An intelligent dog can play the xylophone quickly and solves complex brain training puzzles.
Sometimes the Cocker Spaniel is so speedy at figuring the puzzles out, often learning tricks in only 20 minutes, that his owner has to film him slow motion to work out how he does it.
Emily Anderson, Aberdeen shared a video in which Leo can be seen performing his clever tricks at will.
Emily Anderson (from Aberdeen) with Leo, her smart dog. Leo plays the xylophone. She also solves complicated brain training puzzles.
Ms Anderson is a trainer for dogs and shared this clip in which Leo stacks a tower with just his mouth.
As his owner directed him, he then set about creating a bead-maze using his nose.
Leo, a two-year old dog, hears his master say “music”, prompting him to grab a small mallet to drag across the activity table’s toy xylophone.
Leo stacks multicolored rings on top a inflated cone by his command
Leo is then seen stacking rings higher on an inflate cone, just as the dog trainer tells him to.
Ms. Anderson (aged 30) said: “Everyday he completely amazes me. “He’s an amazing dog, I won’t have another Leo.
“The amazing things he does surprise me. They are not possible, but he can master them in twenty minutes.
“I have been teaching him every day since the eight-week mark when he came home. His half-sister Phoebe was already my wife so I met him at three days of age.
According to his owner, Leo the Cocker Spaniel learns tricks often in 20 minutes.
“The vast majority of his toys are toys for children. It’s always a challenge to find something for him. For him, baby toys are great.
“With the beads maze. I had seen it in a doctor’s reception. And thought, “Leo could do this with his nose.”
“I was looking for something for a friend’s baby and came across this activity table in Argos.
“I believed the sticks to be solid, but they were wobbly so I wasn’t sure he could do it. It took him 20 minutes to complete the task.
“I needed to slow-motion film the entire thing so that I understood how he did it. He holds it in his lower jaw, then moves his tongue to move the object.
Leo slots wooden rings by a pole attached to a small-sized playset
Leo (left) with Phoebe, his half-sister who “prefers weaving through target’
Leo can also inflate rubber rings with his nose and mouth before stacking them up in the right order.
Following Leo’s March 2020 death, Ms Anderson increased her training.
She stated that she thought he was sleeping underneath my desk at work one afternoon, but that he didn’t get up when I asked him to move.
“Leo” had fallen into shock, so I took him to the emergency veterinarian. Initial thought was Lyme Disease, but it turned out to be giardia.
“It shouldn’t make dogs this sick but Leo had taken too much and it put him in shock. It took him to hospital for a few days.
Toys by Clever Leo can be designed especially for babies or children.
“Incredibly, he was able to recover physically in a matter of days. However, it had a profound effect on his mental health and caused him anxiety.
“We began to return to normal, and then we entered lockdown. He was so sad that he suddenly found himself at home.
“He wasn’t the happy, healthy dog he was before. I realized I needed to do something for him to lift his depression.
Leo takes out a mallet to play his toy xylophone, when the owner asks.
He said, “I knew that he enjoyed his training. So I concentrated on that and that’s how it all started.
“The first thing that we did was to roll out a blanket, then put the rings on top. It just snowballed from there.”
Every week Ms Anderson will teach Leo a new trick and make them even more difficult.
Leo moves so fast that Ms Anderson had to record him doing tricks in slow motion occasionally
She explained that she taught her son how to place objects inside his mouth before he could stack them. Then he would drop the items into a basket.
“Gradually, his goal became smaller, and finally I convinced him to place the rings on the stack while I was still holding them. From start to finish, it took approximately a month.
“Some of the skills they use are similar, but on different objects. Leo loves to train and is so happy.
“He falls asleep after watching TV, then wakes up waving his tail.
Although Phoebe is willing to perform tricks in exchange for treats, her brain game skills are not as strong. Instead she enjoys weaving between targets.
It was also reported earlier this summer that Ms Anderson taught Leo how to win in Connect 4 and paint.
One of his pieces even sold for nearly £100 at a charity auction to a bidder in the US, according to the Daily Record.