A second dog crumb...from Abu Dhabi

Monica Elkhalifa lives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. When her six-year-old Shiba Inu became impossible to entertain with long walks and toys, she taught him some new tricks. She says, "I just thought it would be fun to teach him a few numbers, just an exercise to keep him busy. I was overjoyed when he learned the number four. After that, he quickly learned five to ten. I had to develop new ideas to keep him mentally active and build on earlier lessons.

With a tap of his paw, Akira, who knows more than 90 words, can also do simple addition problems by pointing to the card with the correct answer. Shiba Inus are very clever and independent. Akira often looks behind the television to see where the people and animals are. He now trains five times a week, in ten minute sessions, and Monica says he looks forward to it and it's making him more calm. The next challenge is to master subtraction.