You spend most of the afternoon with your Uncle Jack, and it gets more and more unnerving with every passing minute. It's not so much that he seems to expect you to act like a dog, but that after a while you're doing it without thinking about it.
After a couple of hours, you come to realize that Jack doesn't seem to remember you as a human. You expected that this was some kind of magical joke, but even when you two are alone and out of earshot of anyone else, he never lets on for a moment that you're not just another mutt of a dog that he's watching for his sister.
As it turns to evening, he returns with you to the shop. Bruno, still looking human, is waiting behind the counter. "How was the afternoon, boss?" he asked.
Jack unclips your leash and you dash for the water bowl. "Fine," he says. "John-John is pretty well trained. I can see why my sister wants to hang onto him if possible."
"If she can't," suggests the now-human Bruno, "Maybe we can keep him around."
Jake just shrugs and steps out of the office, "Can you lock up? I'm going to heat up some dinner and hit the sack. You going to be watchdog tonight?"
Bruno nods. "I should get better aquainted with our newcomer anyway. I'll take him to the basement. You just remember to let us out in the morning!"
Jack just laughs and leaves. You look up at Bruno and whine. He smiles, "Don't worry, let me finish some paperwork and I'll come down and explain. It's really not that bad."
He shoos you down to the basement where you find a comfortable pillow to lay on. You try and search for the seams to this costume, but can't find a thing. You look and and feel like a large mutt.
A few minutes later, Bruno steps downstairs. He pauses to strip off his clothes and put his dog collar back on, but strangely doesn't start to change into a mastiff again. "Okay, at the moment you can understand me but I can't understand you. Don't worry, I'm going to go dog again in a minute. In the meantime, this is what's happening."
He points to the costumes, "Some of these are normal cheap costumes, other are magical. Jack and I know which ones are which, but are subject to their proclivities anyway. The one you picked was, obviously, magical. It precluded anyone not in the room with you from remembering what you once were. If I hadn't been down sleeping nearby, I wouldn't know you were once human." He smiled, "I was actually born a dog, but your uncle devised a way for me to slip back and forth. I prefer being a dog, by the way. As I'm sure you will, too."
You don't like the sound of that and whine.
His smile faded, "Yeah, about that. Jack can break the spell, make you human again, but only if I tell him what's going on. He doesn't talk to animals other than myself, and you will find that you can't write or type for him."
You sit patiently, wondering exactly what Bruno has in mind for you.