A variety of different types of weres and shapeshifters exist in "The Southern Vampire Mysteries", including werewolves, werepanthers, weretigers, werefoxes, etc. Weres, with a capital W, most commonly refer to the werewolves. In the hierarchy within the shapeshifter community, werewolves consider themselves the toughest and the best. Other shapeshifters that change into different animals such as foxes and dogs are called were-foxes, and were-dogs etc.