Sandy led Lilly out back, grabbing her ball as she went, and once she threw it, Lilly bounded excitedly after it, barking happily and grabbing it, returning it to Sandy's feet. The Shepherd threw it again.
Lilly barked happily as she chased after the ball, but suddenly stopped as she came near the ball, sniffing a bit. The human started yapping excitedly, hopping up on two legs. Sandy heard another bark from the other side of the fence.
"Hey, Ms. Perkins!" Miranda called from next door. "I guess Jeff smelled Lilly out here...you know how excited he gets when he sees her."
Sandy laughed. "Well, they do like to play together. If I knew you were bringing him out, I would have waited to take her on a walk."
"That's fine. I just came home from school anyway. And Jeff was on the couch again...sometimes he thinks he's people, you know..."
"Not Lilly..." Sandy bragged. "She's a good girl. Her worst quality is wanting too much affection when I have work to do."
"Is it alright if I let Jeff over to play with Lilly? At least before he jumps the fence on his own?"
Sandy thought about it for a minute, after all, Jeff and Lilly got along extremely well. It was good for Lilly to have a playmate next door. In a way, she was sort of jealous, not having a playmate of her own, so to speak. "Sure...but I do have some work to do in a bit..."
"And I have homework..." Miranda said, somewhat excitedly.
"You like homework?"
"Not normally...but for some reason, I keep thinking of all the things I have to do...and it feels new and exciting all of the sudden. Weird, huh?" Miranda said.
"Nothing wrong with being excited about school," the older dog told her.
"Easy, boy!" Miranda laughed as led Jeff toward Sandy's yard. He was so excited, he was almost dragging her. She finally got him inside and closed the gate. "Play nice!"
Lilly and Jeff started running around enjoying themselves, neither of them aware that a short time before, they had been like their present owners. Walking on two legs, worried about school or work, bills...but humans weren't capable of such worries anymore, their minds too simple to grasp the concepts involved. For much of humanity, the shedding of such concerns had made them extremely happy...even if they no longer remembered why.
For canines, it varied. Some were equally happy, the challenges of a new life they didn't remember they had just gotten making them feel rather good.