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I Got A Puppy!

The apartment the two lived in was exemplary in its tidiness, as Ricky was doing his best to be of use. He wanted to keep his most recent boyfriend, also a wolf like himself - if with a different set of markings, happy with the maid chores performed while Mark was out working.

Ricky himself was between jobs, having a hard time hanging on to any single thing for long even if he did have the skills to be a great worker. Until something broke down, or he got distracted. Daydreaming a lot. He mused some over this while vacuuming up a mix of his own dark fur and Mark's sandy desert wolf shedding. Just taking showers and brushing down the pelt only goes so far, there were always more hairs to clean up. While he did the cleaning, he thought of how to approach his mate of a couple months about this new fancy in his head. Ricky had found a training service, and couldn't help but blush to himself when thinking about it. How great would it not be to act as Mark's pet for a while, not having to think about getting yet another short term job and otherwise, he imagined, doing basically the same cleaning up and cooking duties he was already performing. Like a kind of kinky role play that will add some spice to their relationship and take their minds off of him spending more time job searching than actually having a job.

Ricky heard Mark approach the front door and open it up, the large desert wolf shrugging off his overcoat and tossing his keys on the hallway table. Smiling, just a bit nervous since it was a new thing to suggest, Ricky tiptoed around the issue until after he had served up a quickly heated dinner.

"So.. I've been thinking.. I'm not doing much during the day.." Ricky began, coughing and trying to keep his ears perked in a more excited than nervous manner.

"Mmhm. Thinkin' what?" Mark replied, pricking the last pea on his plate and licking it off the fork, shiny with meat juices. "Do you have any new leads lined up?"

He doesn't have to say more, they both know that it's Mark carrying them both most of the time, even in the short duration they have been together.

"Well.. in a way.." Ricky said, "I would like to try this here." He slipped an ad pamphlet from the training facility over the table. "You know. Just for fun. And maybe it will be good for both of us? I mean, if it gets me more focused on one thing like they say they can help with?" Clearly implying that besides being a bedroom thing, it might be of actual help in their daily life by getting Ricky to concentrate more on the job he was hoping to get.

"Uh-huh.." Mark said, flipping through the few pages of buzzwords and happy shiny faces proclaiming how much better everything has become. "And you're asking me because..?"

The dark wolf looked down at the table briefly, then back up again. "Well. We area couple, right? So this is something for both of us, and, uh.. For the first while after trying it out, I might be, ah, might be your pet for a week or two?"

Mark scrunched his muzzle up slightly but then relaxed his fface again, shrugging it off. "Sure, if you think it's something you really want. So just what do they do there?"

Ricky made a slight shrug of his shoulders and again looked at the pamphlet, "Honestly, I am not that sure yet. I've only read that thing as well. But instead of just sitting around here or go shopping, I figured I would go on an introductory tour there while you're off at-- off during the day," he said, just barely cutting off the 'at work' part that he knew will grate on them both when it is out in the open. His mate gave a noncommittal shrug and nod, giving silent approval or at least not saying it was a ridiculous idea.

The next day, after Mark had left for work, Ricky dressed up to go out in plain slacks with a comfortable hole for the tail to stick out of, and a loose shirt. It was a new place he was going to, and he had already gotten the habit of appearing semi casual, from his work interviews. Taking a cab out to the training facility, he looked again at the pamphlet to see if he had the right address. They had stopped outside what was previously an asylum, rusty looking gates and all, and high spiked fences going around the wide property. Finding it to be the right address, and it having a very out of place modern intercom and camera at the gate, he paid the cabbie and sent it on its way.

Above the intercom was a well cleaned plaque, in stark contrast to the mossy and green stone walls making up the fence, the plaque reading 'Centraltown Pet Training Center, Est'd 1958'. Ricky pushed the Talk button and waited for a signal, telling the voice on the other end that he came for a tour. Soon after, a bright red fox in loose clothing came walking down to the gates, tugging them open with a smile to let Ricky in.

"Hello there, and welcome! I'm Mat. I'm the tour guide, check-in clerk, and.. well, I do most of the paperwork and not so much of the actual handling of patients. Someone has to keep things in order, am I right?" the fox said with a chuckle and air elbowing towards Ricky. "Come on in! Please close the gate behind you." Just looking enough over his shoulder that the wolf indeed closed the gate with a clicking sound, he then walked ahead toward the main building. "This used to be the old city asylum, a long long time ago. But this company taking it over has been here for a while too, since the early sixties. We keep working towards better and quicker methods of training when we have volunteers for it, so that others like yourself can benefit from it. Come, come on in, I'm sure you'll find it up to your expectations!" Mat kept his friendly smile, but rolled his eyes to himself as he noticed Ricky - like many others - gaping and taking in the view. The ones visiting often did not know what to expect but what they had fantasized up. Following slightly behind the visitor, the fox appreciatingly looked over their new customer. 'Good looking,' he thought to himself, 'It's always the large pretty ones that bring in the more common pets..'

Ricky stepped along in through the main doors and looked around in amazement. They had kept the old asylum look and its doors, though everything was well cleaned to the point of appearing modern, with newer automated doors, a check-in computer terminal and phone at the entry desk, and gleaming shined floor tiling. The fox turned to him and made a broad sweeping motion with his arm. "So, here we are! I take it you're interested in seeing how our pet training works before sending your.. boy is it, or girl, to us? And would like to see what we have here?"

The wolf just nodded and smiled back, it was almost like he had imagined it. "Boy, yes." He was led up to the main hallway, and Mat stepped behind the counter to buzz the door open. In the hallway, a large horse in an orderly uniform walked up towards them. The fox motioned towards him, "This is Tom, one of our highly trained staff. Most of us here have more straining duties than I do, except perhaps the physio-psychological technicians." The fox smiled to Ricky at that like it was an inside joke, "But call them doctors, they prefer that over something that sounds like a janitor's title. Besides, it's a mouthful to say. Anyway.." Mat continued to explain as they walked down the hall, "Here are the temporary holding cells for our patients. Each soundproofed and padded for their own safety, and so they do not make others more nervous. You can be certain that your pet will be quite comfortable in here, and not disturbed by others. Would you like a look?"

Ricky nodded, right away, and a cell door was swung open for him and the fox to walk inside. "Go ahead, feel around. The walls are thickly padded, there's no risk in hurting yourself here. Even the overhead light, if your pet could manage to jump that high, is covered in a soft but thick plastic, that won't break nor even give him a bump on the head. Some of the cells are still without lights, but we keep those for the patients who don't need light for various reasons. Here.." he motioned towards Tom who had a straitjacket slung over an arm, ".. is the customary outfit while being treated here. Again, for his own safety. Perhaps you'd like to try it?"

Again the wolf nodded, with a gulp in his throat that was both from an embarrassed desire, and the notion that he would have to strip to get it on. With confirmation from the fox, Ricky undressed and put his clothes in a neat pile to the side, and was then helped into the jacket by the large horse, easily towering over the wolf. It all was done in gentle tugs and adjusting the fit to Ricky's arms and body, then the straps were slid in through the buckles. Several up along the back tightened the jacket onto his torso. Ricky could feel each of them compressing his body more, squeezing the fur tightly under the thick canvas, in what he imagined an old fashioned corset might have felt like. The closed arm sleeves ended in one long belt each, and were buckled behind his back at each opposite side, making the wolf hug himself, and with an additional strap from the chest to the waist also pinning the arms in, making it impossible to do more than a slight wiggle. Another restraint went from the front and down under the groin, adjusted to not squeeze his genitals, and then tied to the back, preventing the jacket from being pulled up over the head. Finally the collar part of the jacket was tightened in, just enough to squeeze a bit on the neck, making the wolf's fur push up over the edge.

"So, mm, how is that? A good fit?" the fox asked, him and the horse politely - with lots of experience from previous visitors - ignoring Ricky's swelling sheath. It was not unusual for newcomers who had already sought the place out to get aroused with the help of their own imagination and the physical feel, either from the expectations of what their pet would go through, or for briefly trying out how helplessness feels on themselves. The wolf nodded and walked around on the padded floor, also very aware he was showing his excitement and trying, but failing miserably, to hide it. "Once jacketed up like you are now, he can't hurt himself with his claws, and the room itself will make sure he won't get hurt when falling over or leaping at a wall. You would not believewhat some patients do, really!" Mat said, he and Tom stepping outside the door and closing it, leaving the light on.

Inside the room, Ricky now all by himself, walked up to push and rub against the walls to feel the thick padding. He was panting to try cooling off, despite the immense pleasure he felt in this dream come true for him. After just a minute, the door opened again and the large horse stepped in to lead Ricky out into the hallway, taking his time to unbuckle all the straps. All too soon, Ricky thought, but he was after all here just to see the facilities. For now.

"You can stay undressed," said Mat, "but carry your clothes with you. There's another room we would like to show you before you get dressed again." The fox led the way, wolf in the middle, and the calm horse bringing up the rear as they all walked down the hallway and into another one, a few doors down. Inside the first door opened was an immaculate examination room, with its customary sink, various size nitrile gloves on a rack, a rolling chair for the doctor to swivel around on, and in the center a padded bench where the upper half could be raised to a near sitting position. The bench itself had wheels too, for doubling as a gurney for transportation if needed, with two plain click on straps over the thighs and chest. "This is where a lot of today's treatment takes place. It used to be a very crude procedure, but we like to think that we have come a long way since the cold war. And, that we will refine our methods yet more over the next decades. Have a seat, if you want?"

Ricky did not need to be told twice, he placed his clothes to the side and walked up to the flat bench, sitting down and, as he turned to lie down, feeling the soft padding of it give him comfortable support. Not like a soft bed, but definitely something he could lie on for hours without chafing. The fox himself padded up to slip the wide straps up over the wolf, clicking them in place and gently pulling them tight until they were resting against the fur but not pressing in too hard. Designed to be easy to put on, and to keep a patient's limbs from hanging out of the bed if it were to be moved, but not much else. Once that was done, Mat turned to the bench and slipped on a pair of sleek, purple gloves, before turning back now with a tube in one paw, and a small box with leads coming out of it. "Just relax now, and we'll show how your pet will be stimulated. When he's doing as he's told, he'll get rewarded like so." The fox waited a second, to give Ricky time to say stop if he didn't want to, and then continued to rub in a little gel from the tube on the wolf's ballsack. Next came a pair of wired adhesive pads, stroked against the fur to get in close to the skin, with small tendril-like feels of conductive rubber acting as prongs to reach through fur without being so old-fashioned as the metal spikes had been.

"This is how the reward works. It will tingle a bit. Just relax, mm?" said the fox and turned the small TENS unit on, carefully watching Ricky's face and body for reactions as he gently increased the power from literally nothing, to where it was felt as small pinpricks, and then a continuous buzz. "Just say when, when you'd like to keep it at this level." The wolf clenched his fists and licked around his muzzle, murmuring a "Keep it there, please.." at one point. There, Mat held it steady until he saw the wolf's sheath begin to pull back and show pink, and - cruelly, one might think - turned the power off and let his visitor lie still and moan for a short while. "Not to worry," said the fox, giving Ricky's sheath a brief stroke as he removed the pads and wiped them dry with a paper towel, "This happens to, oh, more than ninety-nine percent. But we're only here to show you how your pet will be treated." With that, he swivels on the chair and snaps his gloves off, tossing them in the trash.

As the horse began unbuckling the now quite aroused wolf, whilst pretending he didn't notice anything unusual, the fox said, "I hope this brief tour of the most used rooms has been enlightening, mm? Oh, you can get dressed now." Leading Ricky out along the hallways, Mat smiled to him and grabbed a plastic folder with some paperwork in it at the entry desk. "We hope to see you here soon again, with your pet. Or if you would be too busy, sign these and attach legal guardian papers, and he can be dropped off at the door, as it were. No baggage needed, we have everything he will need right here."

Coming out from the building, Ricky had to adjust his pants several times, and as he was just out past the gate, also taking a breather of cool evening air to calm down. He would have to wait for a few minutes before calling a cab to get back home.

When he got home, Mark was already back from work. "Hello!" Ricky said, "How was your day? I had a really nice trip over to these people. Free tour, and friendly at that. I'll get some papers from them tomorrow for, um, for us to sign. Formalities." He notedly kept the bundle he got stashed in his jacket and slipped down with his desert wolf. "So how was work? Wait, I'll fix you up food real quick!"

Ricky hopped off the couch and went to prepare a meal, his tail wagging happily. Mark sipped on some wine to cool down from another wolf-eat-cat day at work. "It was okay.. the usual, y'know." the sandy wolf replied, "It's not like much interesting happens from day to day at a steady salary job." Giving a verbal poke to Ricky without meaning to, or just not caring enough to keep it quiet. The dark wolf pretended he didn't hear, or is just too giddy from his outing to let it bother him. Once food was ready he brought over the meaty salad, more meat than other things, to the couch for a cuddle-up dinner, which helped to soften Mark up. The lighter wolf slipped an arm around Ricky even and smiled. "This is why I keep you around, isn't it?"

~~~

The next day, Ricky had gotten a draft of power of attorney letters, leaving Mark in charge of everything while he himself would be gone, and also emptied out his own small bank account to pay for the admittance fee and part of the treatment. He already knew it wasn't for free, but was too excited with the prospect of 'playing pet' under the guise of trying to become a better boyfriend, to care what it cost. Mark always had more to give. That afternoon he presented the paperwork to Mark, from the facility and guardian/sponsor both. "Okay, well, they have to know someone is taking care of my affairs while I'm there. Just a formality, since I don't really have anything that needs attention. Would'ja mind doing this for me, boyfriend?" he said with his sweetest smile.

Mark read through the papers, not too carefully, but noted "Something about a fee, and a ... pet? That's you?"

"Ehhh, yeah, they didn't have many options when it came to forms, so that would have to do. And don't worry about the fee, I paid that off on my own already," Ricky said in what he thought wasn't a totallie, so he didn't have to pretend hard to keep an innocent face.

"If you say so.. I'm just keeping us afloat, y'know, while you're looking for something. As long as I don't have to worry about that." The sandy wolf read through the papers again, finding nothing that would make him liable to pay up more, and eventually signed the papers. "Well.. hope you won't be gone for too long, it could get lonely here. And 'sides, when you're back, I don't have to be this, uh, pretend owner."

Ricky drooped a little at hearing that, he was so set on being a good pet-boy for an owner. But, he did get the papers signed for his 'resort trip', and that kept him in good spirits. "Don't you worry about a thing, hun. I'll be back before you know it, good as new!"

~~~

The next day saw Ricky taking a cab over to the facility, after having said his goodbyes and kisses to Mark. Arriving with just the plastic folder carrying his papers, he rang the intercom to be let in. When asked who was there, he just stated that he had been dropped off by his master and left with the paperwork. Shortly after, a stocky male skunk came down to let him through the gate.

"Heyya. Haven't seen you before, pet. I'm Phil," the skunk said with a greeting smile, then instantly rolled his eyes a little for show, "and no Doctor... jokes about me please, I've heard them all. Buncha comedians in here, for sure. Anyway, let's get you settled in! Come along and we'll process you." He led the way into the building to the same entry desk as before, logged on to the computer and tapped away while looking Ricky's papers over. "Mmm, you're paid up for entrance and halfway through treatment by your owner, I see. Good, not a problem. Everything seems to be in order. If you'll just follow Dan over there, he'll get you settled in."

A heavy looking dog breed, possibly bulldog related, minus the sour look most of those have, walked in from the cells hallway. Definitely heavy as in muscled, not fat. All the staff handling patients were chosen for their ability to pin down unwilling or panicked subjects. Still, he had the same calm, good demeanor as Tom the horse. "Hey, pet," he began, which made Ricky's ears flush red hot, "Come along with me to the prep room." He holds the door open, and once through, leads the wolf to the examination room he saw on his tour. Ricky was then told to strip and fold his clothes up, and lie on the table. A general nurse-level check up was then performed, taking his vitals and a blood sample, having him fill in a declaration of health and illnesses, and when all the regular things were out of the way, Dan brought around a curved metal device in his gloved paws. "Lie still, pup. This will sting a little," he says, like he's expecting to be obeyed. There are, after all, only pets that are sent to this facility, usually with a certain degree of submissiveness in them.

To Ricky, it was exciting to be called pup. Him, a grown wolf! But this was such a great fantasy, and happening to him for real. He lay still and spread his legs a little when nudged to, but raised his head and looked down as that curved metal was slid partway over his sheath, part going inside it to where cool metal touched warm flesh. With a click, it locked shut around the base of his balls, ensuring it wouldn't come off, or that Ricky's shaft could swell any against the heavy thing. Next up, a slickened rubber tube was pressed to the opening of that wolf cock, and slid deep, deep in, sometimes tickling and sometimes making the wolf whimper quietly as it bumped against the thin walls of his urethra, not used to having solid objects inside it. Once fully inside, the tip was up inside his bladder, and the only thing keeping him from leaking out all over the table was a turn valve, attached to the tip of the chastity cage.

"'kay now, you'll already have figured out that you can't play with yourself while you're here. Unless we let you. We also expect you to drain out when you're told to, and not otherwise, and if you can't do that on your own we'll just have to replace that simple valve with a lock. Costs more, and aches a lot more if you really gotta go but can't. So just do as you're told and you'll be fine, yeah?" Dan said, giving the wolf a gloved pat on the belly.

Ricky started to say something but closed his maw again, He was unsure if he liked this or not, but he certainly was not going to back out this early. Not when he had seen the cozy cells here. And paid for the visit with his last saved up money.

"Hokay, stand up for me," said the bulldog, getting out a fur trimmer. When the wolf complied, the trimmer buzzed quick patches of skin visible at several points along the arms, legs, torso, and the sides of the wolf's head. Excess fur was brushed away, and a cool crème rubbed into the skin with a tingly feel to it. "It's okay to be curious. If you feel like it. Some pets are all over the place, some just do as they're told and not much else." The dog gave a mild shrug. "This here's just to keep fur from growing back in these patches for a few months, for convenience. More 'n it later if needed. Now, arms forward."

Ricky felt a slight chill in all the exposed spots, air directly on skin was something he wasn't used to. No use complaining after the fact, even if he was startled to hear 'months!' Wasn't this supposed to be a quick trip of perhaps a week or so in his fantasy world? He stands up and holds his arms out when seeing the dog bring up a straitjacket very much alike the one he got to try out earlier. The wolf's tail wagged a bit on its own, causing him to blush again. Giving away his likes so easily. Dan just smiled though and gave him a pat on the head, after having pushed the jacket onto Ricky's arms.

"It's okay, pup. Lots of others like you.. those who get dropped off at the gate and don't have to be carried in by four of us.. seem to like a lot of this stuff. No need to feel embarrassed." He quickly fastened the jacket down then, the feeling like before as it squeezed Ricky's chest, then waist, then just below the ribs. As the arms were pulled back in a hug-me position, the straps were considerably tighter pulled than during the tour. Now no slack was left, and the front loop holding the arms squeezed them together tightly. With the same harder tugs, the collar was closed very tight, to just before feeling like it would choke the wolf, and finally the groin strap got a good, hard tug to drag the jacket down as far as it could go, for a minimum of wiggle room.

"Still doin' okay there? Say something if things seem wrong to ya, 'kay. Cuz we're working on you for your owner, so you gotta help us so that we don't break anything by accident. Well, let's get you drained to begin with." The dog pulled on a single use plastic apron, and led Ricky into a small shower stall, there opening the catheter valve to let the wolf's bladder empty out in the drain. Meanwhile, Dan grabbed an enema shower nozzle and started working it in, flooding Ricky's bowels with warm soapy water. All done with quick efficiency, and practice that showed in how little the nozzle got bent or pulled in wrong angles. Once the wolf was fully emptied, his legs and hindpaws got an extra hosing off before he was led out into the hallway.

"There ya go, champ. You're ready for treatment to start, first thing in the morning. We gon' keep you on a mainly liquid energy diet so there won't be so much... well, waste, to clean up. It's just easier that way."

Ricky got led back through the hallway to the row of cells, and placed inside one on the thick padded floor, in a corner so he would have support to sit on either side of him unless he chose to lie down when getting sleepy.

Dan checked the jacket again to make sure all straps were secure, and double checked that the wolf had been fully cleaned, before standing up and padding out of the cell. "We're a bit short on the cells with those new lights in 'em, but you're just gonna sleep all night anyway, so.. we'll see ya tomorrow, pup." With that, he closed the cell door, trapping Ricky inside in complete darkness.

The wolf was beginning to feel a little worry and doubt now, but swallowed it down. He had come here for the whole asylum and pet experience. So what if his room was all dark..? He would need to sleep before treatment began anyway. Thinking of what neat things might happen the next day, together with just the tight canvas feel, made him try to hump the padded floor only to groan in hurt frustration when the excitement became an ache inside the chastity cage. Panting, calming himself down, the wolf laid down on the floor and tried thinking calming thoughts to help him sleep.

~~~

Come morning, or what passed for it when the cell door was opened, light streaming in and the large bulldog entered. He leaned down to shake Ricky gently awake, then helped pull him up to standing. "Y'okay there, bud? Had a good nap? Mmm. Doesn't look like it. No worries, I'll help ya." He smiled and stroked the wolf's head fur back, then guided him out through the hall to the examination room. After doing the morning drain of the wolf, and a second enema hosing with icy cold water to get whatever was left inside the wolf's guts, Dan helped him out to sit down on the padded bench. "There we go, pup. Breakfast time!"

Ricky was a bit dizzied by the sudden light, and hadn't slept too well as he had been, frankly, too excited just thinking about the next day and what would happen. He was still half asleep when he was led to the shower, where he got a cold shower spray up the rump. The chill made him jerk in his jacket and let out a loud groan. "Hhahhhh! Cold!!" He was still shuddering a bit when being put on the bench, looking up at the large dog who was holding up a plastic squeeze bag. As he got the nozzle in his maw, and Dan began to push the bag's contents down the wolf's throat, it was a couple fistfuls of totally tasteless, clear liquid.

Dan smiled and gave Ricky a pat on the head for gulping down all the nutrient goop, then tossed the empty bag in the waste basket. "Okay, pup, lie down and I'll start setting you up for the doc." After the wolf was on his back, Dan slid the two straps up over the body to loosely secure it, then dragged over a gas tank on wheels. While he picked up a suitable muzzle shaped mask with two hoses, he explained to the newcomer, "You're here for pet training, and boy, you do seem to be doing pretty well already. Dunno why yer owner thought you needed obedience reinforcing. But anyway, that's what this sniffy gas is for. It'll fog you up so it's easier to get you hypnotized and sugger-- suggesty-- whatever, makes it so ya will get better at taking commands. Dontcha worry about a thing, pup!"

The wolf wiggled on the bench, still in his tight jacket, and then he got a tight fitting mask pushed down over his face, covering the whole muzzle, nose and all. The flexible rubber hoses hung from the mask, off to the side of the bench, and inside the mask a short tube went just past the fangs to ensure breathing. As the mask got secured behind Ricky's head, it squeezed down well enough that he could only bite the soft tube. One of the hoses were connected to the tube regulator, another to a plug in the wall for venting out exhale and excess gas. The dog turned a valve and the plain air intake was mixed with something strange-smelling. Dan gave a thumbs-up to the wolf and left the room.

Soon after, the door opened and a cheetah in a lab coat entered, wearing a plain office shirt under the open coat. The large dog followed and took up position inside the door, in case the doctor should require assistance. The feline padded over to the bench and sat on the swivel stool. "Hello there, mmm.. Mark? I'm Bryan, your assigned doctor." he started, looking through a clipboard of papers, "No, Ricky. My mistake. You know how it gets with all these forms. Well, we'll just call you pet from now on and there won't be any confusion. So, how are we doing today, pet?" he asked, checking for reaction times to judge how far along the gas had worked. "I'm sure Dan has already told you about the suggestive sedative we're feeding you now. In case you're curious about the double tubes to your muzz, one is for your exhale. It certainly wouldn't do to flood the room with gas, haha, we couldn't do our job well then, now could we? Let's get you set up for the first treatment."

Bryan waved over to the orderly who came over to the bench with a wheeled cart. Dan began fastening a few electrode pads to the wolf's genitals and head, and while he did that, the cheetah brought out a set of wide, padded VR goggles, slipping them over Ricky's eyes. The wolf was now in total darkness. Soft rubber-tipped earplugs were then slid inside his ears. After a static crackle as the various kit were plugged in, he heard the doctor's voice from the plugs. "Can you hear me? Indicate with a nod, thumbs-up or similar."

Ricky was beginning to feel dizzy and floating, like he was half asleep but still fully aware of what went on around him. It only took so much effort to think and process the sensory information. After a few seconds he did as he was told, nodding lightly and bobbing the breathing hoses. He looked very much like he was moving in slow motion. A slow moving tunnel effect started up inside the goggles, slowly moving straight ahead so as not to induce any vertigo. The earplugs began piping in softly spoken commands and suggestions, several voices at once overlapping, but not fighting for attention. Each of the voice streams getting the wolf's attention alternatingly as he tries to make sense of the murmurs, in his tranquilized state. While the voices kept Ricky busy, Dan applied more pads on the wolf's chest and head, leading to a monitor read-out where his brain and vitals could be monitored. The only ones on 'input' were at Ricky's genitals and two on either side of his head.

As the preparations were done, the doctor checked the monitoring equipment for proper function, and then activated the voice cues leading to the input wires. At certain points in the narrative, either voice track could activate a buzz into the head, low enough to just cause momentary confusion. Far from a really triggering shock. At other times, a soothing voice might talk into the wolf's ears about how he wants to be a good pet, behave and obey, and the tingles to his nuts and shaft - through the chastity cage - gave a teasing, arousing, but also a fleeting sensation that Ricky soon came to crave and listened in hope at the voices for anything that may sound like it was leading up to a 'reward' trigger. A few of them, he found, just kept on going and forced him to try getting hard inside the tight cage, then told him off for not having enough self control, coupled with mildly painful shocks to the head and groin area to cool him back down.

Once set up, Bryan and Dan stayed in the room since it was the first treatment of the new patient, talking among each other and occasionally looking at the monitors to check that the wolf wasn't having any adverse allergic reactions to the gas or sudden un-anticipated shock side effects. Still, everything was done at a mild level, so they could mostly just wait for the first two hours, then go off for lunch while Ricky was still under treatment. Stuck to the padded bench, and sufficiently sedated that he could barely lift his paws, yet constantly confused and sidetracked by the voices in his head and the spiraling tunnel filling his entire field of view.

When the two returned, Ricky was already trembling on the bench from the repeated teasing and occasional minor jolts that had him go -huff- into the exhale tube, but the gas did its job just fine in keeping him sufficiently tame that he hadn't tried to, or had the motor skills to, move off the bench. As they removed the visor and then the mask, the doctor also fitted a collar around the wolf's neck, with a box at the front-side and a loop antenna following the collar's curve back around the side of his neck. No lock was needed yet, the feline decided, as Ricky was already in a straitjacket and had no use of his arms. That also presented a slight difficulty in positioning the extra collar, so that it fit snugly above the one built into the jacket itself. Leaving the wolf on the bench for the moment, with mask and wires removed, the doctor flips up a remote and thumbs the controls, giving the wolf a shock at around half power, then after a couple of seconds, another. Both of them making Ricky jerk on the bench and let out a choked yelp. "Looks okay, it works. Take him to his new cell until tomorrow, would you?" says Bryan and walks out, leaving the big dog to unstrap and clean off the wolf, including draining the catheter in the shower room.

Ricky was lying dizzy in the chair for an indeterminate amount of time, he couldn't tell how long he was there as he had no reference but for the hiss of whispering voices going into his ears. He noticed the voices stopping, and the display going dark, leaving him not seeing anything until the visor was pulled off, suddenly sharp light made him groan and close his eyes. Since he was still dosed with the sedative, his reaction to the collar shocks were muted grunts, jacketed arms tugging and free hindpaws curling their toes. The sharp pain bite briefly woke him up, before he sank back into the dreamlike state. Only while being emptied out and washed off did Ricky begin to wake up. "Whahhhfff.. how.. hnf.. long was I there for?"

Dan replied while drying the wolf off, casually, "The standard first time, just about.. hmm.. four hours, I'd say. Doing well, pup, you're nice and fit. Heh, you'll need it." The dog chuckled mostly to himself as he led Ricky out the hallway to another cell, one with that bump proof light set in the ceiling padding. Notably, it also had two belts sewn into the wall and floor, likely to go into the hard material behind the padding for secure attachment. Dan helped the wolf down to sit where one belt could be tugged in around Ricky's chest, and another up over his thighs, holding the legs close together. "To keep you in line when you're not drugged, we're going to reinforce your training with this collar.. well, this box you can feel jabbing up under your chin. It's a cheap and easy way to both track where you are, and to get your attention if you should do anything you're not told," the dog explains, "You get this new room from now on to stay in. Y' get to sleep sitting up, I'm afraid. But you'll get used to it. Right behind your neck is an induction charger, see, and it takes a couple hours to top up the collar, so that's why you gotta stay in one spot. I mean.. yeah, we could also just plug in a cable, but only when we have to. It's getting in the way of stuff. When you get sent back to your owner, we'll ship along a wireless charger, and one with a plug so he can keep you topped up if you go on a long trip away from the conveniences of home." Dan can't help but grin a bit as he ruffled the wolf's head, "You have no-o idea how few motels offer strap down beds or very large puppy baskets. Well.. see ya in a couple days. My shift's over for now, so I'll head back home for a doze. You should, too." Then the dog checked the collar to make sure it was charging, and left the room, turning the light off after closing the door with a locking -click- sound.

~~~

Out in the building there was a shift change, and going through the files Mat the fox was now back to man the front desk and administratrion. He saw that a new patient has been admitted. Checking up the status of the wolf in the spreadsheet, he ticked off the admission and partway fees, noting that the pet had been in for three days, already deep in the hypno therapy. Since it was time to collect the remaining fees, he called up the owner's contact number.

\ **riing* * "Yeah-- -yawns- Welcome to ExtraPro Services, Mark speaking. How can I help you today?" the sleepy wolf answered in yet another day of this dreary job.

"Mmm, yes, hello, this is Mat calling from CentralTown Pet Training. You have a pet in here for reconditioning, correct?" said the fox, with the forms up on his screen.

"Uh.. not that I know-- do you mean Ricky? A wolf? Er, what's this about?" Mark replied.

"We've begun processing of your pet, and as stated in the forms you filled out, it's now been long enough that the trial period is over. If you have a look in the papers, you will see the due amount for completing the process. I'll e-mail a copy over to you since you probably have the forms at home."

"The-- I WHAT? He told me he'd already paid it all in advance! Jeez. Well, I don't have any stashed up money like he did, since I've had to pay for both of us. Then what?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but you did sign the papers for being his guardian, and he's signed off a waiver to stay in here for the duration of the treatment. To end it in the middle now would leave him in a very confused state, he would need additional, and may I say costly, therapy even to go back to his former self."

Mark was fuming on his end of the line, but through dealing with any number of jerks on the phone could hold down the mute button for a while as he composed himself. "So you're saying that either I pony up a lot of cash to you, or to some therapist, because he lied to me? That's just not going to happen, since there's nothing to pay with."

The fox thought for a while, on his end pinching above his nose with two fingers. Now and then these things happened, and it was just his luck to deal with the customer. He let out a sigh away from the receiver, then resumed. "In that case, since your wolf did sign off a waiver to basically be our property for the duration of the treatment, we could keep him here. Either until you pay to get him back, or until we find some other use for him."

Mark listened with a growing feel of both anger and unease. "He's practically mooched off me since he moved in, and that was only two months ago. Did you see anything about that in your pretty papers? He told me everything was taken care of! Good riddance if I don't see him again."

There was a brief pause, then the sandy wolf continued, "I mean.. well, okay, maybe I over reacted a bit there. I'm sorry. Well, eh, what will happen to him now, I mean.. if I can't bail him out?"

Mat replied courteously as he had many times before, "I can certainly empathize with your feelings, and you're not the first 'temporary guardian' that someone's used to get in here for kicks. Sometimes this happens. And to answer what you haven't asked yet, no, this isn't like some kennel where we would put him down because we're out of space. He'll become a test subject instead of patient, since he's already waived his rights to deny us any form of treatment, leaving that in your paws. Eventually he might be sold off to someone else wanting a pet, to recoup our losses. If you decide to leave him here, I'll fax over the papers for you to sign, and if you could courier them back to us expediently - at our cost of course - that would end your agreement with us."

On his end, Mark thought the options over. Either he got a loan, that would stick with him for a long time, simply to pay off what his recent boyfriend had landed them both in, or - and this really seemed the more appealing part - he could leave Ricky in the institution where he already knew - or thought - that the dark wolf was having his fantasy experience come true. He'd be rid of a clingy temporary boyfriend, and the other wolf would be happy to get trained, and eventually let out to someone else who could put up with that. He felt sufficiently calmed that no real harm would come to Ricky, and honestly was relieved to be rid of him. "Yeah, sure. Just, y'know.. Like you said, he'll be okay in the end. ... Send it over, I'll have it signed and back to you during lunch."

Mat was already prepared for this speech he had heard before, almost bored as he hit 'send' to e-fax the release form over, then paged the doctor in charge of Ricky. "Yes.. mm-hm.. we got another one. The usual thing, he found someone new and had them sign off. Mmm. Yep. Some really treat this as a toy weekend, I agree. ... Yes, of course. I'll change patient 35's status to 'voluntary subject'. I'll bring a copy of the updated forms and meet you there for verification."

~~~

In the dark cell, Ricky had been awake for a while since he wasn't used to sleeping sitting up, and especially with bound arms and fastened to a wall so he couldn't lean either way. He tried to move his head around to where the new collar wouldn't prod up too uncomfortably to the lower jaw, but it was cinched on snugly. He still squinted his eyes closed as doctor Bryan from the previous three days of treatment showed up in the doorway, along with the fox he had met on his first tour. It took a short while for the wolf's slightly altered mind to recognize Mat, during which the two inside the doorway murmured between themselves.

"Oh, ah.. hello!" he coughed, "Nice to see you again, uh.. M-- mister fox," Ricky blurted out, for some reason finding it hard to recall the name. It was like he almost had it, but it kept slipping away. "Doctor.. uh.. this doctor has been really nice to me!" he says with a sheepish and confused, but honest smile. The partway treatment already was giving him troubles with his memory, even though he himself didn't notice it fully.

Mat smiled at the sitting wolf and walked up to him, kneeling to undo the two belts holding Ricky in place on the floor. "Mmm, yes, it was I who showed you around here, remember? It is nice to see you again." As the fox helped Ricky stand up, he also nodded to doctor Bryan, "Indeed, this is the one I was telling you about. Mm. I gave him the usual owners' tour less than a week ago. The release papers are already on the way back, according to our courier firm." Turning back to Ricky, Mat smiled and led him out of the cell. "We take three-day shifts here, so we both get some continuity with our patients, and can get a bit of rest in between, too. That's why you haven't seen me for a while. Come now, and we'll start getting you cleaned up, you've been in that jacket for a few days and both it and you need washing off."

Out in the hallway, Ricky was handed off to Tom, the orderly, who now also was back on this shift, and the doctor had a quick word with the horse. "Take him to subject preparation please, and then see us down in the therapy room." As the wolf got led down the hallway to the examination and shower room, Mat and Bryan looked over the clipboard papers to make sure everything was in order before proceeding fully. "So you showed him around and checked him in?" the doctor asked.

The fox shook his head, "No, I only gave him the tour, I was off duty when he was being checked in. You know very well I would have informed you, as well as him, that he was signing himself off to us if I had been there at the time." He sounded almost offended at this lack of professionalism, but also knew the doctor had to ask to make sure that everything was in order.

Bryan nodded, found the papers to be in order, and handed them back to the fox. "Good, good. We'll go on with the voluntary subject treatment, since he's so kindly offered himself up to us." He half mumbled to himself, half complaining, "It's a gift and a curse, I guess. We get to try out methods on him, but we also get stuck with his upkeep until we can sell him off. Oh well. Keep an eye out as usual, for owners looking for a pre-trained pet."

The fox nodded with his usual calm demeanor that made him so good at being the first friendly face furs saw when coming to visit. "Certainly, I'll put him up on the available list in a week, or when you think he's ready. I think he'll be an easy sell, he's a very good looking boy."

~~~

Ricky was being escorted to the examination room and told to stand still, as the horse began unstrapping the tight jacket, first the tight padded canvas collar, then the groin strap, and finally the arms and back. Even the remote collar was removed and placed to the side. When all straps hung loose, Tom pulled the jacket off and tossed it in a laundry basket by the wall, and led the wolf into the shower. The horse picked up a bottle from a cabinet, along with a full length plastic apron, and followed Ricky in. As was customary now, the shower began with draining the catheter, much to Ricky's figurative and literal relief. Once that was done, Tom donned long armed disposable gloves as well and held the cleaning bottle up. "Are you okay to soap yourself up? Not too dizzy or confused?" he asked, aware that the wolf had gone through days of drugged therapy already. "This will help prepare you for the next stage of your treatment, be sure to get it in everywhere, and close your eyes or it will sting badly."

The wolf nodded at the unnamed horse, and smiled. "Yes, um, I think I can handle it," he replied in a confident but soft voice. The suggestive hypno therapy so far had made him a lot better at following commands already, and besides that, he still knew that he wanted to experience the whole pet treatment. He hadn't seen enough of that yet, and was curious where it would lead. Besides the difficulty in remembering names of people, and some things, Ricky still recalled most of his brief stay. Getting in under the warm water, he took big globs of the shampoo and rubbed it in until he was white foamed nearly all over, and the horse helped with his gloved hands to get at the hard to reach places, between the shoulder blades, all the way up the rump cleft.

Tom kept lathering the wolf up and stroking down with a rough brush, pulling fur off in large clumps as the combination of shampoo and depilation crème worked its way in through Ricky's fur and skin with a warm tingling all over the body. Hence the well covered horse in gloves and apron, to make sure he wouldn't get any of the foam on himself. After a first wash-through most of Ricky's fur was gone, and Tom told him to stay in place for a second round, which was obeyed like before both in part from conditioning and part excitement. The horse stroked and splashed warm water down the wolf's now fully fur-less body, before making sure the face was especially well cleaned off around the eyes and muzzle. Even the whiskers gone. "Come along and we'll finish setting you up," said Tom, leading Ricky out of the shower and re-attaching the heavy remote collar securely around the wolf's neck before exiting the room.

Ricky felt the warm shower water splash through his fur and make it cling in close to his body, though little by little in spots he could feel the water much warmer right against his skin. He didn't open his mouth or look though, as just the tingle in his skin told him that whatever it was, he certainly didn't want to get it in his eyes. He blinked when stepping out of the shower and being air dried off, both feeling the air flow over his skin, and then seeing himself utterly naked. "What.. what's this for? How long will this last?"

Tom smiled at him with an arm around the wolf's shoulder to give a sense of protection as he led him down the therapy hallway to the lifts. As they descend to the lower floors he said, "It's so we can get a better look at you, it helps the doctors examine you in detail. Don't worry about it, you'll soon grow a new pelt. Until then we'll get you set up so you won't freeze." Entering the whitewashed stone walls of the basement, he leads Ricky into the first room, where a coffin like vat sat in the middle of the room, with a wire mesh hanging above it, looking humorously like an oversized deep fryer. In here another member of staff was filling the vat with a thick, rubbery liquid.

The other horse here - a common pick in staff for size and strength with most patients - looked up. "Heya, Tom. Just getting this ready for you." He turned his head to look at the wolf, "And you must be our newest--" he cuts off at a slight shake of Tom's head, "-- our newest patient. I'm Charlie. And you are..?"

Ricky smiled back, feeling strangely safe under Tom's arm. "Hi! Nice to see a new face here. I'm.. uh.. R-rr.." he trailed off, and Tom interjected, "This is Ricky. Right, pet?" The wolf blinked away the brief confusion and continued, "Oh! Yes. Ricky. Glad to meet you! So, ah.. what's with the goop bath?"

Tom led the wolf over to the vat and helped him sit down on the tough but thin mesh hanging above its surface. "This is where you get your new coating to keep you warm and cozy. You'll like that, won't you?" he said in a warm tone, easing the wolf down to lie on his back atop the mesh. "Remember to keep your eyes and mouth closed while we give you a quick dip. It won't take long. Take these to protect your nose." Tom took a small clip from Charlie, and placed it on Ricky's nosepad. It pinched a bit in the middle, and got maneuvered down to lie flush with the nose itself.

"Okay, pet, spread your arms and legs out a bit.. that's good.. and now take a deep breath and hold it for half a minute," Charlie said, waiting for the wolf to draw some breaths through the mouth to fill up with air, then keeping his muzzle pinched shut. The mesh was lowered down in the dark vat, feeling like a stroking caress all across Ricky's skin as he went under. Ten or twenty seconds passed, and the mesh was lifted up over the surface again. The wolf heard the horses talk to him muffled through the goop that had gotten inside his ears, but could still make out what they were saying. The nose plug was removed, and Charlie said "Don't open your eyes or mouth yet, but breathe in through your nose, and roll over on your belly, please. Good.. Same as before, take deep nose breaths, and then I'll put the plug back in for another dip."

Ricky felt the clinging rubbery goo stick to his skin, with the excess slowly dripping back into the vat. As he rolled over, the mesh pattern was clearly visible on his back. Sucking in a lungful of air, he then got the nose clip put back in place, and was lowered down in the vat once more to fill in the gaps on his back where the mesh had been holding him. Half a minute later, he was raised up and the nose plug got removed, with one of the handlers carefully cleaning just around the nosepad to make sure none of the liquid rubber had gotten inside. He stayed splayed out on the mesh for another couple of minutes until he was told to stand up, being helped by strong horse hands.

"It's okay to open your eyes now. The liquid has set enough that it won't seep in." the voice he had come to recognize as Charlie said, before the horse then returned to his duty of cleaning out the vat, returning the remaining liquid to storage, and beginning the work to get the vat spotlessly wiped. A marginal amount of the rubber had been used, but there still had to be enough to fully cover a body, and it was far too wasteful to merely dump the excess.

Ricky slowly opened his eyes, feeling a bit of resistance as the goo stuck to his eyelids and face produced some resistance the wasn't there before. He could look around though, and look down at his body. His skin now had the look of a dark, mostly matte rubber, only giving off small amounts of reflection from the overhead lights. Looking at his right paw, he wiggled his fingers and found them very mobile, even if the several millimeters layer on each finger made it hard to make a fist, along with soft creaks whenever he moved. The air didn't feel cold on his skin any more, but then he couldn't see his skin either. Reaching with his forepaws, he stroked over his bumped groin that still stood out enough to show him as male, and when feeling his neck, he noted that the collar was covered too, tight around the neck and hidden under the layer of rubber.

Tom took over and guided the wolf out to the stony hallway again, and Ricky could feel the shift in temperature, but the skin tight coating kept the chill away almost as good as his fur had. Only almost. The horse explained while walking him down to another room, "This stuff we put on you is like a suit, except since it got into your every crack and opening - just feel how it hugs each finger and toe - it won't crease or bunch up, not to mention how much quicker it is than getting a suit this tight on you would be. We-- er, you can still wash yourself off properly as it's a porous material, and that will let your skin breathe enough too so you won't overheat more than you normally would. It won't take long for your body heat to help it conform better to your shape, so the creaking will be less noticeable."

The wolf was led into one of two doors close to each other, where a sturdy, thick chair with a wooden finish was fixed to the floor in the center of the room, in a tiled room with a drain under the chair. It had cuffs hanging open in a multitude of positions. Two each for the legs and arms of the chair, a pair on the seat itself, longer ones along the backrest, and up top, one each for the throat and forehead. Several wheeled carts stood along the walls, containing most everything from plain reflex hammers and manual tools, to faceless metal boxes with numerous outlets, and wheeled gas tanks that also had masks neatly folded up on trays.

Ricky swallowed a large gulp that made his collar bob under the new rubber skin, and felt himself growing hard in the now hidden chastity cage. This was something as exciting to see as the first tour had been, that much he could remember with detailed clarity. He started towards the chair, but then held up and looked at Tom. "I.. I go there?" he asked with badly masked eagerness, conflicting with his obedience training so far.

Tom grinned and patted the wolf's smooth shoulder, "Yes, you go there. Sit down and I'll help you settle in." He then began belting Ricky in, with the first set of cuffs going over the wrists, the next around the ankles, continuing step by step to work his way in towards the middle. Every cuff, every belt, made the rubber coating creak as they compressed the insulating layer. The upper arms got their own straps, and the ones on the chair base were positioned just above the knees, keeping the legs pulled wide apart and firmly stuck in place. Waist and chest belts pressed Ricky back into the chair, and he definitely noticed that each cuff, and in several spots on each longer belt, had metal nubs that pressed in through his rubber coating to firmly dig into the skin beneath. Finally his head was strapped in, forcing the wolf to sit upright and only being able to look sideways and move his fingers a bit. The wolf's tail was led out through the back, and fastened with a simple cinch up along the back of the chair.

Ricky looked straight ahead at the door as Tom stepped out, and the cheetah doctor entered instead. "Well now, pet. It seems like you're all set to get started, won't that be nice?" said Bryan with a dispassionate voice, giving a brief smile to try indicating he actually cares, "I'll be setting up the rest to make sure everything is just where I want it. You're familiar with these already, I know." he said as he wheeled over a tank and picked up a heavy looking mask, hoses trailing from it. "Open up a little, pet," the cheetah ordered, then slid the mask over Ricky's muzzle. A thick bit was set in the mask, reaching back to the furthest teeth, and it gave a creak of rubber on rubber as Bryan then tightened it down, forcing Ricky to sink his teeth into the bit. The skin coating had seeped in as much as it could while Ricky had tried keeping his maw shut, but it still left the outer half of his lips coated black and artificial.

The mask got attached to the chair itself, becoming yet another anchor point for the wolf's head to pin it in place, the hoses from it going one to the tank, the other left dangling off to the side. "Wondering about that?" the cheetah asked, holding the hose up and wiggling it before Ricky's eyes, "We'll be monitoring you through that mirror wall over there, so there's no need for us to ventilate out the gas until we're actually going to enter here again." As the doctor moved a tray with a large metal box on it over next to the chair, he began connecting wires from its outlets to snap-on points on each cuff and belt, ending with a pair of snap-on toothed metal clips made for going through the rubber surface, one to click onto the metal chastity cage, the other at the wolf's balls, pinching it harder shut until he notices a jerking reaction, telling him that he's prodded the metal fangs into skin. He kept talking to help explain the wolf's situation even though Ricky now couldn't reply. "Your sponsor couldn't pay up for your remaining duration here. But you probably knew that before you came to us, didn't you? Mat.. I'm sorry, you're bad with names now.. the fox you saw, he recognized you from when you toured our facility. Since you have signed yourself over to us, you're effectively a volunteer now for us to help advance our methods. Tomdidtell you that this suit was temporary, yes? Not that it matters now, but I can tell you that it's much easier to have permanent subjects think it's only short term until after the first few sessions."

~~~

Ricky's eyes widened and his fingers wiggled against the chair, all that he could move now. This.. this wasn't part of the plan. He wanted a little pet training, not becoming some strange guinea pig in a basement! The doctor pressed earplugs deep into his ears, in past the rubber so they would block out other sounds, and held up a visor in front of the wolf's face. The last thing he saw, lip reading before his eyes got covered, was the cheetah saying something along the lines of "ours now.. rapid training.. sell you.."

Bryan fingered the remote in his coat pocket, still set at 50% strength, clicking it for a couple of seconds as he stood just watching the doll-like wolf in the chair suddenly tense and splay its fingers out. Satisfied that the restraints were all holding, he turned the gas valve on and exited the room, closing the door tight, and went to the control room to adjust the modern looking touchscreen display that had replaced the old knobs and dials and buttons. The only mechanical device left now was a main on-off breaker for the box inside the testing chamber, to cut it in case the software acted up or something else needed immediate shutdown.

The cheetah brought up a schematic of a body on one screen, and a selection of stimulation files on another. "This is where it begins," he said into a microphone so that Ricky could hear it through the ear plugs, "Luckily for us you've signed yourself over so we can do a fast-track combination of methods. And, well, not so lucky for you, that means you don't get the muscle relaxants or sleeping agents that a regular ECT would bring." He tapped the 'go' button on the screen to run the selected program, which would both use the suggestion enhancing drugs in the gas, visuals, and the commands voices being piped into the earplugs, at the same time the corrective jolts were being used to blank out the wolf's mind.

Ricky could only lift his softly rounded, black fingers a little bit up from the end of the arm rests, calling for attention even as he felt himself being dosed and finding it harder to perform voluntary muscle motion. Murmuring voices flooded his ears and occasionally sent pleasurable tingles through his groin and massaging vibrations going through the arms and legs, when telling him how good it was for him to be a pet, and corrective, painful shocks that had his arms, legs and torso cramp sharply to the point where it was a visible strain under the rubber coating, when he was told what he was not. He was not to think anything for himself unless commanded. He was liking to be an owned pet. He was not to be aggressive or aroused. He was liking to please his owner. All of those voices mixing together, constantly running, seeping into his mind.

Then came the pure electroshock therapy, sending sharp jolts right through his head from temple to temple, hurting to make him see flashes inside his mind sharp enough to distract from the goggle display, making him thrash in the chair with fingers cramp-like gripping the arm rests. All of the motions were shown on the simple outline of a body in the control room as measures of force exerted in each cuff or belt. Even inside the mask was a small resistive strip in the bit to indicate how hard Ricky was biting down on it.

In the control room, Bryan adjusted the settings based on how hard Ricky was struggling. Part of the setup, in the beginning, went as far as tensing up the whole body for a few seconds to note what the maximum rating was, above which increased power would not result in higher tension. Once that was set, the program could run on its own for a few hours. The feline checked the intensity controls, gas intake and oxygen mix, and the combination program of hypnotizing interspersed with rough ECT going through the pup's head. When satisfied, he left Tom to sit watching manually, and left for another patient. He would be beeped automatically if something went wrong, but it was safe practice to leave an actual person in charge of the manual cut-off in an emergency.

~~~

The shuddering black doll like object sat in the chair for hours already on his first day, prevented from soiling himself by being on the liquid diet that left nothing in his bowels, and a closed catheter valve that allowed no urine leakage. Inbetween the first sharp shocks, Ricky panicked and splayed his fingers to call for help, but none came. Just the voices telling him what he was and what he wanted to be. The dangling exhale hose from the mask twitched some where it hung down, with sharper breaths from the wolf trying to yell. Behind the mirror, Tom idly watched the monitor now and then with its change in colors at the cuff points, and some at the bunching, shivering object in the chair. He idly stroked himself through his pants, though not at Ricky's predicament.

The horse's mind was elsewhere during this long and boring wait that he'd sat through so many times, the only difference in subjects being testing out various kinds of drugs and duration of the ECT shocks to best fit several species. Once one 'best practice' for the voluntary subjects had been reached, new things got introduced one by one to determine if they were better or worse at rapid conversion. Long ago, before he had come to work in the facility, it had been a laborious process to just set up a single shock therapy session, and nothing was automated so a doctor had to monitor everything personally. All the hypno gear used these days had once been a near random experiment with drugs and a specialized doctor sitting by to do a spoken therapy session with the subject. Later on it became a mix of shock therapy and hypnosis, to find what would quickest blank out the subject's mind and also leave it operational enough to accept new commands. So many had to be thrown out on the street before it was discovered that even broken pets could be sold to the right cruel owners.. Or the ones just wanting an objectified being as a form of decoration.

"Heya, how's it going so far?" Tom jerked back in his chair with a start as the door opened and Bryan came back. That daydreaming always had him drifting off during what now were long, tedious waits. The cheetah padded up to him and handed him a takeout bag. "Brought you lunch so you can take a couple hours off and stretch your legs. Could you call Charlie in on the way, to help me wrap this package up again?"

Tom nodded with a thankful smile, doc was so thoughtful both with his regular patients and his staff. "He's been behaving within parameters. Nothing too weak to give him rest, and nothing too tough to have him at full tension for more than a few seconds in a row. The usual. The new parameters have had him going for the entire time, it's an improvement over the last one, I think.. I mean, I'm no doctor - heh - but it looked that way. You'll have a ton of data to sift through tonight, doc." He got up from the chair and stretched to pop his back, taking the lunch bag and heading for the door. "Yep, will let C know. You have a good one, doc."

In the treatment room, Ricky was foaming at the nose, his mouth too dry to drool and choke himself. He wasn't aware when the jolts and voices stopped, and as the doctor and Charlie walked into the ventilated room to turn off the gas, the wolf's smooth body sat still in the chair. Not a fingertip was moving, the breaths were shallow and slow. He was unstrapped from all the belts, the wires getting neatly rolled up on the cart with the machine, and as the mask and visor were removed, Ricky was staring straight ahead without focusing on anything.

Bryan looked on for a short while, as Charlie held the wolf so he wouldn't fall out of the chair. He spoke into a portable recorder, "Notes for days two through seven, observe subject status after completed program. Day one: Appears to be unaware of surroundings. Does not respond to stimuli. When its rest period is over, check for compliance to spoken commands, signs of own will, what it remembers. Adjust electroshock therapy accordingly to erase previous memories as found, ensure that power levels do not cause excessive brain damage beyond what is desired. Refer to notes on Subjects thirty through thirty-four regarding physical check-ups of muscles and joints."

Finishing off his notes, the cheetah nodded to Charlie, "Pack him up for the night, please. I'll have to review the notes and prepare a handover to Dr. Chester tomorrow for continued treatment while I'm off." Bryan plunked the recorder down in the same pocket with Ricky's collar remote so he'd have everything physical in one place; the test data would already be at his office terminal. "Have a good one! Don't get too sleepy during night shift." he said with a smile.

The horse waited patiently by Ricky as the feline took notes, and nodded with a chuckle when done. "Will-do. I'll get him back snug 'n safe to his room." As the doc exited, Charlie lifted the wolf up and laid him out on the floor so that he could begin applying the straitjacket again, sliding the rubberwolf's arms into the canvas, then manhandling him - or it, as subjects are often thought of - to roll over on its belly where Charlie could effectively tighten the jacket's straps to squeeze deep into Ricky's thick coating. The collar followed, squeezed in around the existing bump in the rubber where the wolf's remote was covered, making it slightly hard to breathe. The horse didn't seem to notice, though, as Ricky was still only taking such small breaths. Lastly the groin strap, slid down between smooth thighs and up to the small of the back, pulled in tight.

Charlie pulled over a wheelchair from the hallway, and from it also took a spreader bar that got attached to Ricky's ankles with sturdy, wide cuffs. Once in place, the wolf's legs got pulled back a bit and a smooth nylon rope was tied to the rear fastening of the jacket, down to the center of the spreader. It was pulled short enough that the wolf could not move up past kneeling, and in that position Ricky was lifted up and placed in the chair with a single snap-lock belt around his waist to keep him from falling off, ankles pulled up awkwardly so that the knees were close to his face now that he was made to sit on that short spreader rope.

Whistling to himself, the horse wheeled his subject back through the hallways and up the lift, first going to the initial treatment/shower room where he wheeled Ricky into the shower for draining the bladder and hosing off anything that spilled on the jacket or chair, then returning to the cell with the built in straps.

Charlie set the wolf down by the wall, tugging the chest belt on to set Ricky in the collar-charge position. With the legs spread and pulled back, the floor mounted belt only reach to the wolf's feet, so Charlie slid it up between the ankles and over the spreader bar, then pulled it tight so that Ricky's paws were pressed down hard into the padding. That wolf wouldn't move on his own, now. The last thing that the horse did was to set up an intravenous nutrient drip, pressing a wide needle in through the canvas and rubbery skin of a wolf arm. They had learned early that until a subject could be told to eat, forcing down liquid would often have them vomit it back up, and so for the first few days the IV was both food and hydration. Having finished off the day's duty, the horse closed the cell door and turned the light off, leaving a drooling Ricky in his padded prison.

Several hours later, the wolf started to come to his senses again in the dark, and at first wondered where he was, then slowly remembering something vague about therapy. 'It must be some form of therapy, surely?' he thought, 'Or why would I be in this.. jacket, this room. I can feel.. soft wall, soft floor. Muted somehow. Am I dressed up in something? What happened to me?' Ricky tried hard to remember, but all that comes across is a feel of aching body, a vague notion of strange hurt, and the beginning of his training. As long as he asked anything when the door got opened, the ECT continued to make him forget and dumb down, and the suggestive therapy reinforced how he didn't want to ask or question anything, only do what he was told.

~~~

Near the end of the first week of daily training, Ricky was beginning to respond to very simple questions, answering only what was asked and having trouble finding any complicated words. The sessions continued, from padded cell to basement chair and back, bound in either jacket or devices. At this stage it was decided that he would need someone to imprint on as 'owner' so that further training could be done with a specific person in mind. Bryan walked by the front desk where Mat was filing away new patient forms for the next three pets that were being handled on the ground floor, ones with hopefully actual owners that wouldn't just dump another body on them. Much as a new subject was appreciated, only one at a time was necessary for testing.

"So.. Subject 35 is coming along, he's starting to rebuild. Do we have any prospects lined up?" asked the doctor.

"Sadly, no, mmm.. It seems like we will have to keep him for a while longer," replied Mat, with a brief far-away look at his terminal. "How, um, how is he shaping up?"

"Oh, you know. Lost as they all are around now, needing someone to connect with. If we can't find an owner at the moment, we'll keep him sedated and jolt that puppy brain out so he's kept in a constant waiting state," Bryan said with a chuckle, like it was something of a joke.

The fox looked down at his desk, then licked around his muzzle. "I- er, do you think I could keep him? I, eh, I kind of liked his looks when he was here for the tour, and.. I wouldn't mind having a pretty pet like that. He could hang around here with me and not be in the way.." Mat trailed off with the worry of rejection.

"Well now. I didn't take you for the type, seeming so solitary and neat here," mused Bryan, "but of course what you do on your own time is none of my business. How'd you take care of him and keep him fed? It'll be almost like a roomie when it comes to expenses. Heh, minus clothing of course."

Mat smiled shyly, "Yes, true. I am by myself for a lot of the time. I guess that's why a pet seems like a good idea for company. He's not going to be too needy or high maintenance. And, er, if I keep him around here at work, perhaps he can be paid off in installments if I rent him back to you-- I mean to us, as an ongoing subject? Over the next, mmm.." he said, checking the terminal for prices of bought pets, "Over the next six to nine months of any type of therapy ought to do it. After that, I'll have to see about feeding him. Maybe he'll be sent downstairs weekly to pay for his food bill if I keep him here at work?"

Bryan couldn't help but smirk slightly at how cute the little fox looked when asking for something for once instead of just being the efficient administrator. "I guess you've got it all figured out. Okay by me, I can do with having a consistent subject to work on for the foreseeable future, and I don't think it's much of a conflict of interest since you'll be buying him as a private owner. You get to pick his colors and paint him whatever species you like, and you should start spending time with him in his cell during the evenings when he's the most lucid, so that he associates you with owner. Mind you, if training him takes too much time from your work, you'll have to pay off extra with him for the overtime poor Phil gets to put in."

The fox smiled broadly and extended his paw. "Deal! I'll do the paperwork now to buy him and lease him back, then go see him as soon as business hours end. Thanks, doc. I'll take real good care of him." He was positively bubbling with delight over that cute wolf he saw, now going to be his. If he felt like it, he could even paint the pet's suit to have markings similar to what had been there while Ricky still had his fur.

~ ... and there's where the peek into the new pet's life ends. ~