Dogs are people’s best friends, to paraphrase King Frederick of Prussia, and this video of a pooch playing Jenga demonstrates that sentiment perfectly. This Australian Shepherd (who’s possibly mixed with a Border Collie), has enough grace and focus to match any human game participant we’ve ever seen, and her brick-pulling skills are only the tip of the KONG toy.
Holy crap, this is incredible: A dog playing Jenga. Turn-taking, fine motor control, apparent understanding of the aim of the game. I would not have guessed a dog could do this. pic.twitter.com/cewL7wmaK5
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) December 29, 2019
The shockingly brilliant canine brain featured in this clip (via Buitengebieden on twitter) is named Secret, and she’s the pet, friend, and presumable confidant—considering that name—of Seattle teenager, Mary Peters. Peters has set up an Instagram account for herself and Secret, my_aussie_gal, and nearly every one of their videos features the frisky, furry genius pulling off some kind of feat that will make you stop and say: Dogs can do that?!
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On top of playing Jenga, Secret can also dance, sled down hills, do yoga, dispose of her own garbage, place Christmas ornaments on a tree, mop, play the drums, draw, paint, ride a scooter, and help build the Dyson Spheres necessary for the development of a Type II Kardashev civilization. OK, there’s no proof of that last ability, but if there’s any dog who could pull that off, it’d be Secret. Just check out the little brainy beauty as she performs a trust fall with Peters. And as a fun thought experiment, imagine doing this with a cat—you’d have to have bags of donor blood on hand considering the scratching that would ensue.
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There isn’t a ton of information regarding Secret or Peters online aside from their Instagram account, and various tidbits of unverifiable information from a handful of news outlets like The Sun, so it’s hard to say exactly how Peters managed to teach Secret to be such a wunderdoggo. Although she does note on her Instagram that she’s an advocate of R+ and clicker training. For those wondering, according to Dogster, R+ is a form of positive reinforcement training; “clicker” refers to the use of a handheld contraption that makes a click sound, and is also generally used for positive reinforcement training.
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Even though Secret is obviously a maximum-level smarty paws, it should be noted that Australian Shepherds are, for the most part, some of the smartest dogs out there. According to the American Kennel Club, “Aussies are remarkably intelligent…” and are perfect for anybody “looking for a brainy, tireless, and trainable partner for work or sport….” They do love to be very active though, so if Secret has inspired you to make an Australian Shepherd part of your family, make sure you’re ready to keep up. Or at the very least have some of these back-flipping quadruped bots on hand to help make things interesting.
What do you think about Secret and her mad Jenga-playing skills? Are you desperate to pick up an Australian Shepherd after watching these clips, or do you prefer your pup be more of the derp variety? If your dog is as brilliant as this one, have it write out your opinions in the comments!
Feature image: Lyn Figura
