This is a collab that brave kid and I worked on a little while ago(He had the initial idea and I wrote the script) which is the first in a series he and I will be working together on in the future(Pictures of this series' characters are also now available at my blog, the Keeper of the Fun blog). Please enjoy!(BTW brave kid, thank you very much for this story suggestion. I had a lot of fun working on this story with you, and I very much appreciate it. I look forward to writing future stories with you.) :)

It's a peaceable day in New York City. Deep within Shelter 17, Strudel and her squirrel assistants are hard at work, tinkering with the F.K.D, the device used to match puppies with their perfect person. Strudel pores over the instructions, "Now let's see, insert wire A into slot 1, then attatch part 4 to section D with AA screws..."

"Alwight." the squirrels squeak obligingly, as they work quickly. Unfortunately, they weren't being too careful, and end up crossing several wires, which causes the machine to crackle and spark.

"Oh dear," the dachshund exclaims. "There must have been a short somewhere!" She frantically pushes buttons and switches wires, but nothing works and...

BWA-BOOOOOOOOM! A loud explosion sounds and a bright light flashes as Strudel finds herself being sucked into a vortex.

Moments later, the dachshund wakes up on a city street. "Ughh..." she groans, as she climbs to her feet in a daze. "Where am I?" She examines the scenery all around her. "Hmm, this still seems to be our city, but it looks...different somehow." She then turns and looks at her reflection in a nearby store window and gasps; she's standing on her hind legs like a person and wearing clothes!

Strudel's new outfit consists of a white lab coat, a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, and a tool belt filled with a number of gadgets(Several of which she recognized as ones she'd been having trouble with before). The dachshund slowly backs away in shock. "W-what's happened to me? What is this place?!"

She looks down at her front paws and is also amazed to see that she now has fingers and opposable thumbs; she wiggles her fingers and walks around on her back legs for a little bit. "Hmmn, well this feels different. It may take some getting used to."

At that moment, Strudel hears a voice behind her say, "Excuse me, are you lost?" She whips around to see a 9 year old boy and girl, both with red hair and wearing yellow shirts and dark blue jeans, on bikes behind her.

Without thinking of what might happen next, Strudel replies, "Oh, please don't worry, dears, I'm quite fine."

"Oh, we're glad," the girl says happily. "If you had been lost, though, there's a pound down the street a few blocks. They're very good at helping lost dogs and cats, and everyone's quite friendly there."

"Hmm," Strudel muses. "They sound quite nice; I'd like to pay them a visit." Could they possibly mean Shelter 17? she thinks.

"We'd like to warn you about the other pound across the street from it, though," adds the boy. "The cats and dogs there hardly ever find good homes, and the staff are awfully mean!"

"Ooh," the dachshund shudders. "Thank you for telling me." She half wondered if this pound might be Shelter 13; it certainly fit the description.

"You're quite welcome," the kids then turn around and begin biking away, waving as they go. "'Bye!"

"Goodbye, dears." Strudel waves goodbye to the kids as they leave; it wasn't until then that the dachshund notices a sparkling blue energy surrounding the kids. She then is overcome by a strange sensation, upon which she notices the same energy emanating from her.

"Fascinating," she muses. "It seems that in this universe, there's an energy shared by people and dogs that allows them to talk to each other! It definitely is worth researching. And speaking of research," she then looks down the road. "That pound the kids mentioned is also worth investigating." Strudel begins to traipse down the road, in the direction of the pound.