Now, Jon loved his dog Sydney. But sometimes she stuck her nose into the places she shouldn't. And that's how Jon's stone disappeared.
Mostly, it was Jon's fault for leaving his bedroom door open and the stone out in full view. Big mistake there. Of course, Sydney was just a dog. There's no chance that she knew it was a wishing stone, not that she could use it even if she did know, since dogs can't talk. Sydney just saw something she could chew on, like one of her bones.
By the time Jon woke up the next morning, Sydney had already taken the stone and gone into the backyard, where she dropped it on the ground, probably meaning to bury it.
A few minutes later, the stone was picked up by a squirrel and taken up into a tree in the front yard. But it was more slippery than the squirrel could handle and it fell to the ground, just a few feet from the sidewalk that ran in front of Jon's house.
And a few minutes after that, the stone was picked up by ...