 The majority of "Dogs" was written over a six-year period between 1992 and 1998 when Nastasia, a Los Angeles native, relocated to New York City with a friend.Prior, she had lived in Seattle, where she taught herself to play guitar.During writing the material that would come to be featured on "Dogs", Nastasia was working as a waitress, a job that made her "so miserable" she "spent the rest of [her] waking hours writing songs."