This is the hilarious moment a springer spaniel desperately asked a statue to throw a stone for him by repeatedly tapping its leg.

Ellie Byrne had taken her dog PJ for a walk along the promenade in Kilkee, Ireland, when they stumbled across a sculpture of Irish actor Richard Harris.

Adorable footage – which has been viewed more than 225,000 times – shows the nine-year-old spaniel staring at a small stone at the statue’s foot, having dropped it there hoping the ‘human’ would play.

Despite picking the pebble up and dropping it closer to the statue and then tapping at Harris’ leg and foot, unfortunately for PJ no playtime was forthcoming.

Ellie said: “He’s just a hilarious dog. So nothing surprises me about his antics. He’s the goodest boy ever.

“Sometimes I think he’s as thick as mince but he has a real understanding of language too.

“He would have stayed there all day hoping Richard would throw the stone for him, had I not finally distracted him with a treat.

“He does have previous with trying to play with sculptures. There’s a statue of the late legendary Irish traditional musician Willie Clancy just up the road from Kilkee and he has tried to get him to play too.”