Riding Dogs

[DragonSong]

Riding Dogs

((Art credit to SkyOpium on DeviantArt))

1. Description
Riding dogs are pretty much exactly what they sound like: massive dogs that are big enough to act as mounts or other beasts of burden.

They have heavy shoulders and thick coats of fur, with long, fluffy tails, and often a thick ruff and/or trail of fur down their spines that their handlers typically refer to as a "mane".

They come in a variety of colors and patterns, though typically nothing too far outside of what you might see in other breeds of dog.


2. Social Habits

Like most other canines, riding dogs are pack animals. They are incredibly social, to the point where living solitary lives can be actively detrimental to their health. Their bonding instincts are incredibly strong, and once they've decided a person is pack, they're pack forever.

Of course, on the other hand, that means they are incredibly protective of those they consider "theirs", and can be a little standoffish, or downright hostile, to those not in their "pack".


3. Intelligence
Riding dogs are wonderfully intelligent creatures, as are most canines; however, while they have a few behavioral quirks other dogs might not have, they aren't necessarily any more or less intelligent than other domesticated canines.

4. Diet

Carnivores, for the most part. Due to the fact that their species originated in colder climates, they tend to be able to survive on less food than one might suspect, and have a habit of gorging themselves at one meal and then not eating for a day or so.

They are naturally talented fishers, though they hunt other meat as well.


5. Habitat

Though they originated in the mountains and forests bordering the tundra and are most comfortable in cooler climates, riding dogs have recently started to spread south, and new breeds are being experimented with.

With proper care and grooming (and plenty of hydration), they can survive in just about any non-tropical, non-desert ecosystem.