A Fateful Meeting
One day an old lonely man bought himself a dog and wanted to teach him some helpful tricks. As he had problems with his back, he wanted his dog to lift his walking stick every time he unintentionally dropped it and give it to him. At first, the dog didn't understand what his owner wanted from him and onlylooked at him with its eyes full of sorrow. After a multitude of attempts, the man just grabbed the dog and put the stick into its mouth. The dog sat and lifted its head to see the man's eyes. He took the stick from the dog and gave it a tasty bone.
A few day passed. The man was sitting in a chair in his garden and reading a book when he heard someone shouting, "Give me my umbrella and do it fast!" A few moments later his dog was standing near him with a full mouth of umbrellas and walking sticks. And quite a few people were standing outside the gate with angry faces. The man quickly returned all the sticks andumbrellas to their owners and promised to teach his dog better. "Don't worry about it," one woman said, "I will be happy to see this cute little dog one more time." The man looked at her with a smile on his face.

Uncle Jack's retirement began with a gift from his beloved daughter - a puppy, meant for entertaining and serving the old man. The problems started from the very beginning though.
"Up!"
No reaction.
"Up!"
No reaction.
Uncle Jack was on the verge of kicking this creature out of his backyard! Bailey looked up at his owner with doe eyes and whined confused. Jack gave in and tried the carrot and stick approach, giving Bailey a bone each time he lifted up the wooden stick. Jack had been injured at work, therefore couldn't walk normally without support. Hooray! Bailey finally wrapped his furry head around the command and could perform it succesfully! Not to mention this was the only command he could perform. Months went by quite peacefully until this morning. Jack, as usually, let Bailey out for a walk in their neighbourhood. Someone's children were playing marbles in the sandbox, constantly repeating "Up!" or "Down!" whenidentifying each others' number of balls. That was a huge mistake. Bailey reacted to every word and collected all sticks he saw. Followed by a crowd of disturbed by-passers, Bailey brought the sticks to Jack.
"A bone for each, I guess..." murmured poor Jack.

Now I was afraid this incident might turn my only stalwart supporter against me.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore