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I'm trying to remember the name and author of a short story. This is what I recall of the plot:

A transport/bus breaks down traveling between two cities in an implied post-apocalyptic setting. It's revealed that packs of dogs control the countryside, they round up the passengers and break them into two groups - breeders and non-breeders. They seem to do this by scent. Non-breeders include the elderly and at least one gay character (one of the guards). The dogs seem more intelligent than normal, it's not revealed why. The breeders are then allowed to be rescued, while non-breeders are taken by the dogs - presumably as food.

There's an implication that this is a standard arrangement, that the dogs basically let humans continue to exist because we serve as an occasional food source.

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  • When did you read the story? Was it in a book, magazine, anthology, or something else? Was it in English? – phantom42 Aug 24 '15 at 19:00
  • @phantom42: English, and I think it was an anthology. My memory of the plot is a lot better than anything else around it. – Dan Smolinske Aug 24 '15 at 19:01
  • Do you have any memory of the name, cover or editor of the anthology, or subject/authors of any of the other stories in it? ETA: you ninja-edited. obviously not all applicable if it wasn't an anthology. – phantom42 Aug 24 '15 at 19:02
  • I know this story I believe I read it in a post-apocalyptic anthology. For an added detail it wasnt a guard it was a rescue agent sent from one of the cities that was gay and forced out of the rescue vehicle by the dogs. – revenant Aug 24 '15 at 19:03
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    No worries. Just trying to suggest things that some people forget to mention, but can be very helpful to id a work. – phantom42 Aug 24 '15 at 19:06
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Fit for a Dog by Howard L. Myers. It can be found in The Creatures of Man. It is part of the Baen Free Library.

Most of the details line up. However, a character at the end does reveal how the dogs got to be that way.

Their ancestors were left out in the smog while humans built and lived in domed cities.

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  • That was it, thank you. – Dan Smolinske Aug 25 '15 at 2:39
  • That was a really fun read! Thanks @DanSmolinske and thanks Leif for finding this :) – Wayne Werner Aug 26 '15 at 17:16

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