You feel something warm, sticky and wet press and move itself up
against your check. You open your eyes, stretch your body and look up
into the eyes of your shaggy friend. He smiles and pants at you, and
behind him you can hear the sound of his tail thwapping happily back
and forth. "Morning, big fella." You mutter to him. The dog gives you
another lick across your cheek. He then turns around and begins to
move out of the dog house. Once outside, he stops and looks back at
you. You push yourself onto your hands and knees, and tell him, "I am
coming," and then you start to follow. But you stop when you notice
that something feels odd with the way you are moving. Feeling somewhat
bemused, you look down and with a slight start, you note that you are
standing on four legs. Your arms are now a pair of forelegs and your
legs are now a pair of hindlegs. You look past them and take a look at
your hands and feet. They are now a set of huge paws, complete with
blunt, running claws and paw pads! You plop your behind onto your new
haunches, and without really thinking about it, you use one hindleg to
give yourself a scratch behind one ear. As you do so, you sit and
think.You first think that it something has to do with the fact you
should be walking on two legs instead of four. But you shake your head
before using the other hindleg to give your other ear a scratch. "That
can't be right. I feel perfectly fine on all four legs." You lower
your leg and smile. You feel glad that the itch behind your ears is
gone. You shake your head again, and feel your ears flop up and down.
A happy woof comes from your shaggy friend, and you look at him. You
take note of his shaggy coat and then you remember. Looking back of
your shoulder, you chuckle and think, "I forgot to put my clothes back
on."You shuffle back into the doghouse and look at the spot where you
left your clothes the night before. But you don't see them. You
mentally shrug and smile. You tell yourself, "It's going to be a nice
day today, I can do without them at the moment." You then back out of
the doghouse, turn around and trot up to your friend. You playfully
press your still human-looking body against his. You nuzzle your face
into his shaggy furcoat and breathe in his scent. He has a nice
masculine scent to him that reminds you of maple syrup and cinnamon.
Your shaggy friend sniffs you back before you giving a lick and a
nuzzle. He then starts to walk away. You follow him with ease and
around the house toward a patio where a couple of bowls sit. Two of
the bowls are filled with a mix of moist and dry dog food, the other
two are filled with water. You watch your friend go up to one of the
bowls and dig in. You pad on over to the bowl filled with food. You
sniff it's contents, which sets your mouth a watering. "When in
Rome..," you think before wondering what and where this Rome might be.
As you eat your meal, you try to recall where you entered the backyard
of this home. But your memories of the event last night seem fuzzy and
indistinct. Plus there is this feeling which seems to make you think
that you have lived here all of your life. You then hear a clinking
noise coming from your throat. You shake your head and hear the noise
again. "There it is again," you think. You then realize that there is
something around your neck. And it can only be one thing. A dog
collar. You are wearing a dog collar. You feel bemused again and
wonder when you got it. And for that matter, who put it on you to
begin with. But you push the thought aside. "Duh, someone one put it
there." At that moment you wish you could look at the dog tags and see
what is written there. Then you smile and realize that you don't need
to. You already know your name. "Hank, isn't it," you think. You feel
something press against your side against your slightly hairy side.
You look over and see your shaggy friend again. He smiles and pants
contentedly. He wants to play. You think about it and after a moment,
you tell him, "Let's play." He happily woofs and nuzzles your fuzzy
cheeks. The sight and feel of your shaggy friend against your body
pushes aside your thoughts about the collar, the fact that you are
nude and your desire to leave.