The Batlord

A Papist for rapists.

__________________

jwb

yeah sure but that's such a broad question. Maybe tell me a bit about your story and I can give you the details you need, rather than me trying to explain everything I know about animal shelters. Cause there's a lot of different directions I could take you in. There's tons of diseases and medical **** that is relevant, there's the adoption process and rescue pro cess and what qualifies an animal for what, as well as euthanasia and what causes animals to get put down. There's quarantines for bite dogs for rabies observation and there's a separate kennel for sick dogs, most commonly with kennel cough.

Then there's the volunteers. Animal lovers who come in to walk the dogs etc except half of them are animal rights activists looking for a scoop to stir up drama.on Facebook.

Then there's the actual job itself, which is quite literally a ****ty job, though a fairly easy one once you get used to the smell. But the job itself isn't that interesting. You feed them first thing in the morning take em to an outside cage, and then clean their cages while they're outside. You use a hose and a brush, as well as some foamer thing that sprays chemicals. You take em back in and basically clean outside and then you can take one for a walk here and there etc to pass the time until about an hour before we leave, at which point you feed them again.

Keep in mind I was just a worker. Vet techs have a more complicated job that I know a little bit about but not that much. They have to use microspores to check stool samples for worms etc, that kinda ****.

Trollheart

Okay well here's the deal. It's a story in which you're supposed to think I'm writing from the point of view of a prisoner in a jail, and he's describing being picked up in the street for doing nothing, bundled into a van and then he comes to this place (which is where I need the descriptions) and talks about his life there. At the end he's adopted and only then do you realise it's a dog talking.

So I need specific information on what one looks like - is it always brightly lit, for instance, or dark? What happens when animals have to be put down? Is there a specific time/day? Is there any indication that a dog, were it able to reason in such a way, would know - similar to a bowl being banged for dinner or a leash being jingled for walkies. How long, generally, are animals kept in the shelter if not claimed? How often are they fed? Anything that sort of describes a normal day in a shelter which could be phrased in such a way as to seem like it's a human prison.

Example: "bell rings and they serve us our food. Slop it is, but you take what you can get. We all look up when a different bell rings. This ain't a good bell, and anyone it tolls for ain't gonna need food no more never." Although that would obviously give too much away, but I could say maybe "some of the guys get took away and we don't see them no more" or something like that. I don't know; I'm still fleshing it out. But the idea is to both accurately, as far as possible, describe the day-to-day of an animal shelter and the dog's experiences there, while not giving away that it is an animal shelter. Make any sense?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

jwb

Heh. Well I've been to jail so I can tell you there are some similarities between the two and that analogy did occur to me when I was working there but there are also some differences.

The light being one that I never would've thought to mention till you brought it up. In jail they always keep some lights on. They shut the main lights off when it's time to sleep but it's never completely dark cause they need to be able to see you at all times. At the dog pound, we cut the lights off when we leave so it would be pitch black in the at night. The dogs hear us coming before we even turn the lights on and start barking. There's no bell lol. There's no bell in jail either.

You could definitely use the traumatic experience of animal control catching the dog and bringing it in as a metaphor for being arrested. The main difference is they use a catchpole which is a pole with a wire noose at the end that they can tighten around the dogs neck. That allows them to keep from a distance and not get bit, but it can be traumatic for the dog especially depending on the AC officer. Some of them are chill but some are dicks. They're basically cops. You know the mentality.

Where the analogy breaks down is that the dogs never get to interact with each other directly like inmates do. You'd have to be in a serious max security prison and for a serious crime to be kept in your own cell like that. Also you wouldn't get arrested and go straight to prison you have to go to jail first.

A lot of the time some of the dogs try to fight through the cages which I guess you could compare to people **** talking you from another cell? I dunno tbh. Any other questions?

OccultHawk

The Trollheart - have you read any Coetzee?

__________________

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion

Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND:

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

jwb

Oh there are a few questions I missed. When a dog has to be put down is random. There's no specific time. And no... They have no idea. You drug them first. When they are completely sedated you euthanize them.

The way they determine whether to do it or not varies. Sometimes a dog is too aggressive to adopt. Sometimes they have health issues that are too severe to treat. For insurance if a dog tests positive for parvo they put it down immediately and bleach the area thoroughly. It's highly contagious. Other than that... Some times the capacity gets filled up and they run out of cages and have to choose dogs to put down. They can't refuse any animal. So it's just a matter of there's only so many cages. In that case they will select ones that are older or have some issues that would make them hard to get adopted or go to rescue. I would say most dogs either get put up for adoption or they go to rescue or the owner reclaims them. Some do get put down though. There's no time limit in terms of adoption. Once they go to adoption they stay there till they're adopted.

As for feeding... Twice a day unless they're underweight. Jail is 3 times a day.

Trollheart

I have not. Who is that?
Okay, well thanks for that. It does sort of screw the story up a little but I'm sure I can work around it. Here's the proposed opening paragraph:

"Grabbed off the street for doin' nothin' but mindin' my own business, thrown in the back of a van and bundled into a cage without even a trial. No my friends, this is not some dark vision of some dystopian future - this is America in the twenty-first century, where just takin' a leak (we all got to do that, right?) can have the Man down on you like a ton of bricks."

Still working on it. Haven't even got a title yet, maybe Inside Story? I want it to be something that hints at it being a prison without giving anything away, so not like A Dog's Tail or In-cur-cerated or anything like that. Inside Tale?

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

OccultHawk

Just some dude who won the Booker twice and Nobel Prize in Literature.

He’s a huge animal rights advocate and incorporates it into his fiction.

__________________

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion

Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND:

https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

jwb

IMO I think you should lean in to the dystopian future fantasy part and make it vague so it's not the American prison system but just some generic dystopian future where they grab you by the neck and throw you straight into a cell like they do at the dog pound.

Trollheart

Hmm. *takes notes*

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018