Big Luke took a bite of his rain-soaked dog food from last night, sniffed the yard, and marked some bushes and fence posts. It felt good to smell himself in every corner of this place. This was his, and any other dog had better know it. He felt the cool wet grass under his pads and found it refreshing after yesterday's hot panting-weather. His beige fur gleamed in the sunrise on his back and all four of his strong legs. There were a couple of fleas in it, so he swiped at them with the claws on his back paw. He lapped up some water and went around front to greet his humans in order. His favorite moment was when Female Human brought the sensual foodstuff called "sausage." Then he took his post to guard His Place against the intruders that might cross his territory at any moment.
It was almost noon this time before Lucas gave even a moment's thought to his former human life. It wasn't that he didn't remember it. It was just that he was busy with his new life now. He'd been out here for three days, and the yard was more his home than the house was at this point. He was entirely a dog now, from his muzzle to his paws to his tail.
"I sure never thought I'd end up this way," he thought, watching a little boy running behind his mother with a basset hound puppy at their heels. The boy was telling the mother about how he wanted to be an astronaut. "That's nice, Chen," she said, barely looking down from her cell phone conversation. The pup growled when a stern-looking stranger in a dark suit got too close for comfort. The stranger walked on by, and the pup followed them along, stopped to pee on a hydrant, and wagged its tail when the boy dropped some cookie crumbs from his pocket. Then it scurried round the corner with them and they all continued on their way.
Luke could have growled at them, but he let them pass. The boy and the puppy were cute, and they kindly walked on the other side of the street. "I wanted to be an astronaut too at that age," he thought. He'd always thought he'd grow up to be like those towering adults buzzing back and forth to one busy grown-up task after another. Even just a few days ago he was complaining that he didn't have money or a job like they seemed to have.
"Looks like my future was more like the puppy's than the kid's," he thought to himself, panting and scratching an itch. "It could have turned out worse," he thought, lying down in the shade with a dog toy. His mastiff body was a force to be reckoned with, and he had everything he needed to keep his humans safe. He thought back to the old man's words: "Full effects will present themselves within three days."
"I guess they did," he thought and dug his teeth into his toy. He looked forward to his well-deserved meal tonight and the possibility of people food in the morning. But most of all he thought of his new purpose. It was going to be a long day, and Big Luke still had a lot of guarding to do on his turf.