Come on, Doggie

Come On, Doggie
It was one of those late summer days, the heat of the shining sun countered by the gentle blowing breeze, masking the coming autumn, rendering any excuse to stay inside void. I was taking a leisurely stroll, following my usual neighborhood route, watching children dash through sprinklers, waving “Hello” to neighbors watering flowers. As I took a deep breath, soaking up the sunshine, I thought to myself that nothing could ruin this day. Lost in my thoughts, I was surprised when I noticed a little girl in a witch costume running toward me with a big smile on her face.
“You know Halloween isn’t for another two months, right?” I asked her as she drew near. She giggled, her pointy black hat almost falling down to cover her eyes. “Do you want to play with me?” I’ve never been a fan of kids, but the beautiful weather and my high mood persuaded me to share my great day with her. “Sure, why not.”
“Yaaaay!” She grabbed my hand and excitedly pulled me through a path in trees.
“Is this your secret play area?” I asked. She laughed, and continued down the path until we reached a small clearing. “So… what game do you want to play?” I questioned.
“Let’s play dress up!” she almost shouted.
“Okay… I can see that you’re a witch, what am I supposed to be?”
“I’ve never played with a doggie before!” she answered, as excited as ever. I thought about it for a minute. Would crawling on the ground on my hands and knees be better than sitting at a table with dolls pretending to drink tea, or anything else that little girls like to play? I knew the answer.
“Sure, I’ll be a dog.”
“Yippee! If you’re a doggie, then … Sit!” she commanded. I squatted on my heels, and she laughed happily as her command was obeyed. “Shake!” I reached out my hand, which she took and curtsied, laughing.
“Hey, you forgot to give me something to put on, I don’t look much like a dog,” I said.
“Doggies can’t talk. Doggies say ‘WOOF’ and ‘BARK’,” she playfully scolded.
“Fine. Bark. You forgot to give me something to put on, Woof.” I replied, rolling my eyes.
“Good doggie. Here you go.” She pulled a black leather collar with a ruby set in a gold pendant out of her robe.
“Wow, that’s a really nice collar. I bet my dog would love to wear that.” I remarked.
“Did you forget already doggie?” she giggled.
“Woof, that’s a really nice collar, bark.” I said, slightly annoyed.
“Good doggie.” She put the collar around my neck and tightened it so that I could hardly breathe. I recoiled, reaching for the collar as I stood up.
“Hey, that’s way too tight.”
“Doggie, you’re so forgetful today.” She said.
“No, I’m not barking anymore until I get this collar off.” I fumbled with the buckle, but something about it felt strange. “C’mon, unhook already.” I muttered.
“Doggie, stop! Leave it!” she ordered, grabbing my arm and pulling it away. I reached back up, but stopped halfway as I saw my hand. The tips of my fingers and my palms were turning black. I turned my hands over and my nails elongated and bent over into claws.
“What the…?” I heard a tearing sound and looked down to see claws shred my sandals, which then disappeared, as if by magic. “What’s going on!?”
“Doggie, you need to bark to speak. You don’t want to be a bad doggie, do you?” I was too scared to be annoyed. My nose turned black and moist, and at the same time my ears started to move up my head, becoming pointed. “Ooooh, what big ears you have.” She laughed at her own cleverness.
“Woof, what’s happening, woof?!”
“Good doggie. We’re playing, and you’re the doggie.” My entire body began to itch. My shirt faded and disappeared, revealing quickly lengthening tan and white fur across my chest. “Doggies don’t wear clothes, silly. Doggies wear a fuzzy coat of fur.” The fur spread down my arms and legs, up my neck and across my face, black around my mouth and nose, and tan everywhere else. My feet elongated, pads grew on the bottom, and my big toe pulled back into a dew claw. “Now you can walk without hurting your pawzies, Doggie.” She said, smiling. If possible, her eyes lit up even more as she thought of a great idea. “Let’s go for a walk right now! Here, put this on,” as she produced a leash out of nowhere. I hesitated, frightened. “Be a good doggie and put it on. You don’t want to be a bad doggie, do you? You know what happens to bad doggies.” I didn’t, but if she could do all this when she was happy, I wasn’t going to make her mad. I struggled with my shortening, padded fingers, but eventually managed to hook the leash to the collar just as my thumbs shrank into dewclaws.
“Good doggie,” she praised as she ran her hand through the fur on my stomach. A sudden pain struck my lower back and I gasped. “Awww. Look at your tail wag.” I looked over my shoulder to see a black and white, slightly curled tail wagging back and forth. “It’s so CUTE!” she exclaimed. In response, my tail began to wag even faster. Laughing, she tried to grab it, succeeding after it slipped out of her hand two or three times. She pulled it, causing me to yelp and reflexively snap at her. “Bad doggie! No Biting!” she yelled, reaching her hand towards my face. As she did so, my nose and mouth pushed out painfully into a muzzle. She wrapped her hands around it, holding it so that I could neither open my mouth nor pull away. Inside my mouth I could feel my teeth sharpen into fangs and my tongue lengthen. “Bad doggie!” she said, smacking my nose a few times, causing me to whimper. “Be a good doggie from now on.”
Tail tucked between my legs, I replied “WROOF. Don’t worry. I’ll be good. WROOF.” I was surprised by how husky my voice was, and that I had actually barked, rather than just say the words.
“Good Doggie,” she said, the happiness returning. “Let’s go on that walk!” Grabbing the leash, she turned toward the woods and attempted to pull me deeper into them. “Come on, Doggie,” she said, pulling.
“WROOF, I’d rather go to the road. WROOF,” I said, hoping to go somewhere where someone would be able to rescue me.
“Doggies don’t choose where they go, they follow the master,” she said laughing. She was right. I couldn’t get the collar off, and who knows what she would do if I started to pull her. “Doggie, Heel!” she said, her patience running thin. I had no choice. With a final whine, I turned and followed her deeper into the woods. I would just have to wait until she took the leash off to make my escape. Or I could wait until she left me alone and bite the leash apart.
“See Doggie, isn’t this fun?” she asked while petting my arm.
“WROOF. Yeah, I’m having a blast. WROOF.” She became even happier, oblivious to my sarcasm. “Good Doggie. Do you want a cookie?” She pulled a dog treat out of her pocket and held it in front of me. I was in no mood to eat, but my nose thought otherwise. A few cautious sniffs, a lowering of my head, and a tentative lick left me unable to stop myself from gobbling the treat and licking the girl’s hand to get any crumbs that might have fallen. She laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall over. When she was finally able to, she continued walking. I followed, surprised by my own enthusiasm.
Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. It was easy to do, and she was a nice girl, as long as I obeyed her simple commands. ‘Yeah, I can do this’ I thought to myself as I was led deeper into the trees. Plus there would be more treats…


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A young witch, just old enough to pick up a wand, wants to play with a dog, but (un)fortunately I'm the only one around. Luckily she has a magical collar to give me fur, a tail, and paws, plus some muscles (I really need some).
This one took a while, mainly because it was in the midst of moving into college. I added a little background for some extra color. The break in the middle is because I had to do this on two pieces of paper, and my scanner did a really bad job with the green. I had to go into photoshop and crank the saturation up 300% just to be able to see it. I'm rather happy with it, especially the german shepherd fur, it looks way better than the one I did earlier. I'm not too good with people faces, but I think it turned out all right.
Just felt like writing a story, so I did a story/drawing combo. I wanted it to be rather playful. Let me know what you think. I welcome comments and criticism.