Lest anyone begin to think that Rudy’s four little legs are too firmly rooted in the material (thinking back on those New Year’s Resolutions), he is quick to point out that he spends a fair amount of time looking up.

I see…

His thoughts during these times are mostly private…

Come a little closer…

Kibble?

Are my legs too short? Or is the ground too close…

Not one to brag, he has been known to stare into space for entire minutes at a time. Sometimes there is a squirrel involved, but often there is nothing discernible.

The one-eyed stare…

This behavior had led some of us to conclude that Rudy is equally at ease with the seen and the unseen. How else can you explain such close scrutiny of the sidewalk when there’s nothing there?

Nothing visible, anyway.

I sense something…

If that’s not a spiritual practice, it would be hard to know what is.

Like most of his kind, Rudy can do a graceful downward dog practically in his sleep, but he is not content to stop there. Lately he has begun mastering more advanced yoga moves that involve both balance and manipulation (of a fairly unspiritual kind, it should be noted).  When the weather is especially cold, he will often swing along on three legs, and on one occasion, actually managed to spring around on two, like a weird little pogo stick.

Along these lines, but it’s nearly impossible to capture…

This, he has discovered, unleashes sympathy tinged with both admiration and suspicion, and a free ride in the arms of the semi-disgusted.

“It’s not about manipulation,” Rudy says sagely. “But a dog’s gotta do the right thing.” Clearly that makes almost no sense at all, but since the outcome has been so successful, Rudy seems to feel he’s onto something.

In summary, apart from:

1. Deep contemplation

Fenced in? Or fenced out…

2. Advanced yoga moves

Who says savasana is the hardest pose?

3. Perceptions of the unseen

Am I looking at you? Or through you…

there is a soulful look that comes into Rudy’s eyes, often, and without warning. It is a soft brown stare that feels like he’s patting us with his eyes, a look that could change the world.

I can read your mind…

There is, however, one thing that Rudy will never ever do, nor will he even entertain the notion. “I will not fast, nor will I make any pretense of it,” he says curtly, eyeing the empty dog dish with disdain.

The worst sight of all

Quite the opposite. Lately, Rudy has focused his laser-beam will on breaking all previous records. The stopwatch reveals an almost Olympic mastery of the dog dish, start to finish:

Beat that.

Once again, with barely the twitch of a lip, Sensei Rudy has imparted a lesson of supreme simplicity and truth: it is important to feed body as well as soul.

Half up and half down.