Chapter 5

Several months later, when Tim showed up at the shelter Saturday morning, another vicious dog had been brought in during the week to be put down, a large pit bull terrier. The paperwork to authorize euthanizing the dog had not been received yet.

The following day, Tim brought a medical bag to the animal shelter and placed it in one of the drawers of his desk. Then, that evening, after Nancy had gone home for the day, Tim made sure the doors were locked and the window blinds closed, and then prepared the surgical area.

He sedated the vicious dog and brought it into the surgery room and set it on the operating table. After administering general anesthesia, he shaved the back of the dog’s neck and began the procedure. He retrieved a second module labeled “dog” and performed much the same surgery that Doug had had performed on him. Unlike the human module, the dog module had two probes that contacted the dog’s spinal cord at two points. He severed the dog’s spinal cord, and the two probes connected to the two ends. Thus, he could see out of the dog’s eyes and hear out of the dog’s ears and have limited control over the dog’s head. More importantly, since the dog was vicious, the dog no longer could control its body below the neck –– the dog’s body was to be under the sole control of Tim.

Much later, Tim put the still-anesthetized dog in the back seat of his car and locked up the animal shelter for the night. He double-checked everything to make sure he didn’t leave any trace of his activities. He did, however, leave the dog’s pen ajar and the rear door ajar to make it look like the dog escaped.

He had turned his second bedroom from a surgery into a dog kennel and placed the dog in a large padded dog bed inside a sturdy cage. Just to be safe, he bound the dog’s feet and muzzled him.

The next morning Tim woke and sat up in his bed, he was suddenly hungry for dog food. Blinking, he looked around his bedroom. Not only did he see his bedroom, but he also saw the inside of a cage from a dog’s eye view.

He tried to walk around the cage, but his legs and paws were bound, so he got out of bed and went into the dog’s room. He gave himself a bowl of kibble and a fresh bowl of water. He then unbound his legs and paws. Going into the bathroom he took a shower while, at the same time, he walked around inside his cage and sniffed everything. While soaping his hair with shampoo, he took a bite of dog food. It tasted yummy and disgusting at the same time. He realized he might have to feed his dog-self human food if he doesn’t want to taste dog food any more.

When Tim entered the dog’s room, he staggered backwards and hit the wall behind himself. His had the sudden urge to attack himself and rip himself to shreds. He regained his composure and re-entered the room.

He received a call from the shelter during the following week. He had been “fired” from his volunteer job for being careless in letting a vicious dog escape.

Over the following weeks, he had the constant urge to break out of his cage and attack his human self. However, his dog senses also became more acute each passing day. Although he could sense the dog’s immediate thoughts (bark at this, growl at that, he’s a threat!, attack!, bite!) and even explore the dog’s memories (he had been kept chained behind a garage as a guard dog since a puppy and not treated well by the mechanics who worked there, and that’s why he became vicious), he became confident that the dog was effectively disarmed and could not harm anyone under its own control. The open viciousness and hostility of the dog’s mind, however, was a difficult constant burden. At least if Tim sat his dog-body down and stayed there, the dog could not move on its own accord and attack anyone.

After several more weeks, Tim became confident that the dog was safe to let out into his apartment. Despite the constant vicious thoughts in the dog’s head, the dog was outwardly well behaved under Tim’s control.

One day, Tim decided to try something crazy. He let the dog outside on its own while he lay in bed. He ran down the street free as a, well, dog. It was a mental effort to suppress the dog’s hostility to everyone he passed on the street, but he managed. He also resisted the urge to sniff everything and pee on everything.

He stopped at a street corner and sat, wagging his tail at passersby while murderous thoughts percolated in the dog’s mind.

One couple stopped and petted him. The woman said, “Are you lost, doggo?”

The dog answered, “No. I’m just out exploring.” The words came out slurred because a dog doesn’t have the same vocal apparatus as a human does.

The woman screamed and grabbed her guy.

“Chill honey,” said the man with a laugh. “It’s a gag. The dog has a speaker and microphone on him.”

“Yeah,” said the dog. “A speaker and a microphone. That’s it. Woof!”

“Holy shit!” said the dude. “A for-real talking dog! Fuck!”