Uplifted Animal/Playing With

Basic Trope: Animals given humanoid intelligence and/or form.
Straight: Rover the Dog is given human like intelligence and speech.
Exaggerated: Rover is given near perfect humanoid form, making him a a Petting Zoo Person. He changes his name to Roger.
- Rover is lured into a room by Mad Scientist Alice and is sprayed with a gas. Rover gains thumbs, becomes bipedal and plantigrade. He is then compelled to put on a t-shirt, shorts, and a pair of boots that were left in the room by Alice.
Justified: This story is set in the far future.
Inverted: Herman the Human asks to be turned into a furry, because he's part of the Furry Fandom.
Subverted: They always were that smart- it turns out that all the procedure does is modify their vocal chords so they can speak.
Double Subverted: That's what the uplift consists of.
Parodied: Rover may look like a handsome furry but he retains a lot of his unsanitary dog habits, like eating messily from a bowl, digging holes in the backyard...rolling around in garbage - because they couldn't change Rover himself, or the way his brain works.
Averted: It works by magical means.
- The writers find a different way of showing off science.
- Humans turn into furries instead.
Discussed: "I really like Rover now that he's our Captain!" "I liked him better when he was a dog."
Conversed: "So in this show Animals are turned to people through science, I wonder what happens if someone eats a Hamburger in front of a Cow-Person?"
Played for Laughs: Rover is easily distracted from his duties by a tossed tennis ball or a squirrel - see Parodied, the same reason applies.
Played for Drama: Uplifted Animals are NOT equal members of society they are treated as less than slaves by their human masters, Rover their leader risks his life daily trying to liberate them. It takes a Heel Face Turn from The President's Son to liberate them.