Just as useful as the regular kind.

Conan would never meditate like that. He needs sword in front of him, and to bark out "...to hear the lamentations of their women" in an Austrian accent.....

Actually - I expected him to look differently - that is a different Chihuahua than I am familiar with (I never like the little rodent-dogs myself), and that one reminds me of my sheltie mix. I do like the refreshing honesty of the monk - many others might give some "This is a Sign!" type stuff. I guess dogs do have Buddha nature (although I still think the better one is - Do cows have Buddha-nature? Moo (Mu).

Ha! I saw the picture earlier and the nostalgia was instantly thick. Why, there's ol' Pete!

You see, my father alway had a good stock dog, and ol' Pete was one he put on the job about '64. Border collie. Lots of willingness and energy even if easily distracted by the odd jack rabbit. When ol' Pete was about three he didn't show up for two days and it was winter. Ol' Pap was pretty worried. The dog made it home on the third day, limping and leaving blood in the snow. It was obvious that he had gotten both front paws caught in a trap. He'd gotten loose by leaving most all of his toes. Oh, Dummy Dawg!

Pap didn't think it was worth it but he took the dog to the vet anyhow. The doc got right to work and cleaned things up and bound up Pete's feet. He told Pap that the remaining pad (think of the heel of your hand) would grow over the wounds, if they healed. They healed. The pads grew to form a makeshift shock absorber on the dog's stumps. Ol' Pete got better. In fact, he became a brand new dog in some ways.

He adopted a tripedal mode of locomotion. Because his stumps didn't have the advantage of toes connected to tendons, muscles and bone, his fore legs hit the ground pretty hard, transmitting a lot of shock the remaining bones. So he kept one up under his chest and at a trot or lope could keep up with any dog his age. Whenever the stump in use got sore or encountered a sharp stone he would just swap with the reserve limb, right in stride. He also had a bit of a rake to his posture, his shoulders below his tail. He looked pretty sharp.

He also learned to walk on his hind legs with a great deal of control. My father gave him some initial encouragement but ol' Pete made up the rest. Of course, he took to sitting upright on his haunches, if for no other reason than to see more clearly. If he sat in the normal dog posture his head was lowered and tipped down such that he had to crane his neck to get a good look around.

When he sat up like that there was a distinct illusion of Pete holding his paws together as if in worship. I understood the cause soon enough. Pete held his front legs just the same as he did when he had paws but there were no paws hanging down at an angle, giving the illusion that his forelegs met paw to paw instead of nearly wrist to wrist. Add some long collie hair, a silly dog grin with one ear up and the tableau is complete. I guess ol' Pete was just thanking god for everything.

BTW, ol' Pete and ol' Pap are real, that did happen to the dog and both lived well until they died.

...has always maintained the original authors of the Bible were dyslexic and they really mean 'praise Dog'.

"...sitting up on his hind legs and putting his front paws together before the altar."

Around here we call that 'begging'. Oh, I guess that works for the humans on their knees too, huh?
mike