Wouldn’t it be nice if your dog listened when you asked them to be quiet?
Well, one Japanese dog owner has trained her pup to do just that – and we have to say the trick is pretty darn adorable.
Now, we have to admit that it’s unclear who the dog owner is and what the exact circumstances are surrounding the video, but it appears to be from a Japanese television show that aired an interview nearly a decade ago.
This is Mame, a sweet Shiba Inu:
The most viral version of Mame’s video is from 2011 and has been viewed over 11 million times.
Wondering what the fuss is about?
Well, first of all, Shiba Inu’s are notoriously hard to train. They’re a stubborn breed that tends not to respond well to commands that don’t make much sense to them. Sit and stay are sometimes all you can get out of them.
But not everyone agrees:
“Shiba’s aren’t really hard to train, they learn and remember so fast. I think they just choose when they want to obey, argued one commenter.”
Fair enough.
They’re also super cute.
But what’s truly impressive is that the owner of Mame has managed to install volume control – of a sort – on her dog.
Mame’s owner starts by asking the dog to bark, which is a trick in itself (but one a dog it usually all-to-happy to perform).
The dog lets out a nice, loud, healthy bark in response.
Then she asks, “Is this how you bark?”
Yep! Mame barks again.
Mom then says, “you can bark a little softer, right?”
Now, this is where we’d expect yet another bark of the same sort (or a dog to get bored and walk away).
But Mame does manage to tone it down a little – enough to make it amusing.
But the real cuteness overload comes when she praises the pup and then asks Mame to bark even more softly.
It’s as if the dog knows how to bark-whisper. The noise Mame lets out is hilarious – and it’s not often we laugh out loud at a video.
The audience is in hysterics as well.
Mame has mastered the indoor voice better than some humans.
“You’re so cute, so cute,” the good doggo’s owner reply.
And, of course, plenty of YouTubers were amused that whoever posted the video decided to subtitle the dog.
“Thank you for subtitling the dog, I don’t have to guess what it’s trying to say,” someone joked.
Mame gets lots of praise and a treat for showing off the impressive trick – and it’s well-deserved!
While commenters were asking about how they might get their dogs to do this, the answer is the same as it would be for many other tricks – use treats!
Using commands gently and rewarding dogs for good actions are the key to successful training (punishment is never a successful way to train a dog). Some suggested starting out by teaching the “bark” command and then “softer” or “quiet,” while others said it was important to reward the dog and repeat the word whenever a quiet bark emerged.
Whatever works for your dog, just remember that using a friendly voice and a reward system are the keys.
And while this trick may not come as easily as “sit” or “stay,” it’s clearly not impossible!
Be sure to scroll down below to see Mame’s moment of television stardom that’s still going viral on social media.
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