In all the excitement at finally getting someone to see through all the shaggy fur to the truth, Jared hadn't realized he had gotten hungry. Now that he became aware, he felt ravenous. He whimpered to get Kevin's attention. It wasn't easy. Kevin seemed so lost in thought that it took some time before he became aware of the whining and whimpering.
"What's wrong, bo..." he stopped himself. "Dang, it's so natural to want to treat you like the real Shaggy."
Jared barked once in agreement.
"What do you want?" Kevin asked. "You need to go outside again?"
Jared barked twice, and saw how his mode of communication remained very limited.
He moved closer and licked Kevin's hand. It felt weird, but it worked. He turned, and his brother followed. He led Kevin to the kitchen, stopped in front of the fridge, and barked once.
Kevin laughed. "You want a drink?"
Jared considered. A tall glass of milk might hit the spot, but so would a sandwich. He barked twice.
"You want something to eat?"
Bingo! Jared barked once and sat back on his furry posterior.
To his dismay, Kevin ignored the fridge. Instead, he stepped toward the back door and retrieved two stainless steel dishes from the pantry. Jared's keen ears picked up the rustling of something falling into one of the dishes. When Kevin turned back toward him, Jared's nose picked up an appetizing smell, which made the shock of Kevin placing the dish filled with dry dog food nuggets on the floor in front of him even more distressing.
Arf! Arf! "That's dog food! I'm not eating that! I want a sandwich."
Kevin wasn't listening. He had turned to the sink and filled up the other dish with water. The dish soon joined the kibble-filled one on the floor.
Jared took a more definitive step and pushed the dish of kibble with his nose toward Kevin's shoes in a firm rejection of the offered fare.
"Jared, you've got to eat dog food now," Kevin explained.
Jared barked twice, quite emphatically.
Kevin reached the tip of his shoe to the dish and slid it back toward Jared.
"You said you don't want to tell Mom and Dad," he reasoned. "Well, don't you think they might get suspicious if you suddenly refuse to eat dog food?"
Jared whimpered sadly. "They're not here!" Jared wanted to complain, but instead he simply gave a short bark of disagreement.
"Eat this and I'll bring you some scraps after dinner," Kevin tried to bargain with him.
"Scraps!" Jared woofed. "You want me to eat table scraps?"
But, the scent of the food in the dish began to exert its enticing appeal on Jared's dog senses. The smell of the food caused him to start salivating, the result being drops of drool falling into the dish and forming an instant dog saliva-based gravy for the dry kibble.
His stomach rumbled again. He was so hungry.
In the end, Jared closed his eyes as he chowed down on the kibble. If he didn't look at it, the thought that he was eating dog food didn't gross him out. Well, not quite as much.
When he looked back at Kevin, he saw that his brother was sipping a soda he had gotten from the fridge. Kevin drank the soda, but Jared had to wash down the dry kibble with the room temperature water in the dish.
"I hope we can figure out how to get me back in my human body soon," Jared thought as he lapped up water.
While lapping up water, with much of the water splashing onto the kitchen tiles, their mother walked into the kitchen. With one quick look, she assessed the situation.
"Kevin, what have I told you?" Mom asked with an inclination of her head toward the sheepdog, water dripping from its furry chin, looking up from the dish.
"No Shaggy in the house," Kevin said and grabbed Jared's collar.
Hearing his brother fasten the leash, Jared fell in line and let Kevin usher him out of the house. Once secured in the yard near the doghouse, Jared looked up and whimpered, suddenly uncertain.
"Don't worry, boy, I mean Jared," Kevin said.
Jared barked twice.
"I'll sneak you something better to eat later," Kevin promised and left the sheepdog standing forlornly in the yard.