The shaggy dog
Dave Douglas is a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County who is prosecuting social studies teacher and activist Justin Forrester for firebombing the pharmaceutical corporation Grant and Strictland. Forrester denies this, but claims that Grant and Strictland has been engaging in illegal animal experimentation. This distances Douglas from his daughter Carly, one of Forrester’s students.
The greedy geneticists working for Mr. Lance Strictland, led by Dr. Kozak, have stolen a 300-year-old sacred dog named Khyi Yang Po from a Tibetan monastery. The scientists determine that Khyi Yang Po’s genetic sequence, when isolated and put into a vaccination, invades and alters the cells and DNA of a victim.
When Dave returns from work, he takes the dog out in the garage, then the dog runs to get the newspaper. The dog gives him his newspaper, but as Dave reaches for it, Khyi Yang Po bites him on the hand. The saliva goes into Dave’s blood and DNA, infecting him.
In the ongoing trial, Forrester testifies seeing the animals behaving like dogs, which sparks Dave’s suspicions about Grant and Strictland. When his dog-like behavior annoys the judge, Dave is removed from the case. Hidden in the laboratory, Dave witnesses Dr. Kozak injecting company president Lance Strictland with a drug that will paralyze him for several months, giving Kozak enough time to usurp control of the company. After viewing security cameras, Kozak and his minions realize that somehow Dave became an exact copy of Khyi Yang Po.
When Dave comes home, still in his canine form, he overhears a conversation between Carly and Josh that he and Rebecca may be splitting up. After hearing this, Dave then knocks over a Scrabble game and uses the letters to reveal and clarify all the past events to them. But when Dave gets out of the house, he is captured by Kozak’s minions.
Dave is taken to the lab to be euthanized, but Kozak has a court summons, and must deal with Dave later. Right before he exits, Kozak mocks Dave in canine form and is bitten in the process. He then begins to exhibit the same issues Dave had at the beginning of his adventure; Dave had successfully transferred the gene sequence into Kozak.
In the courtroom, Dave calls Kozak back to the stand and tries to get him to admit what he has done, but Kozak manages to hide his secret. Thinking quickly, he mocks Kozak by implying he was working under Strictland’s shadow, and angers him. The two begin growling at each another, and the judge, exasperated by Dave’s canine behavior, orders the bailiff to remove him. Kozak is now arrested. The pharmaceutical company is returned to Strictland, the mutant animals are protected, and Dave is able to spend more time with his family. The movie ends with the family vacationing in Hawaii, where Khyi Yang Po is seen surfing. Dave’s canine habits slightly remain, as he catches a Frisbee with his teeth in the closing scene.
