This remarkable cocker spaniel is spreading Christmas cheer by playing jingle bells, wrapping himself up like a present and even skipping with a piece of tinsel. Owner Emily Anderson has worked with three-year-old Leo in the run up to Christmas to learn a handful of impressive skills all themed around yuletide decorations.
The 31-year-old first taught Leo to play ping pong by hitting a ball with a Santa-themed bat before they mastered putting hoops on a plastic candy cane. Leo then went on to wrap himself up in a snowman blanket and proudly play jingle bells after learning to overcome a fear of loud noises.
But dog trainer Emily claims the intelligent mutt almost failed at tinsel tricks as the foil material kept tickling his noise and making him sneeze - before getting used to the metallic material and jumping it like a rope. Now Emily claims the 'amazing' pooch has even impressed her as she couldn't believe how quickly he perfectly the stunts.
Emily, from Aberdeen, Scotland, said: "We're releasing this to spread some Christmas cheer. Leo's amazing. He just loves it and the tricks just make people really happy. I have a bit of an obsession with finding things for Leo to do."
Emily has shared her own amazement at Leo's skill - after admitting she feared some of the tricks might be too difficult for the remarkable dog. Now she claims Leo has discovered a love of tinsel and also overcome his fear of loud noises by playing with bells.
Emily said: "I ordered the blow-up [candy cane] game online thinking it was way too difficult but 10 minutes later, he was doing it. I have no idea how he did it [so quickly]. He learnt to play tennis earlier in the year but when I put on the Christmas [picture] the racquet is less bouncy. He has to hit it harder to get the ball to go. It took him two or three training sessions to learn.
"With the Christmas blanket, he had rolled himself up in a plain blanket but he hadn't done it for years. I put the blanket on the floor and he remembered how to do it. With the hula hoop, I put the hoop down without tinsel and he did it. When I put the tinsel on, it tickled his nose.
"He spent two or three minutes lightly going up to the tinsel, then he'd sneeze and get very excited. He got really excited then when he realised he needed to push through the tinsel, he could still get the hoop.
"He also loves the skipping rope trick with the tinsel. Leo loves the jingle bells too. We started playing with those around Bonfire Night because he was a little worried about fireworks last year.
"In September and October we knew we needed to desensitise loud noises. He now has a really positive association with loud noises because he's in control of them. He'll be used to jingle bells in Christmas films now."
