Like the outside, the inside was dated, like something from Nickelodeon in the 90’s. A decade out of step with the stores on the strip. Most of the signage was also old-like the owner had bought all the stuff here from some old pet store in the mid-90’s and never bothered to update them. It was…oddly disconcerting. It smelled of cedar wood-chips but there was a pervasive scent of musk underlying everything.
As they walked in, a bubbly young woman with a nametag that read: Diana was leading a portly older gentlemen and a very confused-looking corgi from the grooming center to the checkout counter. For some reason, the little corgi was whining and trying to escape the old man’s grasp.
“Is Wilson okay?” The old man adjusted the bowtie on his tweed suit. “He seems moodier than usual.”
“Oh, he’s fine. Sometimes they get a bit upset over being washed.” Diana noded and smiled down at the corgi. “We do offer obediance training if his behavior bothers you too much.”
The corgi whimpered and went silent.
“I think he’ll be fine.” The older man bent over and rubbed the dog’s ears. “Good boy.”
The dog shot Kai and Spencer a look of horror as the older man finished paying for his purchases and dragged him off. Spencer wondered what the poor little corgi’s problem had been.
“Is the corgi okay?” Kai asked.
“Oh, I just used the wrong shampoo. It happens. So what can I do for you two?” Diana grinned brightly.
“Do you have a Shiba Inu?” Kai asked eagerly. “I heard you guys can get any breed, right?”
“Of course! There’s likely a wait for an exotic breed.” Diana punched in a few things into her computer and frowned. “…hmmm. Not in stock yet, but give me a moment.” Diana glanced over at Spencer. “And you, sir?”
“I have a coupon for a full grooming. Uh, I may have made a mistake. I thought this was a salon?” Spencer blushed.
“Oh! No worries! I can do humans too.” Diana winked at him. “Let me check your form…” She pulled up a few windows and started entering information. “All blank?”
“Will that be a problem?” Spencer asked.
“Not even a little! Shiba Inu, right?” Diana directed her question at Kai.
Kai nodded.
“Well, I think I can solve both your problems. It’ll be about an hour, but I think I can get you that dog you wanted, Kai!” Diana smiled.
“Awesome!” Kai grinned and turned to Spencer. “See? These guys are amazing! I’ll come back later, if you finish early, I’ll be at the game store.”
Spencer nodded and waved him off.
“What a nice young man.” Diana watched him go, then turned to Spencer. “Alright, let’s get you set up! Follow me.”
The bubbly young clerk led Spencer to a big wash-booth in the back. He hopped up onto it and got comfortable-difficult to do on stainless steel. Diana smiled and held up a strange vacuum/clipper combo.
“I’m sorry if you were expecting a state-of-the-art cut, but clippers is all we have. I can do some shaping with scissors to trim things up.”
“That’s fine.” Spencer replied. “Can’t complain about free!”
“Exactly!” Diana beamed and started up the clippers, foot tapping the ‘on’ switch on the vacuum. “Hold still.”
Diana attacked Spencer’s mop of hair. His scalp tingled pleasantly and he found himself rocking with each pass of the clippers. A few stray hairs managed to dodge the suction of her vacuum. At first they were solid black, as always, but they began to lighten into a browner color, like a loaf of freshly-baked bread. Spencer decided it was just a trick of the light.
His ears tickled and Diana gripped them and pulled before running the clippers over them. They seemed to stretch at her insistent tugs, and Spencer couldn’t help but gasp as they rose further up his head. His facial muscles were pulled along with his ears and he found himself smiling. His smile stretched wider and wider, lips feeling oddly loose.
“Let’s give that beard a trim, huh pal?” Diana said, rubbing one of his ears, and Spencer found himself leaning into her hand, enjoying the pleasant sensations, before he realized what he was doing and recoiled.
“Sorry,” Spencer mumbled, mouth feeling weird. “I got too into it.”
“It’s not a problem!” Diana laughed. “You seemed so stress and we did advertise a free massage.”
“Mmm.” Spencer replied as she brought the clippers up to his face. “Yeah, I’m just kinda tired, you know? Always pushing that boulder up hill and getting no where.”
“Well you came to the right place for a happier life, pal!” Diana giggled.
He found himself relaxing as the clippers stroked across his cheeks, hairs shifting from black to a pleasant tan color. Diana’s fingers followed the clipper. They stroked through his now much shorter, denser beard. He closed his eyes, enjoying her touch, not noticing his face popping and creaking as it began to push out. He found himself getting warmer and warmer as the clippers ran up his neck, throat closing strangely. It was too much for him to bear and he let out an explosive breath, tongue hanging loosely as he panted. The heat went away as cool air flowed over his lengthening tongue.
The clippers turned off and she studied him, fingers rubbing at his oddly achy face. Spencer basked in the massage, ears perking and staying perked at the top of his head. She soothed his strangely twisted facial muscles and then paused.
“You said you were tired early, I think you’ll need a nice, exciting finishing spray.” Diana tapped her cute, pointed chin with a finger. “Oh! How about our cherry-blossom and yuzu spray. Very delicate if a little feminine. Your owner will love it!”
Diana clipped something around his neck and latched a leash to the side of the wash-booth and left to find the scent. Spencer’s ears swiveled on new muscles and he heard her walk into another room and begin moving around boxes. Something about that last sentence seemed wrong. What had she said? Feminine? Owner? Maybe he’d misheard. Spencer was feeling nice and loose from his facial massage and strangely relaxed, but he wanted to ask her for a different finishing spray. He went to get off the wash-booth but found himself suddenly strangled.
Spencer grasped at the thing around his neck. A collar? Why would she put a collar around his neck? He was forced to lean back to take the pressure off his throat and found himself panting for air, tongue lolling from his mouth lower than humanly possible, flecks of saliva foaming at the tip. His hands scrabbled to find the clip at the back of the collar, but his fingers were shortening to useless nubs.
“Derrranaa!” Spencer yelled, his voice strangled and inhuman. “Heerrrk!”
Saliva dripped from his long, flat tongue as he began to hyper ventilate, his fingers growing even stubbier, thumb growing unresponsive and moving up his wrists the more he scratched at the collar. His nails grew sharp and turned black. As he watched, his nose continued to grow darker and moist, extending further and further from his furrier face. He twisted frantically, leash wrapping tighter and tighter to the metal ring she’d clipped him to, and began to choke and wheeze loudly.
Diana hurried back into the room with a pink spray bottle in one hand. She appeared to ignore Spencer’s obvious plight and set up a cart that had scissors and nail clippers. When she finally looked at him and her eyes widened, Spencer couldn’t help but feel relieved.
“Whar’sh happeneem doomuh?” Spencer tried to speak but his protruding jaw worked weirdly and his long tongue garbling the sentence. He reached further up, feeling his proto-muzzle, darkening eyes crossing as he stared at his twitching black nose. “Whazzart? Whysshhimmy facshe weeerd?”
“Uh-oh, look’s like someone’s all tangled up, huh pal?” Diana said in a sing-song voice and quickly unwound the leash. Instantly, the crushing pressure on his throat abated. Spencer sighed in relief. She rubbed Spencer’s head, a strangely pleasant sensation that made him close his eyes. Spencer panted contentedly. “All better now?”
Spencer warbled nonsense and she continued petting him. When she pulled out a pair of shears and began cutting away all his clothes, he tried to stop her, slap her away with his paws. Diana just chuckled and moved a foot back, watching his useless flails. Soon, he’d exhausted himself and collapsed on all fours, panting and slobbering. Diana finished removing his clothes and caught hold of his hand, inspecting his nails, and tisked.
“Okay bud, guess it’s time to give those nasty nails a trim.” Diana’s hand massaged Spencer’s forming paw.
With each clip of his nails, his finger stubs swelled, little black pads forming beneath them. She ran the clippers in between the pads at the bottom of his palms, shaving away the new creamy fur that had sprouted there. She reached back, forcing Spencer into an awkward position and did the same to his feet. His heels lengthened as she pulled on them, forcing him onto the newly-padded balls of his hind paws. All Spencer could do at this point was whine, far too tired to struggle.
“All done, let’s get the rest of you finished up, okay?” Diana cooed.
The clippers buzzed into life and Diana began running them over Spencer’s body. With a single run of the clippers across suddenly-sprouted fur, his spine and neck cracked and realigned, forcing his head forward. When it reached the small of his back, a short nub began to extend, wriggling as the sprouting appendage grew longer and longer. Diana ran her clippers quickly, forcing his tail to bend back on itself.
She shifted to his chest, and Spencer gurgled and groaned as his chest bowed out into a dome shape. The clippers ran over his gut and he felt it churn underneath the whirring blades, vibrating, and then sucked itself into back body with a weird slurping sound. As the clippers made short work of the rest of Spencer’s beautiful coat, his muscles gently toned and tightened. It felt good, like a full-body massage, and his cock began to harden against his will.
“Almost done, just gotta get your undercarriage.” Diana said, lifting Spencer’s tail and giving his doggy booty-hole a quick shave. “There, no more dingleberries! Oops, almost forgot one last thing.”
Diana reached between his legs and gave his genitals a squeeze and a tug. Spencer let out a surprised yelp, eyes shut and tongue lolling out as she stroked his cock. More pleasurable tugs and squeezes followed as she groped him, his foreskin bulking up around his shaft, making him shiver and moan lewdly. His cock was deforming, turning from pink to a crimson red as it bulged from his plump sheathe. She stroked his shaft faster as her other hand moved to fondle his balls. Warm tingles flowed through him, leaving him panting and whimpering in need. Fur tickled along his taint and swept over his twitching balls. They swelled larger, hanging lower and tighter between his legs. Spencer’s cock tapered, a thick knot forming at the base of his distended cock, and he found his mind stuck in a rut, thinking only about mating, finding another dog and-
Diana’s hand closed just behind his bulging knot and squeezed. Pleasure exploded in the Shiba Inu’s brain, blasting all thoughts out of the former human’s mind. Spencer gave a pleasured yowl, hips bucking, and came in three great, watery spurts.
“Aw, someone made a bit of a mess, huh Spencer?” Diana cooed. “Don’t worry, we’ll clean that right up!”
The Shiba Inu couldn’t understand what the strange human was saying. Dian turned off the clippers and swept the fur out of the wash-booth. Then she started up the hose, sending a gentle stream of warm water onto Spencer’s furry body. He panted happily, almond-shaped eyes closed as warm water rinsed the strands of his sticky ejaculate off his fur. Diana scrubbed him up, cooing nonsense at him the whole time, then gave him a second rinse. Then came the blow-dry, which was nice but a little loud. He enjoyed the sensation of his fur lifting in the warm air.
Diana gave the new dog a light spritz of her Japanese-scented doggy cologne and led him off the table. The Shiba barked when he saw his owner standing at the reception desk, scrolling through his phone. He looked up and smiled when he saw Spencer.
“Spencer! Hey handsome!” Kai spread his arms and the Shiba practically jumped into him, licking the cute twink on his face.
“One free dog grooming.” Diana chirped. “He was very well-behaved. Why don’t you have him pick out a toy? On the house, of course.”
“Cool! I have some more stuff to buy. Go pick out a toy, Spence!” Kai gestured to the next aisle.
Spencer woofed and trotted happily down the aisle and picked out a zip-tied rubber bone that his new color-blind vision could pick out. It squeaked, making him drop it in surprise and back away. The dog pounced on it, jaws gripping the sides, and shook it playfully from side to side.
“Aw, what a cutie! And smart, too.” Diana smiled and picked up the toy. “Let’s get to the checkout counter.”
“Nice!” Kai grinned.
A few minutes later, Kai walked out of Pet Depot with his new 1-year old Shiba pup and a promotional flyer for obedience training. He ruffled his dog’s fur, grinning, and Spencer barked happily. They went to the park to play with his new toy as the sun began to set.
THE END