‘Crazy Smart’ Shih Tzu Puppy Uses Playpen as a Hamster Wheel to Roll Closer to Brother — Watch!

When a puppy named Tigo wanted to get closer to his big brother Payton, he didn’t let the fence stop him.

The resourceful pup used his pen like a hamster wheel, turning it repeatedly as he traveled toward Payton.

The dogs’ owners, Brian and Rachel Hunter of Savage, Minnesota, tell PEOPLE it was dinner time for the two Shih Tzus when Tig’s groundbreaking incident occurred. Tigo ate long before Payton, whom the couple has had for 14 years.

“Because he’s a puppy, he inhales his food, so we say, ‘Oh, we’re going to put him in his playpen just so Payton can finish because, being our little old man, he takes forever to eat,'” says Brian.

Brian — who documented both pets’ antics for their Instagram and Tiktok accounts (both @ShihTzusofSavage) — was filming Payton when he noticed Tig in the background rolling toward him.

Tigo and Payton.

Courtesy of Brian and Rachel Hunter

“It’s funny that Payton, if you watch the video, [Tigo] it doesn’t even bother him,” says Brian. “He’s just like, ‘Oh, whatever.’

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Rachel describes Tig as a “bundle of energy.”

“He’s crazy, crazy smart,” she says. “He can pick up on anything and everything very, very quickly. So I think he quickly realized, ‘Well, if I can’t jump through the top of this, I can just make it roll forward.'”

The couple welcomed Tig last fall after losing another dog, Rigby, last summer and wanted a new companion for Payton.

Payton, Brian says, is “super laid back.” “It’s also tucked away,” he adds. – He is a typical stubborn Shih Tzu.

Tigo.

courtesy of Brian and Rachel Hunter

“We’ll often call him our grumpy old man because Tigo will get in his face like, ‘Do you want to play?’ And he just won’t have anything to do with it,” adds Rachel.

When Payton was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March, the couple were told he might not live more than a few weeks. But after treating him, Brian says, “He just exceeded all of our expectations.” They are also thankful that it hasn’t changed his personality.

Despite their age difference, Rachel says Payton “handles puppy energy pretty well.”

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Payton.

courtesy of Brian and Rachel Hunter

When Tigo moved in, Brian says the pup was “really interested” in Payton.

“He would follow him everywhere, and Payton was just like, ‘Whatever,'” she recalls.

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“They were both downstairs on the couch and Tigo just wanted to snuggle,” she continues. “And his stunned look when Payton would sit there and let him snuggle up to him was just… He’d be so happy and excited.”

Brian says the response since posting the video on social media has been “pretty amazing.”

“The community has been great in terms of just thinking it’s silly and funny,” he says. “A lot of people say, ‘My Shih Tzu does the same thing. That would be my Shih Tzu.'”

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Source: HIS Education