to cheer him up all the time, but when he saw it was futile, he began to say things like: “Oh come on, you crybaby… is being sorry for yourself everything you can do? You pathetic weakling! Face it! You are strong and fierce, not this poor excuse for a dog…” But Rein didn’t want to listen. He heard every single word, but his ears didn’t consider all those words important enough. And then, Ian said something that changed Rein a lot. “Do you think your father raised you because he wanted you to end like this? Be a man! So there is no happiness or love for you… and? You can live without it! And what? Nobody cares! Nobody! It’s your life… so live it and don’t grieve like an idiot. Stop being sorry for yourself! Your father wanted you to be strong. Do you think you are paying him back in the best way you can?! Be like he!”

            Rein changed… nobody knew why, apart from Ian. When the young man came to walk him and stroked him, Rein snarled and after a while, he bared his fangs. And when he saw fear in the man’s eyes, he barked a few times. Like his father… cold and unfriendly…

Yes, his father loved him, but Rein simply didn’t take this part of his father’s life in consideration. And the results came quickly. The walks with the man stopped and Rein experienced a feeling of a feared one for the very first time. He must have admitted he enjoyed it. A lot of things was clearer and easier. Other dogs started being more… let’s say obedient and they did everything Rein wanted them to do. Rein thought it was just a sign of popularity, but Ian realized he had made a mistake. Of course, grieving, crying Rein who was sorry for himself wasn’t good... but this was much worse. He tried to talk with Rein for a few times, but it was futile. It seemed Rein was really happy with himself. Each talk was shorter than the previous and less pleasant than the previous. Rein’s name began to be a NAME. Just saying it meant you were deadly serious. And it was wise to pronounce it with fear and respect. At first, older dogs weren’t afraid of him, but newbies made them scared. They looked up to Rein, especially after an event which had never happened before. During the feeding time, Rein grabbed the woman’s hand and simply didn’t let go. He heard her hissing with pain but it was exactly what he wanted her to do. He enjoyed it…

            No love for me… I’ll give you hell… I’ll make you regret… His thoughts were boiling inside his head. Lies…! You will pay! He watched the woman running away. The next day, Ian woke up early. Earlier than usual. He wagged his tail when he saw a young woman coming his way, followed by the one, who ran the pound. “It’s a very fine dog. Calm and friendly. And that’s weird… the breed isn’t like that… you will like him, I am sure.” The young woman nodded. “I hope so… I had a dog before. It was a Doberman and died in a car accident. I don’t know if it’s right to get a new one that early… but my son wants a dog badly…”

            “Oh… we had a Doberman too. It’s here, in its shelter, but I am not so sure it would be good for you, Clare. Seriously, I think we will need to put it down. I have never seen such an aggressive dog before.” They came to Ian’s pen and unlocked the door. “So, boy… here’s your new master. I wish you luck…” Ian trotted outside and licked the hand of the owner of the pound. Then, he looked at Clare and whined. She patted him and smiled. “So I am your new master, Ian… hope we’ll be friends…” Ian nuzzled her palm and glanced back at Rein’s pen. “Rein… goodbye, bro’. “

            Rein smirked as the sun touched his eyelids. He hated mornings. The Doberman yawned and sat up. His doghouse was kinda small, so he trotted outside and was about to stretch. But then he noticed somebody was missing. Ian. Ian was supposed to stand near the fence and smirk like usual. Today, nobody was there. Rein froze in the half of his stretching. Ian was gone… Rein wanted to say something but then he realized nobody would listen. The people from the pound were afraid of him… a lot. They knew he was dangerous and maybe that was the reason why Rein didn’t get a new neighbor.

            Time was passing by and Rein’s mind was changing a lot. He let the flow of time to lead him, giving up on trying to be better.

            He spent few more weeks in the pound. He grew into a dog you wouldn’t like to meet. Now, he was the Doberman. He became the same Doberman people are scared of and afraid of… the same Doberman which tears people, grows and snaps at everybody. The Doberman we can see in films. He was kept in his pen all the time and people entered his territory only if they really had to. Especially when bringing him some food. Soon, they began to call him the Doberman. Of course, there were another dobes in the pound, but none of them was THAT well known.

            “We should put him down…,” the young man proposed one day. The woman looked at him with a slight disbelief in her eyes: “Uh, I supposed you like him?”

            “I used to like him… but look at it! Somebody will take it and then? It will escape and kills someone!”

            “It?”

            “Yeah… Give it one more day. This dog is simply dangerous,” the man hissed and showed her his arm. There were deep scars near the shoulder. She gasped: “When were you planning to show me?” The man smirked and leaned his head: “Would you care back then?”

            “Oh… one day… I understand…”

            Later that day, Rein was lying on his shelter, ignoring everything that was too far to be bitten. Suddenly, something came too close to the bars of his pen. He jumped down and tried to break through the fence and tear the courageous being apart. But to his surprise, the being, which turned out to be a man, didn’t do a single step away. Moreover, it laughed and leaned its head. After a while, the man looked at the woman who was in charge of the pound and said in a rough voice: “Excuse me, ma’am, may I know more about this dog? Like how it’s old and things like that.” She came to him slowly with an expression of horror on her face. “Sir, I am sure you don’t want this dog. It used to be nice and very fine, but something happened and now it’s, as you can see, dangerous. It didn’t hesitate to attack one of my employees. Actually, we are going to put it down soon.” Her words didn’t make the impression she hoped in. The man smiled and narrowed his eyes. “So dangerous… aggressive… good. I think putting down won’t be necessary.” Suddenly, he turned at Rein and shouted: “SIT DOWN!!!”

And then… The tone of the voice, power and cruelty behind it… Rein gasped. The voice was almost the same like his father’s. Rein wanted to bark and growl, but an invisible hand grabbed his muzzle and pressed it… he went silent and his legs were faster than his brain.

Rein sat down… Man shrugged his shoulders and looked at the woman like he wanted to say: ‘And you call THIS aggressive…’

            “I will take him. He will be a great army dog despite his age,” the man murmured. The woman was standing aside with her mouth opened. “But… but… It can’t be… it’s too dangerous… and-“

            “That’s all we need, ma’am. And if I am not mistaken, you wanted to put it down, no?”

            “His name is Rein… or that’s how we call him. I think there is Reinhardt in his papers,” the woman sighed in a relaxed way. She managed to get rid of something that had worried her a lot.

            Then, it was quick. Rein followed the man and after a while, he and the man were driving to a military training camp. Rein was looking out of the window and watched buildings and beings they were passing by. He wasn’t able to tell what would be the next, so he just coiled down and yawned. But he knew the man’s voice was so familiar to him. And after a while, Rein closed his eyes, dreaming about his father, mother and Roxie… together.

THE END

Well, so you made it. This seems to be the end of the first part of the story of my dobe character Rein. Hope it’s grammatically correct and stuff. Well, I want to thank everybody who managed to read this ^^.

All characters are (c) to me. And thanks to Rebel, who helped me with Roxie’s name ^^