- Border collie Alexis has been playing Connect Four since she was 18 weeks old
- The clever pooch picks up the counters with its mouth before dropping them in
- At the end of the video Alexis wins the game by stacking four counters in a line
Amusing footage has emerged of a clever dog ‘beating’ her owner at a game of Connect Four.
Becky Jewsbury, 27, from North Wales, has been training her border collie, Alexis, since she was just 18 weeks old.
In the video the clever pooch, now three, can be seen picking up each individual counter before dropping them into the Connect Four grid.
Alexis the three-year-old border collie plays Connect Four against her owner
Alexis with her owner Becky Jewsbury who has been teaching her to play Connect Four since the dog was just 18 weeks old
Each time she does it, the hound is rewarded with a treat.
And eventually, by stacking four counters on top of each other, Alexis wins the game.
Ms Jewsbury said: ‘I taught the connect four trick using “take it/hold”, “nose targeting” and “drop” cues and then chained them together and shaped the behaviour by rewarding her each time she got closer to getting it right.
Ms Jewsbury taught Alexis to play Connect Four using “take it/hold”, “nose targeting” and “drop” cues
‘Tricks should always be fun for everyone involved, especially the dog so I only use reward based training methods.
‘Alexis is a clown and is crazy fun, but is very smart, keen to learn and eager to please.
‘She’s a typical collie who has endless amounts of energy and is always ready to go. She would spend all day dropping toys at my feet if I let her.’