Man/Dog/wolf/werewolf?
There seems to be a theme of mixing attributes of man and dog in Rant. In fact there are so many examples that I’m beginning to wonder if they are being used in a way other than as a device to create a menacing atmosphere. I think there is enough evidence to put forward a suggestion that Rant may not be solely human i.e. that he is in fact some sort of human/canine crossbreed.
Here is a small selection of evidence:
“Rant Casey had a dog’s sense of smell. A human bloodhound, he could track anything.” he has a very keen sense of taste and smell. Amongst his talents, he can sniff out when a female is most fertile (P182).
P35 “He used to wake up with a yelp.”
P41 “My take is you’re not born loving nobody. Love is a skill you learn. Like house-training a dog.”
P313 Bodie Carlyle “gossip says a secret dog pack of folks runs the world.”
P77 Chapter 10 – ‘Werewolves’. “either of these transgressions – or simply being bitten by a wolf – it is believed would transform one into a legendary half-human, half-canine monster, bloodthirsty and savage: a werewolf.
P293 the French phrase for dusk or twilight “between dog and wolf”.
P265 “ Throughout all mythology, the Gods have created themselves as mortals by bearing children by mortal women. The deity simply emerges from the infinity of Liminal Time and manifests himself in the form of an angel or swan or beast and completes the seduction ……. That will result in a mortal offspring”.
Of course it’s entirely possibly that Rant’s extra ordinary abilities may have arisen as the result of stoking but I’m not so sure. Does anyone else think there is sufficient evidence to consider that Rant (and possibly Echo) may not be entirely human?
I'm a werewolf.
Well then Nightrious, perhaps you can tell us whether Rant also has canine tendencies, after all it takes one to know one! 
Do you think maybe the dogpack was Rant's 'original' father....but then with him going back in time and making it so it was him that raped his ma, the dog pack never gets to do it?
Possibly. There seems to be some evidence to back up the suggestion that the dog pack may be involved in trying to kill members of the Casey family. We are explicitly told that Esther is killed by the dog pack and it's presence seems ever menacingly present in Middleton. Maybe they are involved in 'resolving the origin' issues too?
The Casey’s dog is called ‘fetch’, I wonder why that would be? it's a strange name for sure. It kind of implies that it should be looking for something, trying to retrieve something maybe......
“The Casey’s dog, it ran with the packs every winter up until it disappeared. Hunting. Those packs, more rumor than anything real you ever saw. Half legend. The only monster we have hereabouts. More than half. The idea those dogs, maybe even your own dogs might track you......stalk you.....Your own dog would run you down and yank you apart, bite by bite...... Fido would howl over your dying and drink the blood still pumping hot out of your loving heart.”
P47 “ The winter after Chet quit mowing the yard, all winter, dog packs used to come roll on their backs. To work the stink into their fur. The same dogs that tore up Grandma Esther. Makes no sense, how dogs can hanker after something so awful. A stink as bad as pain, dogs seem to wear it with pride.”
Almost as though the pack are trying to familiarise themselves with a smell that they can track, just like a sniffer dog is given an article holding the smell that it needs to find.....
cool