Cody: The Dog Life

At first, Cody wondered if he would be able to sleep outside, but in a way, it was like camping. The next morning, he emerged from his doghouse with a yawn. He made it over to his tree and peed before he wondered why he was crawling when he was alone in the backyard. He stood up, wobbling a bit.
"There we go." He said. A squirrel in the tree chittered angrily at him and he yipped at it before realizing that was not the right way to prove he was still a boy. He cleared his throat. "Get out of here, squirrel!" He said, but something told him that more yips were all that came out of his mouth. "If I'm going to be a dog, can't I at least bark like one?" He wondered aloud. "If I'm gonna be a dog, why do I gotta be a woolly pink one?" He picked at one of the furry doughnuts around his wrist as he walked toward the house.

Finding the back door locked, Cody sat down in one of the chairs on the patio, looking down at his pink feet, pink legs, the pink woolly shorts he had around his... he crossed his legs as he became very aware of his nudity.
He heard motion in the house, but more than that. He could swear he could hear his parents talking in the house! He listened in, but something seemed off. Half of it seemed garbled somehow. He tried to listen harder, but all he could hear was what seemed like gibberish.
"Must be too far away." He mumbled with a shrug. They probably weren't talking about anything good anyway.
"Mah gah bawn dah." That was Dad.
"Fleh jay wana." Mom replied.
"Tawvay Cody." Dad said. Cody, he knew that word! The door unlocked.
"Good morning!" Mom said. "Cody, down!"
"What's he doing now?" Dad asked.
"Sitting on the patio furniture you said you were going to put in the garage."
"Well! Clearly he's trying to help."
"He's a dog, Steve. He doesn't even have thumbs."
"I do too." Cody said, holding them up.
"He can tell we're fighting." Dad replied. "Cody, how about you head inside and eat your breakfast before Mom gets you ready for school?"
"School?"
"Yes, Cody. You left early yesterday so I want you to be extra attentive today." Mom said. "And that means no jumping. Four on the floor. Understand?"
"Yeah..."
"Good. And you were such a good boy keeping all your bows on all night." Cody stuck his face into his dog bowl, eating his kibble and avoiding acknowledging Mom's comment. "Poodles need bows, especially pink poodles." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mom holding her phone. Was she talking to someone else? She had to be. "And you just love being a pampered pink poodle pup, don't you? Don't you?" Cody rolled his eyes, but he ran out of kibble before Mom gave up.
"Yeah, sure." He said, surly.
"Oh, don't be a growly pooch." Mom cooed. "Come on. Who's my pampered pink poodle pup?" Cody rolled his eyes and tried to go around Mom, but she wasn't going to give up quite so easily. "Cody, sit!" Cody could not be sure why, but he quickly shifted until he was sitting cross-legged in front of her. "Oh, for the love of" Mom set the phone aside. "I keep telling that gym teacher of yours we need to break you of your puppy sit." She kneeled down and adjusted his legs until he was sitting like a dog. "Stay!" She grabbed the phone again. "Stay, stay. Good boy! Now, who's my pampered pink poodle pup?"
"Me."
"Come on. You love it. Say you love being my pampered pink poodle pup."
"I... I" A loud squeak suddenly sounded as Mom held up a dog toy right by her phone. She squeezed it again and Cody grinned. He could not help it. The squeak of the toy just put him in a good mood!
"I love being a pampered pink poodle pup!"
"There we go. We'll just clip out the grumbly growlies and all my Instagram fans'll see our happy poodle who loves his bows!"
"What? You're putting that on Instagram?" Mom smiled and turned the phone toward him. He watched as his recorded self professed his love for being a poodle. He frowned. "Why does my voice sound like that?"
"It's always sounded like that."
"No, it sounds like I'm yipping the whole time."
"Poodles yip." Mom said.
"And as you get older, you might notice changes to your voice." Dad added.
"But it's s'posed to get deeper, not higher." Cody muttered.
"I love being a pampered pink poodle pup!" His recorded self declared again as Mom edited the video. The real Cody groaned.

"Now, Cody." Mom said when his friends arrived to take him to school. "I don't want to hear about you jumping today. Four on the floor is how good poodles are. Understand?" Cody nodded. She smiled and turned her attention to Leo and Aiden. "Boys, va bay gawn Cody."
"Huh?"
"Talking about you, not to you." Mom said, handing his leash to Aiden. "Have a good day at school, boys! And you be a good dog, Cody."
Once they had left, Cody tried to stand back up, only to discover that Aiden and Leo expected him to keep 'four on the floor'. Even starting to stand up was met with a firm 'down, Cody!'. He sighed and walked along on all fours, feeling ridiculous. He was bright pink, covered in bows, and now he had to crawl everywhere!
"Hey!" A voice called from across the street. Cody looked and saw someone walking their Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. He looked at the human, but she was staring at her phone. "Hey, poodle!" Cody realized it was the dog!
"That dog's speaking English!" Cody exclaimed to Leo and Aiden.
"Oo ga school, Cody." Leo said. "You can't bark at other dogs."
"Cody gee na yip yip." Aiden remarked.
Cody spent the day on his cushion, trying to figure out why everyone around him seemed to randomly switch to gibberish from time to time. At least I'm not expected to participate, he thought. The only class he really had to do anything in was gym where he was once again put through obedience training.
"I'd take dodgeball over this." He muttered as his water break was interrupted by Mr. Goode fixing his bows and calling him a pretty poodle.

"Let Cody out back." Mom called from the front door as soon as they got home from school. Leo shrugged and opened the gate to the backyard.
"Just gotta get your harness off first." He said. Aiden grabbed a tennis ball from the grass and threw it.
"Go get it, Cody!"
"Uh"
"Go!" Aiden said. Cody ran after the ball. It was kinda cool how fast he could go on all fours. He picked up the ball and ran back, only realizing halfway back to Aiden that he had the ball in his mouth. How else can I carry it?
"Good boy!" Leo praised.
"Pink boy." Aiden said.
"Yeah, but it's not like dogs can see that sort of thing."
"I can hear you, you know."
"Oops, go get the ball, Cody!" Aiden threw it.
"He's obviously a boy dog. You can see his balls."
"Ew, quit looking."
"I'm just saying." Cody hated that his new hearing made every word perfectly audible. And why was he able to understand this? What happened to the gibberish?
"It is weird that she dyes him pink." Aiden took the ball from Cody and threw it again. "And makes him wear all those bows."
"He's her dog."
"Yeah, but poodles are like hunting dogs. His fur's that way to protect his organs."
"How do you know that?"
"I did research since we're playing with the poodle every day." Aiden said.
"If I had a dog, it'd be like a golden retriever or something."
"That's so generic. At least Cody has character!"
"Uh, thanks." Cody said, dropping the ball at Aiden's feet.
"We better get going." Leo kneeled down and scratched behind Cody's ear. "You're lucky. Dogs don't have homework."
"Do you wanna eat my homework?" Aiden asked with a laugh.
"I would if I could." Cody said. It felt right to help his friends out. Their impromptu game of fetch had almost felt normal.
"Yip means yes!" Leo said with a chuckle. "C'mon, dude. Bye, Cody!" They left, locking the gate behind them.
"Cody!" Mom called from the patio. He walked over, still feeling happier than he had all day. Mom dangled a piece of bacon in front of his face and he followed her inside. Boy or dog, bacon was bacon!
He soon realized what a trick it was. She wrestled him into the tub, gave him a thorough bath and dry that left him feeling even fluffier. Then it was time for enormous bows and a full-fledged prissy pink pampered poodle pup photoshoot.
Dogs don't have homework, but they gotta go through this! Cody thought sourly as Mom posed him again and again. It was some solace imagining Leo or Aiden -- or even that bully Devin! -- as a poodle.
"Alright, back outside, pup." Mom said, setting his bowl of kibble on the patio.
"What about my bows?" He asked as the patio door slid shut, leaving him staring at his own sissy reflection, He padded over to his kibble, ate, and then went into his doghouse for the night. Why did it feel so normal? He thought as he lay down on his dog bed, chewing on his red bone for a bit.
The next morning, Cody ate his kibble and then waited for Leo and Aiden to come get him for school. He ran over to the gate as he heard them coming.
"Hey, Cody!" Aiden said, leaning over the fence to rub the poof on his head. "We're just quick swinging by to see our favorite pup."
"Why do you tell him things like that?" Leo asked. "He's a dog."
"So? He's fun to play with."
"Only cuz no one else has a dog." Leo muttered. Cody glared at him, betrayed.
"He doesn't mean it. I think you're cool." Aiden gave him another pat on the head.
"Yeah, he's fun to play fetch with." Leo agreed. "But can you imagine walking him where Dylan could see?"
"Maybe if he didn't have his bows..." Aiden thought.
"You boys better get to school. Cody will still be here afterwards." Mom called from the open kitchen window.
"Shoot! Sorry!" Aiden gave Cody one more good pat and then it was Leo's turn.
"You're lucky." He murmured. "Ditzy pinky poodles don't gotta go to school." No school? Cody ran around the yard in delight and even chased the squirrel. The squirrel's angry chitters almost seemed like laughter as he sat at the bottom of the tree and tried his best to bark menacingly. Why could he only do these whimpy little yips?
"Bark." He said in his deepest chest voice. "Bark! Bark!" He felt like he was finding a good rhythm, but it soon turned back into those annoying little yips. The squirrel chittered back. "Oh, yeah. Well, I've got a trick up my sleeve." He wobbled as he tried to stand up on two legs. Even using the tree for support, his claws scraped the bark and he fell down. He was stuck on all fours.
"Oh, Cody. Bleh foo mehn." Mom said from the patio. "Cody, come here, boy. Come here!" He ran over and Mom looked him up and down, sighing. "Gee van poodle keen bath." She picked him up and he yelped as he knew where he was headed.
Over the next few days, a rhythm began to develop. Cody would sit by the side gate in the morning to see if Aiden and Leo would come by. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't. Then he spent his day running around the yard, chasing the squirrel, chewing his bone, even just lying in the sun. He went back and forth on if he should avoid the mud or not. He hated baths, but getting to be a brown poodle with matted fur for an hour or two before Mom saw him and returned him to his fluffy, pink glory always felt nice. He knew he was thinking more and more like a dog as time went on. It hardly even surprised him when Mom put him, freshly bathed and as pink and prissy as can be, on his cushion for a photoshoot and he saw his muzzle. He was all dog now but somehow, that did not bother him. Being a human had been more trouble than it was worth, he figured.
"Hmm." Mom said as she inspected him following yet another bath. "I see your roots, Cody." She ran her finger through his fur. "And you could do with a trim, I think."
"Why can I understand you now?" Cody wondered aloud, stomach twisting. Almost by cue, Mom returned to gibberish.
"Gee van groomer." Mom remarked and he sighed. "You'll want to look your best for your puppy play date."
Puppy play date? Cody hoped for more details, but Mom did not mention it again until they were sitting in the lobby of Wagging Tails. Knowing what was coming made the experience no less of an ordeal, especially once Cody was plopped into the display pen. All the brown, black, and white furred dogs in there only made him look and feel more pink.

He thought he could sneak into the mud before whoever his playdate was with arrived, but Mom was ahead of him. She kept his harness on and kept him sitting nicely on the patio, all pink and prim and proper. He hoped whoever was coming had been told he was a boy dog because there was no way he looked like one. He tried to summon up a powerful bark and yipped once again.
"I'm excited too, Cody." Mom said, patting him on the head.
"Hello!" Cody's ears perked up. He knew that voice! That was Leo's mom!
"Cody, no barking." Mom said. He only then realized he had been yipping in excitement.
"Make sure that gate locks." Mom said. Cody looked from Leo's mom to the dog she had on a blue leash. He was a golden retriever, Cody knew that much. When had they gotten a dog? And why was Leo's mom here instead of Leo? Leo would have been over the moon about a dog!
"Alright, ready to go off your leash?"
"Yes!" The dog said and Cody felt a mix of delight and horror. That... that was Leo! He whimpered.
"Ok, Cody, you can go free too." Mom undid his harness and he approached Leo cautiously.
"Isn't this great, Cody?" Leo exclaimed, barking with excitement. "We're dogs now! I can't believe I thought you were just a poodle and had always been a poodle, but now I remember you used to be a human boy, but now I'm a dog and you're a dog and we're dogs together!"
"Leo, calm down." Cody said, chasing after Leo as he ran around and around the yard.
"But we're dogs!" Leo exclaimed. "We don't got homework or chores or anything!"
"It's not all good."
"What's not good about being a dog?"
"The vet." Leo barked dismissively. "The groomer."
"The groomer's fun. I only gotta get one good bath a month, he brushes me, and gives me treats."
"Yeah, but-"
"We even go to the same groomer." Leo flopped down into the sun and Cody sat nearby.
"Yeah, but... I... they do more to me!"
"Yeah." Leo agreed, rolling in the grass. "But aren't they required to by law or something?"
"What?"
"You're a poodle." Leo said. "A poodle-poodle-poodle." He howled.
"Stop that."
"It's true though." Leo rolled onto his belly and grinned at Cody. "And you've always been a poodle."
"You just said-"
"Yeah, but you were kinda poodly before, right?"
"No." Leo barked his disagreement.
"I heard my mom tell your mom all about how she dogified you."
"What?!" Leo jumped to his feet and ran around. Cody gave chase, taking care to avoid the mud even as Leo tramped right through it.
"Yeah, she was telling my mom that you becoming a poodle was a surprise, but she once walked in on you doing your hair in just your underwear." Leo laughed. "And she said that was total poodle behavior." He stopped and stared at Cody. "You really do run like a poodle, ya know." He barked with laughter again."Ohmigod, you did gym class as a poodle! I forgot about that!"
"It's not funny."
"I wonder why you changed kinda slowly. Me, I just stayed home from school and I was a dog in like three days." Before they could puzzle that out, a loud boof! came from the gate. They turned and saw a Saint Bernard with his front paws up on the gate.
"Down, Aiden." His dad said, unbuckling the gate. "Oh!" Aiden charged toward his friends, leash and all, barking happily. The three of them ran around in circles and even tried to tour Cody's doghouse though Aiden was too big for the door.
"Even your bed is pink." Aiden remarked. Cody grumbled, resolving to drag it into the mud puddle at first opportunity.
Eventually, Aiden and Leo had to leave, but Cody knew they would be back. It's nice that they're dogs too now. Cody thought as he went to sleep that night. I don't really wish they were poodles, but I do wish Mom would kinda cool it on the bows. Cody fell asleep and dreamed of running and playing with Aiden and Leo. Sometimes they were dogs, sometimes they were humans, but in each and every dream, Cody was a poodle.