing to face one of her own brothers, police officers arrested the trainer and all the other people who had their dogs fight in his arena. All dogs were given to the Pound. North was soon adopted by a breeder, and she quickly disliked the man. He showed her around his kennels, showing her some of the many male pit bulls he had, hoping to match her with someone. But North only growled angrily at all the dogs, scaring them half to death. She still had an attitude problem, but had been treated for her aggressiveness. North didn't care about any of the other dogs the breeder had, and the man soon lost patience. Soon, the kind man turned mean. He forced North to breed with another pit bull, and put her in a small cage, alone, for all her pregnancy. After many months, North gave birth.

The breeder was filled with joy, knowing her pups would sell for a lot of money, as North came from a successful dog-fighting family. But when he saw her pups, his smile faded. North had given birth to two pups. One of them was still-born, and the other was barely alive. The man panicked, as he was in debt and was hoping the pups would pay them up, and shouted at North to do something. North was too tired to growl at the man, so all she did was lick her pup gently. Thankfully, the pup survived wiggled alive as he felt the presence of his mother. But the shouts of them man had alerted some nearby passers, and they called the police, thinking someone was injured. The police arrived and the breeder told them everything was fine and he was just excited that his dog had given birth. Suspicious, the police officers looked through the man's past and discovered he had been in prison many times for various things and was wanted by the police. The breeder had also hid himself under a fake identity, not wanting to be caught. The officers arrested the man, who actually was the main supplier of dogs of North's old trainer. North was brought to another dog adoption service, and stayed there with her only pup, which she named Arctic, after his father.

But the story doesn't end there...

[requiem,]

Pit Bull | Light gray | Male | Pup | Son of North

When North and Arctic arrived at the dog rescue shelter, Arctic was still a newborn. As the weeks went by, Arctic's eyes opened and he grew stronger and started to have more energy. Soon enough, he was always running around in his and his mother's kennel, never running out of energy. A little girl noticed the playful pup and his gentle mother and begged her parents to let her adopt them. The parents were wary of pit bulls, but the shelter workers assured they both wouldn't hurt a fly. And so, papers were signed and Arctic and North found a permanent home. Or at least they thought they did... The little girl actually never had time to take care of her dogs and the parents always had to feed, groom and walk North and Arctic. Not wanting to hurt their daughter's feelings by abandoning the dogs themselves, the parents let the dogs outside and left the gate door leading to the street wide open. When the girl went to outside to bring them back in, North and Arctic were gone.


North and Arctic then became stray dogs. They survived together, searching through garbages for food and cuddling against each other at night for warmth. It was only Fall, but the nights were already freezing. One night, Arctic was woken up by loud rustling. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw a fox, right in front of him, searching through a pile of garbage for food. Arctic let out a low growl, warning the fox to back off. But the fox was smarter than that. Noticing North was fast asleep, he quietly crept towards the pup, fangs gleaming. Scared, Arctic did the first thing that came in his mind; run. The little pup ran through streets, parks, sidewalks and even backyards, hoping to lose the fox who was at his tail. After one curve, Arctic scampered up the stairs of a house and, as he was small enough, through the cat door. The fox, him, was too big, and didn't want to enter unknown territory. The fox hissed at the door and then ran off. Arctic waited for the fox to be long gone before leaving the house. But soon enough, he realized none of the streets were familiar. He was lost; far from his mother and every thing else he'd every known.

The pup was on his own, walking through the streets, not knowing what to do. Arctic walked into a park and curled in a ball under the slide, as it blocked the wind. He let his eyelids fall and he gently fell into unconsciousness. Arctic woke up with a start. The sun had been up for a while now, and children started coming into the park. The pup cowered against the slide, not knowing what to do. He felt kids slide down the slide, not knowing there was a pup underneath. After a while, a parent sitting on a nearby bench noticed the trembling pup. The woman came over and picked Arctic up, soothing him with kind words. Arctic cuddled against the woman's vest, freezing in the cold. The woman brought Arctic home and warmed him up as well as feed and groom him before handing him over to Silver Spring Kennels. There Arctic found many other pit bulls, as well as one he knew very well. Arctic licked his mother through the bars of her cage, and she did the same. A taxi driver had found her the following day that Arctic disappeared, wandering through the streets. North had also been sent here, and now mother and pup were reunited.

[requiem,]

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