Commission for Shadowfox014 on FA. Story and art by me.

Travis had been on a jogging kick lately, going through the park every morning for his routine, and almost every morning he'd pass by an old woman who would sit on a bench with her Doberman and feed the birds. He stopped by and said hi quite a few times to this nice old lady, and she would often smile and let him pet her dog. He was always fond of the breed afterall.

One day though, she stopped coming, and the park felt very empty the past few weeks. It was very odd and had Travis worried that something might have happened to her. But as he rounded the bend past the trees he saw someone he recognized, it was a young man that had been in a picture the old woman had showed him one morning, and he seemed overjoyed to see Travis jogging toward him.

The man greeted Travis with a smile and asked him to stop a moment, "You must be the boy my grandmother spoke of fondly!" he started. Travis opened his mouth to ask how the old woman was doing, but the man put a finger to his lips. "Oh no before you ask me anything, I have a gift for you. My grandmother had to leave the country but she wanted you to have it, it's a family heirloom."

"Oh no, I could never accept something like that-" Travis started. But was suddenly cut off by the studded collar the man had quickly slipped around his neck, buckling it tightly.

"WAIT! What are you do-" Travis had no idea what came over this man, but before he could finish his sentence, he started hearing strange words.

"Here boy!" ..... "Stay!" .... "Let's play fetch!"

.... "Heel!" .... "Good booooy." ....

Travis had felt like everything around him froze, his eyes glossed over as his mind bombarded him with strange thoughts and images. He felt like he was suddenly seeing everything that flashed through his subconscious in a strange new vantage point.

He had no idea that his face had already pushed out his new muzzle, as his nose darkened and claws formed.

His head kept him in the trance, the man in front of him had disappeared and all he could see was a snout as he bit down on a rope, dragging it away violently from the other dog in front of him...

"Wait... 'other dog'? But I'm not..." He slowly realized.

He refocused to the foreign nose in front of his eyes, it was canine in nature. He remembered immediately what had just happened, and fumbled to unbuckle the collar around his neck, but his fingers were reshaped and getting stumpier by the minute. He began to panic and tried to pull the collar up over his head, but his new muzzle was getting in the way.

"NO...! THIS IS ALL WRONG! I'M NOT A DO-" He tried to yell at the man who had placed the collar on him, but the man had already started walking out of the park in the distance laughing.

Travis looked around the park for a soul that could help him, anybody. He just needed someone to take it off.

His mind flashed again, his head showing him memories of lapping up water from his bowl.

Another flash, he sniffed the ground, triumphantly padding over to a tree and marking his territory.

He was all alone in the park as his mental changes finally started overwriting his human thoughts. His voice becoming rougher, or should he say, "RUFFFF".

Travis looked down at his legs as they reformed and shrank, his clothing hung loose over his body. "Why am I wearing these... human things" He thought, unable to recall the words. He immediately began to dispose of the strange fabric that was unnaturally clinging to his fur.

As he got down on all fours and wagged his nub, his mind flashed again. He saw other dogs, playing at the beach, he rushed over as fast as his small legs could take him, excited to greet them as he began sniffing their rears.

He was shaken out of his trance by a voice at the nearby bench. An unfamiliar smiling human man shouted to him.

"HEY BOY! Where's your owner!?" The voice said.

Travis trotted over to the man and placed his paws on the bench, giving a few excited barks as a greeting and wagged his nubby tail. "Does this human want to play!?!" He thought to himself.

The man bent down and pet Travis between the ears, checking his collar for any information.

"Well you can come home with me boy, we'll try to put up posters and see if we can find em for you, in the meantime you can stay with me!" The man patted Travis on the head.

Travis didn't know why, but he felt very attached to this new human, he was happy to make a new friend.

The two left the park together as Travis panted and sniffed around. Ready to start his new life.