Give a four-year-old boy a puppy, and then say that he alone is responsible for training it. Sounds like a disaster in the making, right? Not so for Lincoln Ball, who found the best way to train his new pup in our internet-addled age — show the puppy YouTube videos of good dog behavior.
According to ABC News, Daniel and Tasha Ball have never owned a dog before, and probably didn’t want to be stuck taking care of a pet that was meant for Lincoln. They suggested he look up training videos on YouTube and study them, but then Lincoln decided to just show these videos to the dog. Who knows if this method has actually worked, but Tasha did post a photo of this training method on Facebook, where it went viral.
Above is the absolutely adorable photo of the Saint Bernard puppy watching — rapt with attention — as Lincoln holds up an iPad of the YouTube training videos in question.
Even better, Lincoln is pretty much allergic to “everything outside,” especially pollen, but weirdly, not dogs. As his father explains:
“The allergy doctor said half-jokingly, ‘Well there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is you’re allergic to everything outside. The good news is you’re not allergic to pets. You could get a puppy,'” he said.
Bet these parents are thanking the allergist for that “joke.” Still, this is a great idea; I’m going to do this to stop my cat from trying to hang off my right arm by her teeth.
(Via ABC News)