Dogs usually spend their time chasing squirrels or sleeping in patches of sunlight. Peanut Butter the dog is different. This Shiba Inu, known affectionately as PB, didn’t just participate in a high-stakes gaming event; he actually beat a classic Nintendo game live on stage while thousands of people watched in disbelief. It happened at Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ) 2024. People weren't just surprised. They were floor-jawed.
You’ve likely seen the viral clips. A small dog, focused and calm, pressing buttons on a custom-made controller to navigate through Gyromite. It wasn't a trick of the camera. It wasn't a pre-recorded video or a hidden human player. This was a genuine exhibition of animal training and technical precision that merged the world of "man’s best friend" with the brutal, frame-perfect world of retro speedrunning.
How Peanut Butter the Dog Actually Played Gyromite
The game in question, Gyromite, was originally released for the NES in the mid-80s. It’s famous (or perhaps infamous) for its reliance on R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy. In the game, Professor Hector moves through a laboratory filled with Smicks—little blue monsters—and he can only progress if red and blue pipes are raised or lowered at exactly the right time. Usually, a human uses the second controller to move those pipes. Or, back in the day, the clunky R.O.B. unit did it.
Peanut Butter replaced the robot.
His owner, a speedrunner and YouTuber known as JSR_ (James), spent years working on this. It wasn’t an overnight "good boy" moment. It took thousands of hours of reinforcement. To make it work, JSR_ built a custom controller. It’s a large, flat wooden board with three giant colorful buttons: blue, red, and yellow. These buttons are mapped to the NES inputs.
The training relied on positive reinforcement. When JSR_ gave a command, Peanut Butter would press and hold a specific button. If the Professor needed to walk through a red gate, Peanut Butter held the red button. If a blue gate blocked the way, he hit the blue one. The complexity here is wild because Gyromite isn't just about pressing a button once. It’s about timing. It’s about holding the button long enough for the character to clear the obstacle but releasing it before a Smick crushes him.
Honestly, some humans struggle with the coordination required for this game. Peanut Butter did it while being bribed with small pieces of treats and the sound of a clicker.
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The Viral Moment at AGDQ 2024
Games Done Quick is one of the biggest charity events in the gaming world. It raises millions for organizations like Prevent Cancer Foundation and Doctors Without Borders. Usually, the "hype" is centered around a runner beating Elden Ring in 20 minutes or someone playing Super Mario blindfolded. In 2024, the hype was a dog.
When the run started, the Twitch chat was moving so fast it was unreadable. "POG," "PET THE DOG," and "GOOD BOY" flooded the screen. Peanut Butter sat on a chair, paws ready. JSR_ sat next to him, giving verbal cues and hand signals.
"Press! Hold! Good!"
Every time PB successfully cleared a level, the crowd went nuts. But it wasn't just about the spectacle. It was a "Game B" speedrun. In the speedrunning community, "Game B" is a specific mode. Peanut Butter and JSR_ completed the run in 26 minutes and 24 seconds. It’s a legitimate record in the category for a human-canine duo.
The Science of Canine Cognition in Gaming
We have to talk about how a dog’s brain handles this. Experts in animal behavior, like those from the Family Dog Project, often study how dogs follow human pointing and verbal cues. Peanut Butter isn't "playing" the game in the sense that he understands he is a Professor in a lab. He is performing a complex series of "chained behaviors."
He has learned that a specific sound or gesture from JSR_ equals "Press Blue." He then monitors JSR_’s reaction to know when to release. This requires an incredible amount of focus. Most dogs get distracted by a fly in the room. Peanut Butter stayed locked in for nearly half an hour.
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Why Gyromite?
You might wonder why they didn't play Nintendogs or something more thematic. It’s about the mechanics. Most NES games require a D-pad and buttons simultaneously. A dog’s paw isn't built for a D-pad. Gyromite is unique because the second player (or the robot) only needs to press two main buttons to control the gates. It’s the perfect technical entry point for a canine-human speedrun partnership.
Addressing the Skeptics
Whenever something this cool happens on the internet, people scream "fake." I get it. We live in the age of AI and deepfakes. But the Peanut Butter run was vetted. JSR_ has documented the training process for years on his YouTube channel. You can see the progression from PB just touching a button to PB understanding the duration of a press.
There were no wires attached to the dog. There was no one under the table. It was just a guy, his dog, and a very old Nintendo game. The beauty of the speedrunning community is its transparency. Everything is recorded, analyzed, and verified by moderators. Peanut Butter is the real deal.
What This Means for the Future of Pets and Tech
This isn't just a gimmick. It actually opens up some interesting conversations about "Enrichment 2.0" for working breeds like the Shiba Inu. Shibas are notoriously stubborn and highly intelligent. They need jobs. For Peanut Butter, his "job" is speedrunning.
We are seeing more tech developed for dogs. There are "FluentPet" buttons where dogs can "talk" by pressing buttons for "outside" or "food." Peanut Butter just took that logic and applied it to a 1985 platformer. It shows that the ceiling for animal-computer interaction is much higher than we thought.
Misconceptions About PB’s Training
One common mistake people make is thinking PB was "forced" to do this. If you watch the footage, his tail is wagging. He’s engaged. He’s getting a high-value treat every few minutes. In the world of professional dog training, this is called "shaping." You reward small movements until they turn into a complex action.
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Also, he doesn't play every day. It's a hobby. Just like some people take their dogs to agility courses or flyball, JSR_ takes Peanut Butter to the NES console.
Lessons From a Speedrunning Shiba
If a dog can learn to time gate-drops in a 40-year-old video game, it’s a pretty good reminder that we often underestimate what our pets are capable of when we actually put in the time to communicate with them.
Takeaways for dog owners and gamers alike:
- Consistency is everything: JSR_ didn't teach this in a weekend. It was years of micro-sessions.
- Adapt the interface: The dog didn't adapt to the controller; the controller was built for the dog. Accessibility matters in gaming, even for animals.
- Engagement over everything: The reason PB succeeded is that he wanted the reward and enjoyed the interaction with his owner.
- Watch the VOD: If you haven't seen the full AGDQ 2024 run, find it on YouTube. The tension during the final levels is genuine.
The legacy of Peanut Butter the dog isn't just a funny headline. He’s a pioneer. He’s the first dog to officially "finish" a game at a major speedrunning event. In a world of digital noise, seeing a dog and his human work together with that level of synchronicity is just... cool. Honestly, it’s the kind of wholesome content the internet was actually built for.
To see more of Peanut Butter’s progress or his other gaming attempts, you can follow JSR_’s updates on social media or watch the archived runs on the Games Done Quick official channels. There’s talk of other games being tested, though the limitations of a dog’s paw-eye coordination mean we probably won't see a Sekiro run anytime soon. But then again, with Peanut Butter, I wouldn't bet against it.