Back in June, a groundbreaking study confirmed what all dog owners already know: our canine besties are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Sure, they might get their heads stuck in chairs sometimes, and they chase their own tails. But they can also be trained to do, well, just about anything—including creating fine art.
Case in point: this is Hunter, a 5-year-old Shiba Inu who lives in Alberta, Canada, with his owners, Kenny Au and Denise Lo.
Hunter is a very intelligent pup who loves learning new tricks, so his humans decided to see how far they could push his abilities.
"We had a blank space on our wall and we were looking for things to put up on it," Au told HuffPost. "Because Hunter is such a calm, careful and responsive dog, my wife figured he'd be able to learn the brushing motions to create some kind of memento for us. We were really surprised by the results."
Indeed, his abstract impressionism makes Kandinsky look like a joke. Dogs are known to be highly emotional intelligent, and if the purpose of art is to make people feel something, then Hunter is a bone-a-fide artist.
And the best part is that he absolutely loves his new calling, and will bark and stare at his humans demanding a brush so he can share his soul with the world.
"When he first learned it, he wanted to do it all the time," said Au. "But we make sure we switch things up often so he doesn't overdo himself or get bored. With painting, we've incorporated it into his daily routine and he seems to love having a job. It makes him more calm throughout the day."
Au shared a photo of the master at work on Reddit, where it promptly went viral. Afterwards, they created an Instagram page for him as well as an online store on Etsy where his work is sold for around $38 per piece. According to the page, he's sold 130 paintings in the last year, which means he's earned almost $5,000 so far solely from his craft. Not bad for a beginner!
His reviews are excellent as well, with some referring to his work as "modern sheeb art."
And if you don't believe that Hunter is the one who actually creates the pieces, there's video evidence:
And for more great dog stories, see why Twitter Can't Stop Cracking Jokes About These Turtleneck-Wearing Dogs.
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