As soon as they reached the park, Kevin froze just outside the gate when a voice shrieked out at him, "STOOOOOP!!!"
Even Shaggy froze on the spot and stopped panting, just tilting his head to side letting out a confused whine. Kevin turned around to see the source of the shout, soon discovering a woman in a very aristocratic white suit standing on the other street corner with a police officer. When the light turned green, the duo crossed over to Kevin and Shaggy, the woman practically staring daggers at the pre-teen and his sheepdog companion. The police officer spoke up first, "Is this him madem?"
"Yes, that's him! That's my dog!!" She practically shrieked out, staring at Kevin as if he was a common thief. Shaggy began to whine and cowered behind his brother whom he knew to be his friend, his human and canine mind melding and worrying about how he and his brother/friend would get out of this mess. The woman spoke out once more, "Kid, why did you not turn him in as missing? You basically dognapped him!!"
The police officer chimed in, "Lady! Calm down a moment. Son, is what she's saying tru--"
"NO!" Kevin shrieked out, making Shaggy cower behind him even more, his tail would have been tucked between his legs if it wasn't docked. "He's my dog, my friend, my playmate! Not hers!!!"
"Do you have any evidence with you currently that can justify that claim?" asked the officer, trying to sound as non imposing as possible.
At that moment, Kevin could feel his heart sinking until an idea came to his mind. Something so crazy that it would very easily work but for a moment, he hesitated because he was afraid of the reprecussions in might have on his brother in the long run. But he had to act fast otherwise Shaggy would end up in the hands of either this woman or the pound even. So he quickly turned around and grabbed onto the medallion and shouted, "Because he has tags right here, that's why!"
As Kevin had said this, he thought with all his might to make it that Jared had been living with the family as Shaggy for 17 years, in doggy years anyhow. That he had been the family pet for nearly 2 1/2 years by this point. On command, the medallion suddenly shifted into a tag labelled with the Shaggy's name, the street address at which he lived, who he was registered by and at what date.
Suddenly, Jared's human mind felt very strange. At first he felt a surge of panic fill him as he felt crucial points of his life suddenly vanishing very quickly. But that panic vanished as his human mind melded with the canine mind of Shaggy. His memory was rewritten to meet the needs of the wish while retaining parts of his humanity, mainly his interests and feelings toward his family members.
But he did not remember himself as being human. As far as he knew, he had lived with the family of Kevin, his best friend, for what had felt like 17 years. The bond between them was so good that Kevin was like a brother to him. He also didn't remember his mom and dad but he remembered to the two kind older strangers who had adopted him and brought him home as a surprise to Kevin. They treated him so well that they might as well have been his mother and father. He also remember he had a high enjoyment of baseball, watching people play it and seeing it on TV. Memories of picking up a baseball in his mouth and trying to throw it came to him, making him pant contently.
The way the wish was made, Jared retained some form of his humanity and as such, became a very intelligent old english sheepdog. He had a great understanding of the human world but a lot of it didn't interest him, except for baseball that is.
The wish was soon done completing itself and in one last thought brought forth by his humanity, Jared couldn't help but think that maybe this wouldn't be so bad since he had felt enjoyed from life like this. Jared was now Shaggy, not just in form but in mind as well. Suddenly Shaggy felt a sudden urge to lift himself up on his hindpaws for a moment and lick his friend Kevin on the cheek for coming to his save. It meant a lot to him.
"I know boy, I know," Kevin patted the sheepdog tenderly on his head as he dug through the fur to expose the dog tag on the collar. He soon looked up to the woman and the police officer and said, "See? He's my family's pet and my best friend."
The police officer looked toward the woman and rolled his eyes slightly. The woman's head hung low a little as she saw the big mistake she had made. She muttered a low, "...sorry kid..." to Kevin. The police officer then dismissed Kevin and Shaggy from their presence.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Kevin felt way too jolted to enter the park now and looked down at Shaggy and asked, "Mind if we go home boy?"
Shaggy stared up at him and let out a low whine and rocked his lower body slightly, then looked at a tree in the park to make it clear to his friend what he had to do. Letting out a sigh, Kevin replied, "Ok, I'll let you go real quick but after that, we're going home. That really scared me."
The two wandered inside for a moment, Shaggy practically pulling Kevin along as he frantically sniffed at a few trees before he let out an approving bark and raised his leg so he could relieve himself. Kevin was a little taken aback by how natural this came to his brother now sheepdog, as if he had been doing it all his life. What disturbed Kevin slightly even more is the fact that Shaggy cocked his panting head back to him and let out a bark to confirm they could leave the park now.
"...This is really weird..." the reality of the situation really hitting Kevin by this point. He tugged on the leash to signify they were now going and Shaggy followed along as Kevin headed back to the house to see just what else might have changed.