A dog owner claims her extraordinary cocker spaniel could be the first in the world to have mastered playing hopscotch. Owner Emily Anderson captured incredible footage showing three-year-old Leo completing an entire hopscotch grid - hopping and landing on two feet with impressive co-ordination.
The 31-year-old dog trainer has already taught clever Leo to paint with a brush, play tennis and even perform CPR, but claims his latest feat even caught her by surprise and is his 'hardest trick yet'. Ahead of summer, Emily grabbed some foam hopscotch numbers from a discount store and laid them out in their training room, before gradually adding numbers each week as Leo hop, skip and jumped along the outdoor children's game.
Emily says she has not seen any other dog master hopscotch the way Leo has - as while some footage shows another dog trying it, the dog is only moving on cue rather than playing it himself and does not do the full 10 steps of a traditional hopscotch board.
Leo's video has now attracted more than 270,000 views, 16,100 likes and 105 comments - with many followers asking her how she managed such a complex new trick.
Emily, from Aberdeen, Scotland, said: "It's the hardest trick he's learnt so far. It was the longest it's ever taken me to do anything. It was a couple of months. It's definitely the most difficult one I've done with him.
"The first time I recorded it and saw it back, I thought 'what the hell?' I didn't think it was possible but yet again, he's amazed me.
"This is one most dogs can't master because it's really hard. I have searched and I haven't seen another dog do it the way Leo does it.
"I think an Australian Shepherd does four [numbers], so only half of what Leo does. It is cued and he's waiting for the cues.
"Leo can do it without the cues now. He's just like 'shut up and let me do it'."
Emily claims she uses clicker training to help her intelligent pooch pick up new tricks, before rewarding him with his normal meals and the occasional treat. Emily said: "I'm always looking for new ideas and Leo is definitely at his happiest when he's learning something new.
"He just loves it. It makes him so happy.
"I was in a shop trying to find stuff for his painting when I saw the hopscotch mat. I never, ever thought I'd set him up and he'd complete the sequence.
"It was a set of 10 number mats. I never even thought we'd get to 10 - I just planned to get to five or six because we were struggling for so long.
"But once he had the sequence of feet and limp, he got into the rhythm of it.
"He gets a treat at the end. It's all done by clicker training. When he hears the clip, it ends the behaviour then he gets the reward.
"We train so much, if he had treats all the time it'd make him sick. He mainly works for his meals.
"It's a really fun way of using his daily food allowance."
Since posting on TikTok to Leo's followers, Emily claims amazed fans have been messaging her asking about her technique.
She even claims no other dog has done the trick as well as Leo. Emily said: "I've had loads of messages about his trick - more than a normal new video.
"People have been asking how we do it. I never thought we'd get it as good as we got it."
