Empress Isabella continues to increase her hold on power with the help of her Slobberer allies. It's up to our Champion of the Empire and his friends to do something about it."Reining Cats and Dogs" is a speculative fiction novelette, and is the seventh of the "Herc Tom, Champion of the Empire" stories, following "Purr Mission", "Nipped in the Butt", "Cat and Mouse", "Baastards' Revenge", "Imperial Purrogative", and "Cats Out of the Bag."