The first thing buried in a graveyard, so the story goes, has the duty to stand watch over it for eternity and keep the bad things out. It became tradition to bury a black dog before any man or woman was laid to rest, to make sure that no human would be locked out of heaven (or, for that matter, hell) forever.
They never asked the dogs what they felt about that sort of thing, but then, they were good dogs, and were doing their duty. And would do so for eternity. The black dogs who stood watch were dubbed Grims, though as time passed, no one ever thought they’d be needed. Still, the tradition went on.
When the dead began to rise to attack the living, the Grims were standing watch. Not one walking corpse made it out of a graveyard with a Grim standing guard over it, for dogs know the secrets of burying bones so that they stay buried.
Without the reinforcements of all the dead ever buried, the others who rose that day did not overwhelm the living. And when those living went to find out why, they found the Grims, still standing watch. The survivors told them that they were good dogs, who had done their duty. And the Grims were satisfied, and taught the living the trick of making sure bones stayed buried, so no dead would walk again.
That’s how the story goes, anyway.
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