Jen woke up earlier than usual the next morning. The lights were still dim and the carers hadn't yet arrived to feed the dogs and prepare them for the day. She got herself a quick drink of water and sat looking out of her cage. There wasn't much of a view, of course. She could only really see into the three cages opposite hers, two of which were currently empty. Mina was still fast asleep in the third. She was curled up on her side and Jen had a clear view of her abused backside. The red had mostly faded overnight, but that just made the purple bruises more prominent. She almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
As she examined the other girl there was a faint click in the distance and the lights slowly brightened. Jen hoped that meant breakfast would be coming soon. She went for another drink of water then sat on her bed and stretched her legs as much as she could with the pads. They had practically become a part of her now, she sometimes even thought of them as her feet. She hadn't been sitting for long when the kennel door opened and a group of carers came in pushing the dog food carts. Alice trailed a little way behind them with Jen and Mina's food.
"Good morning Jen!" she said as she ruffled the girl's hair. "I've got your breakfast here. Eat up quick so you can go play in the yard."
She filled Jen's bowl with the usual scramble and then turned to Mina's cage. Mina had been woken up by the sudden commotion of the carer's arrival and was waiting for her own food. Jen noted that, unlike the day before, she wasn't shaking her ass in anticipation. Alice grabbed a second container from the cart and spooned some of its contents into Mina's bowl. Mina regarded it with a frown. Instead of the usual scrambled eggs her bowl contained a chunky, brownish slop. She looked up at Alice in confusion.
"Don't look at me, I don't write the menu. Betty seems to think you might have a UTI with all the peeing you were doing yesterday and the night before. She had the chef mix this up for you. She says it's more nutritious than your usual food and has cranberry juice, probiotics, and vitamin C supplements. A few days eating this and any problems you might be having will clear right up."
Mina sniffed at the dish and took a small bite. She made a sour face.
"Yeah," Alice chuckled, "I was told it doesn't taste very good, but you have to eat the entire bowl. You're not allowed out until it is empty and if you don't finish it before morning class there will be a punishment."
Mina crouched down and put one arm up over her breasts protectively. Clearly her punishments the day before had had some effect. She looked down at the bowl in disgust, but lowered her head and took another bite. Jen watched her while she ate her own breakfast. A couple of times it looked like she wanted to throw up but she managed to choke it back down again. Jen had just finished her second bowl, and Mina was, reluctantly, halfway through hers, when Amelia arrived with Betty. They had clearly been discussing something on the walk over.
"And you are sure it's safe?" Amelia asked.
"Of course." Betty answered. "I tested it on myself to be sure. It's extremely unpleasant but won't cause lasting damage like your solution."
Amelia fingered the crop that was stuck in her belt. Mina was eyeing it apprehensively.
"Alright," Amelia sighed, "We'll try it out, but if it doesn't work-"
"It will work." Betty interrupted. "I promise you."
She turned to Mina and pulled a leather collar out of her pocket. It was similar to the ones that Jen and Mina were already wearing, except it was wider and thicker and Jen caught the glint of metal on it underside. Betty opened Mina's cage swapped her collar for the one she had brought, making sure it was securely fastened. Mina reached up and pawed at it a bit, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Now, a demonstration."
Betty pulled a small remote from her pocket and held it up. It had three colored buttons on it: green, yellow, and red. She very deliberately pressed the green button. Mina jumped.
"Green gets their attention."
She pressed the yellow button. Mina jerked and let out a yelp. She tried to grab the collar but her gloves got in the way.
"Yellow is for light punishment. It's perfect for correcting minor behavioral problems."
She pressed the red button. Mina let out a strangled shriek. She seemed to lose control of her limbs for a moment and fell flat onto the floor. She lay there for a moment, breathing heavily before pushing herself up again and glaring at Betty.
"That HURT." she snarled.
Betty hit the yellow button again. Once again Mina let out a yelp.
"Talking is against the rules, remember? And it's supposed to hurt, it wouldn't be a punishment otherwise. Simply behave yourself and we won't have to use it."
She handed the remote to Amelia who examined it for a moment then tucked it into her pocket. Then she took the riding crop and handed it to Betty.
"Put this back into storage please, I don't think we'll be needing it anymore."
---
The rest of the day was uneventful. Though Mina was still hard to manage, her new collar seemed to be having a positive effect. By the time afternoon class rolled around Amelia only had to use the green button to remind Mina of potential punishment and she would stop and listen. By the time they were both put into the kennel for the night Mina had only been hit with the yellow button a handful of times and the red only once, when she had tried to slyly paw at Jen's ass in the yard after lunch. When they were taken to the side yard in the late afternoon Amelia had them both run until their limbs were shaking from exhaustion. They were so tired that Mina didn't even complain about her special dinner, she just ate it and collapsed onto her bed. Jen felt the same and followed suit.
The rest of the week went much the same. Mina's behavior slowly improved and she began actually paying attention in class. She still got up to mischief in the yard, but Amelia seemed to give her a bit of leeway so long as she still behaved as a dog while doing it. Jen had completely fallen into the doggy routine now. Obeying the commands in class was second nature to her and she would truly play with the other dogs in the yard. She even stopped caring about being seen by the male trainers and would freely play in that side of the yard without a second thought. She was so used to her new schedule of playing and learning as a dog that she was caught entirely by surprise when on the first morning of her third week she was taken not to the yard to play, but to Amelia's office.
Jen had never been in the office before. It was in the employee hall and dogs weren't generally allowed in there. She had been confused when her assigned carer that morning turned away from the door leading to the yard and led her into an unfamiliar part of the building. Shaken out of her routine by the sudden detour, she realized that the carer had said something to her earlier when they had left the kennel. She hadn't heard any command words so she had just tuned it out. She realized with sudden clarity that she had been doing that the past couple of days. Just tuning out the human drivel because it wasn't important. Obey the commands, play, eat, run. She shook as she realized just how far from human she had come. She tried to remember what the carer had said. Something about Ms. Lockehart wanting to see her? And an intruder?
The carer left her just inside the office, removing her leash and closing the door behind her as she left. Amelia was sitting at a massive oak desk that was covered in paperwork. She looked up when they entered and gestured for Jen to sit in the chair opposite her after the carer had left. Jen looked at the chair dubiously, then back at Amelia.
"You have my permission to sit normally in here," she said, "and to speak freely. We need to discuss an... interesting matter that was brought to my attention this morning."
Jen hesitantly pulled herself up onto the padded leather seat. She felt extremely odd sitting upright like this. Two weeks of walking on all fours and sitting on her hindquarters like a dog would had ingrained itself in her. She fidgeted a bit but the chair was comfortable even if she felt it would have been better to stay on the floor.
"What..." She said hoarsely, her voice hadn't been used for anything but barking, growling, and whining for the past two weeks after all. "What do you... want to talk about?"
Amelia picked up one of the many pieces of paper in front of her and examined it.
"Do you know a young man named... Kyle Perkins?" she asked.
Jen's stomach did a somersault. The old anxious feeling that she had pushed out of her head nearly a week and a half ago shoved its way back in again. She forced it down again. She didn't know why the name made her feel that way again and honestly she didn't care.
"Yeah... I think so." she said hesitantly. "He goes to my... school."
"So he's your friend then?"
"No!" Jen said, a little louder than she meant to. "He's a creep... One of those nerds that... that stares and... doesn't wash right... he stinks... They keep catching him... spying on the girls sports practice..."
"So he isn't your friend. Do you know why he would try to climb our fence in the early morning with a camera and a telephoto lens?"
"Probably get pictures of me... wank to them or... spread them around school..."
"That's what I thought as well. Brian has him locked in the security office and Betty promised to make him talk. The question is what to do with him. I should just turn him over to the police, he was trespassing after all, but what do you think I should do?"
"Throw him to the... dogs." Jen said direly.
"That is a thought, and one I had considered, though not in the way you meant it."
Jen tilted her head, a doggy sign of confusion. Amelia laughed.
"I was thinking of using him as another test case. You and Mina are doing well but you're both girls and actually want to be here. I need information on boys and people who are here being trained against their will."
"Wha..." Jen said, her confusion only deepening.
"Oh that's right, I never got to tell you about my plan."
Amelia stood up and looked out the large window behind her desk. It looked out into the woods behind the school and had a rather picturesque view.
"While training you girls I started thinking about my clients. The human ones, not the dogs they bring me. I happen to be quite friendly with a number of them and get to hear about their troubles. Most of them have children and, unfortunately, as those children get older they tend to fall in with the wrong crowd. Many of my clients are at the end of their rope. They are affluent enough to keep their children out of any serious legal trouble, but there is only so much they can do. But after training you and Mina I had a thought. What if I offered the same service to them? I would take in their troubled teens and train them to be obedient!"
Jen's mouth fell open in shock. Amelia was serious. She wanted to open her training school up to delinquent teens and train them like dogs... to make them more obedient as humans. It was an outrageous idea, but Jen found herself nodding along with it.
"I thought you might agree with me." Amelia said, smiling, "I do admit that it sounds absolutely insane when you first hear it, but I think there might be some merit to it. Obviously there is a lot of work to do before it would be possible to really start. I'd have to get permits and hire on more specialized staff and such. And I'd have to rework the training program to better meet the client's needs. You and Mina are doing just fine under the current one, but the two of you are quite special to begin with. This would require a brand new set of courses tailored for people who don't actually enjoy being dogs like you do."
"And... Kyle?"
"Oh, I have plans for him. Enrique, he's the head trainer in the male kennel, he's been oddly interested in your and Mina's progress. I ran my plan by him the other day and he wants to begin immediately. I think I'll assign this Kyle to him and have him test a few of my ideas."
"Kyle's parents... wonder where he is..."
"Oh I think I can convince them." she pulled open a drawer and produced a cell phone. "I naturally confiscated his phone when we caught him trying to slip through the razor wire. Aside from the extremely inappropriate and probably illegal pictures it also happens to have his mother's number. I'll call her later and make her an offer. The sheriff's department send their dogs to me for early training and the county judge is an old friend of the family. I think I can persuade her to leave her son in my care rather than turn him over to an unfair justice system."
Jen was a bit impressed. She didn't like Kyle, no one did. He was the kind of slimeball that even the bullies wouldn't touch. He was always getting caught harassing girls but never got any real repercussions for his actions. Until now. Amelia was going to have him trained, with a shock collar and everything. She pictured him writhing on the grass while Amelia stood over him with the shock collar remote, holding down the red button. The anxiety that had been struggling to push back up seemed to calm a little all on its own. Her thoughts were interrupted by a polite knock at the door.
"Enter." Amelia called.
Betty sauntered in looking like that cat that got the cream.
"Got that little bastard to confess." she said proudly. "He tried to sell me this ridiculous story about a curse, but after using him to test one of my collars for a bit he admitted that he was here to get photos of Jen. Apparently he tried to sweet-talk Jen's mother into telling him where she went but she was too sharp for him and sent him packing. Unfortunately he saw one of our pamphlets on her kitchen table and thought this was some kind of rehab. He's been camping out in the woods nearby for the past few days and managed to overhear some of the carers talking about her as they were leaving. Once he knew for sure she was here and what this place was he decided to climb the fence and try to get some photos. Said the whole school should know that the head cheerleader is a freak."
She looked sheepishly at Jen.
"His words, not mine. I think you're a total sweetie."
Jen smiled at the compliment, but she was worried about Kyle now. He was the last person she wanted to know about her being here. The anxiety gave one last mighty effort at regaining Jen's mind but she squashed it down even further than she had before. Kyle was a problem, but one she could handle. He hadn't actually seen her and certainly wasn't going to be getting any pictures. And Amelia was going to put him through is own personal dog-training hell. She was certain that if after all this he tried to start any rumors about her she could just convince Amelia to give her any blackmail material she desired.
"What do you want me to do with him now?" Betty asked. "I can have the sheriff come up here and grab him, he's not too kind to creepers like him after what happened to his daughter last year."
"No," Amelia said with a predatory grin. "Take him to the exam room and give him a thorough check-up and grooming. I'll call his mother and convince her that leaving him with us for a month would be good for him. And make sure to use the extra-special shampoo, that boy smelled like he's never heard of showers or wiping his ass."
Betty returned her grin and practically danced out of the office. Jen remained in her seat, watching Amelia. True to her word she picked up the phone on her desk and dialed a number she got off of Kyle's phone. The conversation wasn't very long. Apparently Kyle's mother was aware of his habits and didn't know what to do with him. When Amelia explained her plan to retrain him Jen could swear she heard cheering over the line. She didn't ask any questions, just promised to be at the school as soon as she could to sign the paperwork. With that out of the way Amelia motioned Jen to get on the floor and attached her leash. It was time to be a dog again.