The Story of a Man and his Dog

One day, a man was walking along a deserted street in his town when came upon an abandoned puppy. Because he lived alone and was lonely and didn't enjoy being with other people, the man decided he'd take the puppy home for company.

"I'll feed him and give him a bed and he'll make me happy," the man thought.

As the puppy grew, the man saw that his dog needed exercise so he bought a leash and walked his dog down to the park near his house. As they strolled along, the dog explored his surroundings, sniffing along the lampposts and brick walls and going up to passers-by, tail a-wagging.

"No!" the man said, pulling sharply on the leash. "No!" The dog stopped, ears down and eyes wondering what he'd down wrong. The man didn't want his dog getting attached to other people. "He might up and run away," the man thought.

As they continued their walk, the man pulled sharply on the leash, choking the dog. Soon the dog learned not to go up to other people as they walked along. In fact, the dog learned that other people caused him pain so he would snarl at them to protect himself.  In this way, the dog got the reputation in the city for being a mean dog, and the man liked that because that meant no one would try to take him away.

One day, as they took their usual walk to the park, the man started feeling strange. He felt a tingling in his arm and fuzziness in his head. He made it to a bench and crumpled onto the seat. His dog sat on the ground next to him.

Passersby looked at the man and saw he was in distress but feared the snarling dog and so they did not come over to help him. Someone eventually called for an ambulance but when it arrived, the man was dead. Because the dog would not allow the ambulance workers near the man's body, animal control had to come and sedate the dog and take him away.

As the ambulance workers rolled the man's body away on the stretcher, they shook their heads. "If someone could have gotten to him sooner, he might still be alive," one of them said. And the other agreed.

The dog was taken to a shelter and after a few weeks was adopted by a family who wanted the dog even though they knew it would take a while to win his trust. "It will be worth it," they said. And it was.

The moral of the story: Those who are fearful and insecure oftentimes end up hurting themselves and not protecting themselves.