I decided to teach my dog, Woody, to put his paws together in "prayer hands" before receiving a treat. Why? Because I thought it would be adorable. Simply adorable. Woody gets several treats a day, and I figured that seeing him do “prayer hands” (or anjuli mudra in yoga terms) before each one would reliably offer me daily amusement. Plus, how entertaining for guests!
Where did I get this idea? Last week, Woody jumped up when he heard me rummaging in the fridge. I looked over, and there he was, on his hind legs with his paws together in prayer. “Adorable,” I thought. “Simply adorable. Wouldn’t it be great if he did that every single time?”
The problem is Woody is 10 years old, and this prayer-hands trick is a new one. You know the saying: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.
But maybe that saying itself ... needs to be taught a new trick. That’s what I thought, anyway, as I brought the pork-flavored mini bones out to the backyard and called, “Woody, come........