Jeff's life for the next couple of months becomes much like it was before. TransDem's modifications ensured that the previous issues with the
distance were a thing of the past, so now the entire world was aware of, and unconcerned by, the existence of a Dog-boy.
Once a week, though, Jeff would be taken by Mark, or by another friend, to a nearby TV studio, where Jeff would record a new ad for
TransDem. His favorite was the one they shot in the adjacent park; Jeff got to play fetch and catch for most of the day, until they got just the
right shot.
The ads were having an impact, too; people were expressing an interest in becoming pets. After the third ad was filmed, Larry informed Mark
and Jeff that there had been 50 applicants already, and TransDem had set up a dedicated side-business to support those who applied. The
requirements were that there had to be both an owner and a pet in the application, that there be no sexual association between the two prior
to application, and that the owner must have had experience owning a pet. Also, they set a lower limit on applicants' ages, so that the
prospective pet had to be at least 13, and those under the age of 18 had to have parental approval; that last part was established by a rapid law
put in place by various governments around the world.
It was the day of the seventh ad that Jeff was introduced to another pet. Caroline had only been a pet for a couple of days, and was still getting
her bearings somewhat. Jeff noticed that Caroline kept subtly trying to adjust her clothes to cover her chest and crotch more, although she
showed no signs of actually being uncomfortable with them on display as they were. Caroline's owner, her brother Alan, was only 15, and was
still shocked that her sister wanted to become a pet, although he wanted the best for her, and always wanted a real pet (his pet mouse,
although treated well, just wasn't the same).
Caroline, like Jeff, had a dog-like personality. Jeff had heard that some pets (by this time, already in the thousands) chose other personalities,
with cats and horses being the more common choices. Larry had brought her in so that they could do an ad showing two dog-people
interacting. However, they ran into a slight problem.
Jeff was erect the moment he saw Caroline. And despite knowing that he shouldn't, Jeff couldn't help but flirt excessively with her, and Caroline
was all too attentive to it. Mark and Alan had to keep both on a tight leash to keep them from jumping each other. Larry quickly called off the
shoot, and instead filmed two separate commercials; Caroline was remarkably photogenic.
Larry called Mark a couple of weeks later, and asked to be put on speaker-phone, so Jeff could hear, too. Larry then explained that the sexual
incident with Caroline had given TransDem researchers an idea. Apparently, there were two problems that had arisen - first, sexuality between
pets had become a problem, especially when they were of different personalities. Second, the issue of breeding had been raised. And in coming
up with a solution to these problems, TransDem had thought of a new modification. They wanted Jeff to sign off on it, being the spokesperson
for both TransDem and pet-people. And so, Jeff and Mark were asked to come in to the head office.
Jeff found himself sitting in an office emblazoned with the TransDem logo, reading through the details of the new modification. TransDem's
idea was to make small genetic modifications to the various pet-people. These modifications would make them slightly more like their
respective pets. The key difference was that everyone would be altered psychologically to be attracted by matching behavior patterns, that is
humans would only be attracted to humans who had human-like behavior and dog-boys would only be attracted to girls who had dog-like
behavior. TransDem had thought about making the physical changes more dramatic but working with Jeff and several others, they realized that
most pet people wanted options and this gave them the most options. This also had the added benefit of ending some of the more destructive
sexual deviancies such as rape. They didn't want to limit sexual freedom but they could set people so no one wanted to use anyone ever again.
Other physical changes would enable pets to also get jobs more suited to their chosen personality. Jeff liked this, as his engineering studies
were not nearly as interesting to him, being a pet, as they had been prior to his change, but it was where his aptitude was.
Intelligence and related traits would not be affected, but physical adjustments would be made to provide both variety and genetic similarity.
Genetics was set so that dog-people would birth dog-people. cat-people would birth cat-people. They couldn't quite remove the possibility of
sex between different kinds of pet people and humans but they did set it so that the children would have a definite mind set toward one or the
other mind-set of the parents preventing mixed mind sets.
Jeff had two sets of decisions to make. The first was whether this plan was something he supported. The second was that, if he went ahead
with it, what variations did he want?
Jeff thought about what sort of profession he wanted to enter. Of the various choices, he narrowed it down quickly, and found one that
sounded fascinating.
Jeff asked, "There is an option to be a beagle and help at the airport?"
Larry said, "Well, the police are uncertain about this. They use beagles at the airport because beagles do not intimidate people, so the beagle
can wander among passengers and sniff out any drug smugglers without making innocent passengers nervous. Some of the police have
questioned if a naked dog boy could also wander among the passengers without making people nervous. We told them that since you have
opposable thumbs, that could make up for the awkwardness. They'll give it a try and see if it works out.
Jeff wanted to be a sniffer-beagle-boy, and join the police force in that capacity. He pictured himself, wearing a dog-boy vest with a badge on
it. In fact, in addition to the acute sense of smell, he'd probably also be able to get some other enhancements that would suit a police-dog-
boy.
And so, he signed on the dotted line of the first form, giving his consent. Then he began to fill out the second form.
The receptionist then asked Jeff to enter the room; she asked that Mark remain seated, as this was to be a private decision, even the owner
wasn't allowed unless the pet requested it. Jeff glanced back at Mark, then leaned forward and bounded into the office.
Larry accepted Jeff's papers, and sat down at a computer, with a woman Jeff didn't know standing by his side. Larry introduced the woman to
Jeff, but all Jeff really cared to notice was that she was one of the researchers. Larry began to key the details into the computer, turning to the
woman when necessary. Then Larry began asking questions that were specific to the choices Jeff had made.
Soon, Larry turned back to Jeff and asked him to look at the screen. Jeff examined the visualization that was generated of what Jeff would look
like, with markers indicating appropriate modifications to features. Jeff gave the OK, and Larry hit the button.
Jeff felt the main Chronivac emitter within the building activate as a wave of distortion passed through the building. Larry explained, even as
the changes began, that TransDem had a special version of the Chronivac installed within the building, but Jeff was more interested in the
changes.
First, Jeff saw his nose grow larger, and he turned to a mirror that was off to the side, that Larry had arranged to have there for Jeff. Jeff
watched, fascinated, as the lower edge of his nose turned up somewhat, and darkened to a reddish brown color. He smiled as the edges of his
nostrils became wetter. Jeff's jaws then protruded forward ever-so-slightly, and without thinking about it, he let his tongue hang out of his
mouth. He smiled again as his tongue hung comfortably past his lip, although not making it all the way to his chin without effort. He
instinctively licked his upper lip and nostrils, then noticed the elongated canines he had been given.
Larry explained features as they formed; Jeff would be able to eat raw meat, and those canines were sharp enough to tear into it... but he was
still going to be omnivorous. Jeff detected an odor in the air, but couldn't determine what it was, only that it was somewhere to his left.
Looking back at the mirror, Jeff noted that his nose had rounded out slightly, and that his nose had grown just enough to make his eyes tilt
slightly outward. The whites of Jeff's eyes were still there, but took up significantly less of his eyes than they had. His face remained mostly
human despite the distinctive nose and other slight changes. His ears became floppy but matched his hair color and hair type.
Jeff then felt the musculo-skeletal changes start to kick in. His upper body bulked up somewhat, giving his upper body a shape more suited to
wrestling or boxing. His lower body, instead, stretched out more, his legs and abdominal region growing enough to boost his height to about 6
feet and 8 inches... but then he naturally bent his knees and leaned forward somewhat so that, at rest, he stood about 6 feet even. His feet were
also longer, but less wide. He didn't need Larry to tell him that he would now be an exceptional runner, easily out-pacing a human.
Larry asked Jeff to look at his backside. Jeff twisted, finding the movement significantly easier than it used to be, and looked back to find that
his tail-bone had pushed outward a small amount. Smiling, he watched as it began to twitch back and forward. It grew into a tail but as Jeff had
requested, it would bend to allow Jeff to still be able to sit in chairs. Jeff bent his tail beneath him and found it long enough to cover his belly
button. This wasn't a necessity since the social changes allowed pet-people to be naked but Jeff liked the option anyway.
Jeff then noticed his body hair becoming more fur like. The fur did not cover his entire body but he now had a distinct treasure trail. Also the
coloring of his fur was more similar to a beagle so that Jeff now had faint orange spots on the otherwise white fur on his back.
Jeff began to notice a soft humming sound, and looked around. It seemed to be coming from near Larry. Paying closer attention, he realized
that it was the sound of the computer; he hadn't heard a sound until now, but he could definitely hear a high-pitched hum.
Larry walked up to Jeff, and began to scratch gently behind Jeff's right ear. Jeff's tongue lolled out and he smiled broadly, showing his canine
teeth. Then he again smelled that enticing scent he had caught earlier. Looking again to his left, he started to look around, trying to find the
source of the smell. Larry laughed softly and suggested that Jeff look in the drawer he had zeroed in on.
Inside, Jeff found a piece of steak. It was raw, and he salivated quickly at smelling it so strongly. He quickly associated in his mind the scent
with raw steak. He reached out to grab it, but then paused and looked back at Larry, his ears stiffened and his tail-bone twitching excitedly.
With a subtle nod from Larry, Jeff grabbed the steak and started to tear at it with his canines. Ever bit of flavor from the blood was bringing
more enjoyment for Jeff, and he began to swallow chunks of meat whole as he tore them off. As he finished the steak off, he rapidly licked up
the blood on his hands with his large tongue, and then proceeded to lick up the splattered blood from the floor, finding himself more at ease
on four limbs than he had previously.
Larry opened the door, and Jeff ran back out to Mark, talking excitedly about how great the changes were. Mark looked Jeff over, then smiled
and nodded to Larry and put Jeff back on his leash. Jeff kept talking about it on the drive home, about how he was going to be a police sniffer-
dog-boy, and how much he wanted to try out his new body. When they stopped at the park, Mark pulled out a tennis ball and suggested that
they play fetch. Jeff's face lit up and it was on.
Jeff was definitely a lot faster. Mark threw the ball as hard as he could, in various directions, and Jeff managed to reach and grab it within one
bounce, every time, sometimes even catching it in his mouth. Jeff was finding it a little too restrictive, and asked Mark if he could go for a run.
Mark assented, and Jeff began to run around the large park lake. Mark couldn't help but smile as he watched his friend-turned-pet darting
around the lake, sometimes stopping to smell or even taste things that caught his interest. A few other people in the park remarked on how
beautiful he was, and Mark smiled even more broadly.
After about 20 minutes of this, Mark decided it was time to head home. He pulled out a dog whistle that he had been given by the secretary,
and Jeff quickly perked up at the sound, not realizing that it was a higher pitch than humans could hear. Mark quickly bundled Jeff back into
the car, and they headed home.
Jeff heard that Caroline had gotten the change as well but Tony and Caroline had gone to a family reunion so Jeff would have to wait to find out
how she looked now. In the meantime, Jeff met some new friends. There was Pete and his dog-boy Josh who was working as a guard dog.
There was the Hansens with their son and two daughters and their dog-girl Callie who was working as an assistant to the disabled Mrs.
Hansen. Jeff also met Joe and Sam who were pony-boys pulling carts around the city.
When Jeff showed up to work, officer Denney pulled him aside. "I know your in training still but a human would learn faster than you are. You
walk around with your tongue hanging out. You scratch yourself in public. You even get erections in public. I'm afraid we're going to have to
send you to obedience school.