An Auckland teen is considering a future as a full-time Youtuber after video he made teaching his dog to play Minecraft has gone viral.
Liam Thompson taught his Labradoodle Max to play the popular video game Minecraft with hilarious results.
The video has a staggering 6.7 million views so far.
The 19-year-old - who has more than 170,000 followers - had enjoyed previous success with a video teaching Max table manners.
"That got a great response so I thought I'd do something else with Max," he told YUDU.
"I wanted to do something a bit more challenging and I play Minecraft so I thought I'd teach him as well."
In the video Thompson introduces his canine friend before using Kiwi ingenuity to modify a standard keyboard to become doggy-friendly.
He uses large cardboard pads with only two keys remaining.
He then uses positive reinforcement of treats to teach Max how to 'walk' and 'destroy'' - two of the main moves in the interactive game.
The video took off and was picked up by LADbible - a video site with more than 50 million followers.
Now Thompson, who completed studies at Mt Albert Grammar in Auckland last year, is considering Youtube as a full time job.
"I did one day of an engineering degree before I figured it wasn't for me," he said.
"I have always made videos and I love doing it so I'll see if it's something I can do."
Thompson said he was realistic about the fickle nature of Youtube success but was also having a lot of fun.
With the right number of followers Thompson calculated the video could have earned him upward of $40,000.
He said he was "a bit late to the party" to make money off his latest video but had more ideas for his fast growing channel.
And some of the best ideas included Max.
Renowned animal behaviourist Mark Vette viewed the video and was impressed but said Thompson "had a little way to go" with his training skills.
"He'd find it a lot easier if he used a 'clicker' in training but it was very funny and entertaining," he said.
"It's really nice to see the positive bond between him and the dog."
In his 40 year career Vette has taught rescue dogs to fly and drive cars and trains everything from butterflies to elephants.
At the end of one video Thompson promises to teach his cat Frodo some tricks if he gets enough views.
Vette wished him luck.
"Animals like dogs, sheep and pukekoe are social animals so are easier to train," he said.
"Cats don't have the need to please so are a lot trickier."
