* Oh no! I'm at the pound! * -- thought Nate, getting dragged into the austere building by a person in some kind of uniform. He tried to hold his paws firmly to the ground and even sit down so they couldn't move him. As difficult as he was being, however, he was losing this tug-of-war. The rope around Nate's neck and the worker's strong human body at the other end were too powerful.
* I can't believe this is happening! *
But it was happening. Nate's shockingly sensitive nose was detecting 2 humans at least 15 animals inside the building: this worker who was pulling him toward the back, his young female coworker, 6 male dogs, 5 female dogs, 4 cats, and ... and ... a raccoon?! Nate wondered how he knew what a raccoon smelled like. None of this was counting the many much fainter scents of other people and animals who had entered and left the premises over the last few days, weeks, maybe even months.
"Someone dropped off this dog, and he is NOT very cooperative," said the worker holding onto Nate's rope. Then a pretty female voice spoke:
"Stop yanking him, Trent, and let me try." Nate could see the name on her uniform, that she was Melissa. She smelled nice, but something inside of her pockets smelled awesome! She reached in and brought out something that looked like ... a dog biscuit?! How dare she think Nate would actually eat a ... a ... a salty, savory, tempting, absolutely IRRESISTIBLE little morsel that made Nate's mouth water! He licked his lips and looked up at her pleadingly -- he heard himself panting and even whining a little.
"Come on and come get it, come on -- this way, boy!"
* Please, Melissa, just give it to me already, I-want-it-I-want-it-I-want-it! *
The smells and sounds of caged animals got stronger, and soon Nate and Melissa was surrounded by them. But Nate only had eyes for the dog biscuit. At last Melissa stopped and through the biscuit to her left, and Nate forgot any unfamiliarity with his new form and simply lunged after it, chomping it up in his hairy muzzle off the floor like his life depended on it. His long flat tongue, his wet black nose, his rumbling belly were all screaming out to him that he had to -- * EAT IT! EAT IT NOW! Aww, MAN this is delicious! *
Melissa untied the rope from Nate's neck while he was still chomping. Then afterwards, sound of the enclosure door clanging made Nate turn around. Oops. Melissa had tricked him!
* Oh, well, at least I got my treat. ... Oh, it's gone now. *
It really hadn't taken Nate long to eat that dog biscuit. He hung his head in shame that he had been lured with pet food as easily as if he had been born an animal. But the scent of it had held him more tightly than the rope had!
* This new nose is going to be the end of me ... but, I kind of like it! *
Nate could feel his tail wagging. He turned around and looked back at himself again. It was a little hard to see... not just because of his blurry and colorblind canine vision, but also because of his shaggy forehead fur that was hanging down over his eyes. Still, he could see a body covered in long, long LONG thick hairs, and he could see the sturdy legs and strong, wide paws that were holding him up. And yes, he could even see his happy, hairy tail back there. And most importantly, he could smell DOG. Big, strong, hairy, young, male DOG. And he could smell THIS-DOG-ME versus OTHER-DOGS-THEM. His increasingly familiar individual scent was easily distinguishable from that of any other dog here.
* I'm a sheep dog! It's like I'm in a CYOC story! *
Nate was starting to think he should thank Zemelda, but them his ears drooped and his tail fell when he realized he was still at the POUND. Doggy prison. Maybe someone would come find him?
Nate spent the next several days getting fed dog food whenever the staff decided it was feeding time. He barked and howled with the other dogs in vain hopes that the humans would let them all out. He got used to his shaggy dog body plus the sounds and scents of every animal in every enclosure. And most embarrassingly, he begrudgingly started getting used to not having a toilet. Nate thought the shame was going to kill him when the human staff cleaned up his "mess" for the first time. For better or for worse, Nate was getting very accustomed to the scents he could produces that would describe his health, his identity, and his territory to himself and to any other dogs when he got out of here.
Finally, after Nate had already lost count of the time he had spent in this place, he heard a child's voice. "Are we really getting a doggy, Daddy?" An adult voice answered, "Yes, sweetie, that nice Melissa lady was nice enough to tell us several of these dogs were never claimed." Nate could tell, by sent alone, that there was a teen boy and a middle-aged woman with them. When he finally saw them, the boy didn't seem to see him, thanks to being on his phone. The woman looked at Nate and said, "Oh, that brings back memories, a Old English sheepdog! I had one years ago, when I met you, Julian!"
The man (her husband? the father of these kids? Julian?) also looked at Nate and did not look quite so nostalgic. "I remember how much that dog would shed," he told her. The little girl skipped over to where they were looking and said, "Ooh! He's pretty!" Then she giggled. "Look how hairy he he is!" Eventually, even the teen boy looked up from his phone. Notably, the teen had much longer hair than the parents, colored blue, hanging over his eyes just like Nate's. When he flipped the blue hairdo out of his eyes, he said, "Oh, cool, he look's even cooler than Mike's dog! I've gotta send him a picture of this one."
Julian sighed, looking around to his loving family, and said, "Well, I've got to admit this one IS rather charming looking, in its ... um ... VERY hairy-looking sort of way. And he seems so calm and well-behaved, almost like he understands what we're saying about him ..."
"Please daddy? Can we have him?" said his little girl. The wife looked between Nate and Julian and said, "What do you think?" but the look she gave Julian made clear she had already decided. Their son giggled down at his phone and aimed it at Nate again for another snapshot. Nate perked his ears as high as they would go to hear what would be said next. Julian's answer was, "I can't say no to that thing's beautiful face, nor any of yours." Both kids cheered. Nate barked and wagged his tail -- he was getting out of here! But at the same time, he thought back to being human just days ago and all the time he'd spent in the pound hoping Zemelda was going to come back, get him out, and tell him this was all a joke. But now here he was getting adoped...
* This is really happening. I'm still a dog, and I'm about to be a pet! *
The family called Melissa back to open Nate's enclosure. Nate decided he had better start his pet-hood with his new family out on the right foot, like a friendly grateful canine. He started sniffing and licking his new owners, even jumping up on them, just enough to show the right level of excitement. They filled out some paperwork, and the next thing Nate new, he was sitting in the back seat of an SUV between the little girl and her teenage brother, riding away with the humans he belonged to now.