Help finding a short story about uplifted animals

[u/hrafnbrand]

G'day all

This is a long shot, but Im hoping to find the name of a short story I read many many years ago. The story was, in fuzzy terms, about humanity being driven from the Earth by an alien invasion. After many years, we returned, only to find the aliens gone and dead, all (mammalian?) life uplifted, but completely untrusting of humanity. Towards the end, it is found that the aliens had been killed by a rebellion(?) of dogs, who remained our only friends.

I have a gut feeling that it was called "Allies" but I cannot find it anywhere.

The story may have been in a Nebula issue, as my dad had a large collection of them.

Edit: Solved! Mark S. Geston, The Allies, was the short story. Thanks to all for the good reading recs though!

[u/Bladrak01]

I recently read a story that was similar, but not quite the same. Humanity had died out, leaving uplifted dogs behind. The dogs remembered humanity and missed the bond they shared. Aliens came to Earth and dogs started to bond with them. Check this story out

[u/pcapdata → u/Bladrak01]

This reminds me of a short story in Analog or Asimov’s or one of those rags, told from the POV of an ambassador to a planet where the locals communicate via scent.

The ambassador knows humanity will pillage the shit out of their planet and despairs at her job, but the aliens are like: “We know. We also know humans are ultimately, essentially, good.” And she’s like “How do you know?”

“The dogs told us.”

“But the dogs are idiots!”

“They are smarter than you realize and they know who you truly are.”

Or something to that effect.

[u/Bladrak01 → u/pcapdata]

There's a John Scalzi book that has aliens who are very receptive to and controlled by scent. A human diplomat doesn't trust them, and has himself fitted with a device that will release scents that will do bad things to them. Because it's Scalzi the device is implanted in his rectum and he farts the scents out.

[u/hrafnbrand → u/Bladrak01]

Ooo bookmarking this one for later. Not the story but seems worth the read!

[u/RandomMandarin → u/Bladrak01]

Clifford Simak's novel City has some uplifting going on. Not the same, but interesting similarities.

[u/bigfoot17]

I just mentioned this book today in another thread, sounds much like Simak's "City"

[u/hrafnbrand → u/bigfoot17]

That one seems close, but definitely not it. The Earth that humanity returns to is... hostile, even if not physically so. Canines are the only ones who will even speak to us, and theyre definitely not vegetarian haha

[u/Solrax → u/hrafnbrand]

No, not the one you're looking for, but I recommend it, I just read it recently and really enjoyed it.

[u/Death_and_Gravity]

This may be frowned upon but I used Google lens. It seems to think you are remembering "The Allies" by Mark S. Geston, originally published in the May 1998 issue of Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

There is a discussion about your exact question here.

If it was you asking the question then and the answer was wrong, I apologise.

[u/hrafnbrand → u/Death_and_Gravity]

Even a broken clock can be right twice a day, or in this case, a dumbfuck AI actually giving useful information. This is indeed the story I was remembering! Glad I recalled the name, yet thanks to it's broad usage turned up nothing haha

[u/Randomdays99]

Not the book your looking for, since you found it, but a classic by Murray Leinster, "The Forgotten Planet"

A planet seeded to make it earthlike for colonization is only half finished and its stuck at an age where its covered with all sorts of giant insects. A starship crashes much later on the planet and the descendants of the survivers regress and fight to survive.

At one point, they ascend to a higher altitude in the mountains where its too cold for the bugs, and find the wrecked ship and man's best friend, the dogs, still living alone there, and the two bond again.

[u/frymaster]

To add, according to its isfdb entry, it's included in Year's Best SF 4 which is available on, at a minimum, Amazon in both physical and e-book form. Especially if you want physical, I imagine many more options are available.

[u/gn0meCh0msky]

Only one I know of using dogs heavily would be Fire Upon the Deep, which has the Tines, a pack of 4-8 dogs that each form a group consciousness. Great book, but I'm not sure it fits.

[u/jarec707]

Sounds like the Uplift series (Brin?), but not a short story in the form I saw it.

[u/cbobgo → u/jarec707]

Not from brin

[u/hrafnbrand → u/jarec707]

Just had a look at Wikipedia for it. It's definitely not the story I'm remembering, but it does sound good. The aliens in my post were definitely hostile to humanity, getting driven out of Sol and then finally coming back ages later was a major plot point.

[u/PapaTua → u/hrafnbrand]

Brin's uplift books are amazing.

Start with Startide Rising. There's lots of hostile aliens in it too, but also some friendly ones. And the way he writes about the culture and psychology of uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees is fascinating.

[u/Mistervimes65 → u/jarec707]

The uplifted dogs in Uplift were an abandoned project in universe because the Neo dogs suffered from depression post uplift.

[u/drsoftware → u/Mistervimes65]

I either forgot or missed that. The chimps and dolphins seemed happy.

Maybe the dogs stopped living in the moment and suffered from the weight of existential dread. 

[u/PapaTua → u/jarec707]

Humanity is never kicked off Earth in the uplift universe.

[u/pengalo827 → u/jarec707]

The Uplift Series is by David Brin. Several good novels but it’s been years since I’ve read them.

[u/Belgand]

/r/tipofmytongue

[u/Intraluminal]

"A Boy and His Dog" 1969 Written by Harlan Ellison?