Praying dog increases temple attendance

Conan, a two-year-old Chihuahua, joins in the daily prayers at a Buddhist temple in Japan where he is the pet in residence. Since he joined the prayers, attendance has risen by 30%.

Joei Yoshikuni, the temple priest, said that it took Conan only a few days to imitate the motions of praying.

He would like for Conan to meditate, but “it’s not like we can make him cross his legs.” The story

Comments

[cube]

Dog satori = treats. Who knew? :-)

[Matt Urdan]

Hey Jan,

I saw this on AOL. Very funny! Pretty amazing as well. Hey, I've been posting regular blog entries every day for over a week now....have you stopped by at all?

Hope you had a great holiday weekend!

[Diamond Emerald-Eyes]

Attendence has risen as they come to see the dog do tricks. Who knew. Perhaps they should forgo the praying completely and just do dog tricks.

[Kathryn]

That is fabulous--and one more reason why I love Buddhism.

Ari tries to tell me she is meditating when she hops up onto the human bed. I tell her you're not supposed to snore when trying to achieve enlightment. We're at an impasse.

[Cooper]

You have such cute stories here. I especially like this praying dog because that's something I can't do. I added you to my blog roll. Cooper

[jackie]

and we don't need to worry about him abusing little boys..

[Sling]

The Japanese have a particular reverence for dogs.
There is a statue of an Akita in the Hong Kong train station,dedicated to their loyalty.
This was a great story jan!

[Therese]

I'm just curious...the attendance has gone up 30%...but are those new human or canine visitors? ;)

[Coll]

How cute is that !!

[Chrissy]

Wow! In my years living and teaching in Japan, I had never been lucky enough to see a praying Chihuahua! ;) How cute is that?

[saintlover]

That's soo cute!

[bunny]

You know, Daisy does that! She gets up on her hind legs and puts her paws together in a firm grasp. But only when she wants food, of course! ;-)