Freddie tried to keep his mind off the fact that he'd been turned into a dog by a magic ring.
Surprisingly, it wasn't all that difficult. His canine senses came hardwired right into his brain and were subject to an array of constant distraction. Every sniff registered information that made him slow down and ponder what he was smelling. The trunk of a dogwood tree planted in the corner of a yard told him that other dogs viewed this tree as a convenient place to "mark" their scent after he lifted a leg, as if by reflex, and did the same as all the other dogs had done before him. His brain could even differentiate between male and female dogs. The scents from the ladies caused his doggie dick to twitch in its fur-lined sheath and threatened to revive those earlier horny feelings. The scent from male dogs triggers varying responses. He growled defiantly at some of them, while others made him cringe and whimper in submission.
Once he finished marking and sniffing, he noticed the overall poor health of the dogwood tree with moss and fungus growing over its trunk and the meager amount of yellowing leaves clinging to its branches. Serving as a canine calling card wasn't doing much for the tree's longevity.
Freddie felt like he had adapted well to the canine form of locomotion and he made good progress toward Michael's house until a passing car caught his attention. He couldn't see the bright red of the car's paint job as anything more than a darker shade of gray that looked almost black, but it wasn't the color that captivated him. He saw the turning rear wheels as the car rolled past. With a wild yelp, Freddie sprinted down the street in pursuit. Because of residential speed limits, he easily caught the slow-moving vehicle and began chomping wildly at the closest rear tire. The rapidly turning tire incited his canine ire, and he growled and barked fiercely as he tried to close the gap. In his frenzy, his jaws clomped against the rubber of the tire when the car's driver paused at a stop sign, giving Freddie a brief moment of feeling like the dog that finally caught the car.
Then, in a sneaky move, at least from Freddie's perspective, the car pulled into the intersection, sped up, and left him in the middle of the street. Staring at the car's vanishing tail lights, he whimpered and returned to the sidewalk.
"That was weird," he said aloud without thinking only to surprise himself with a gruff bark.
Through all these strange distractions, he had continued making progress toward Michael's house and now he had reached the very block where his boyfriend and his family lived. "Almost there," he thought and felt his tail begin to wag in happy celebration.
A moment later, the house came into sight. He didn't see either of the vehicles owned by Michael's parents as he scanned the driveway. He felt better that he didn't have to deal with any humans other than his boyfriend. He trotted confidently to the front door and came to a mandatory stop. This door had a complicated brass handle, not a knob. Freddie examined the handle and whimpered. It looked far too complicated to manipulate with his paws.
That's when he spied the round button a few inches from the handle on the wall near the door. "The door bell!" Freddie thought in excitement.
He braced himself on his hind legs and managed to put his paw against the button, depressing it and ringing the bell. The chimes sounded almost uncomfortably loud as he waited.