SANDPOINT — Family game nights are a lot of fun.

Sitting around the table, playing cards or Trivial Pursuits, or maybe a cutthroat game of Monopoly. Fan favorites, according to ranker.com, include Battleship, Scrabble, dominoes, and Jenga as well as checkers and chess, Apples to Apples, Sorry and Clue and a host of others.

For a Cleveland, Ohio, family, it doesn't matter which game they are playing, their 4-year-old German shepherd Anya gets in on the fun. According to goodnewsnetwork.org, the playful pup uses her teeth to gently pick up the piece to take part in just about any classic family game her people are playing that night.

“Anya never fails to amaze us,” said Lori Knoble, who uses treats to allow the dog to choose which square she wants in Tic-Tac-Toe.

Knoble and her husband, John, got Anya from a local brewers when she was just 3 months old.

One day during quarantine this spring, the story reports that the couple was looking for a way to keep themselves entertained, so they set up the Jenga game in its tower of wooden blocks.

“There she was, ready to play along—without any training, she seemed to just figure out what to do," Lori Knoble said in the story. “She saw me playing, went to grab a block, and managed to keep the tower upright—all so casually.”

Amazed, the couple made a video of the talented pup grabbing a loose block and carefully pulling it out with her teeth before placing it on the coffee table. She then turns to her opponent and waits for them to make a move.

But Jenga isn't the only game Anya likes to play. According to the story, the German shepherd is up for just about any game and the couple said they were amazed that Anya seems to understand how to play and how much she enjoys taking part.

It's just another sign of how much our pets are true members of our family.

Do you have a beloved cat or dog — or bunny, chicken, lizard or pet spider? Or maybe you are into horses or goats or snakes as pets? Whether your furry best friend is a cat or a dog or something else altogether, why not donate to the Sandpoint Lions Club's Toys for Tots program and help another pet's person have a merry Christmas this year.

Generous donations are just starting to come in, with $150 of the $50,000 goal set by the Sandpoint Lions Club to help make Christmas merry for the community’s youth.

The Toys for Tots program provides free new toys for children living in the Lake Pend Oreille School District, from Sandpoint to Clark Fork and all points in-between. A Christmas dinner for the family is also provided. If you know someone, or need help yourself, the Lions are taking applications for the 2020 Toys for Tots program.

Applications are being accepted — more than 40 have been received already. The forms are available at the Lions Den, 609 S. Ella St., Sandpoint, on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; online at the Sandpoint Lions Facebook page, facebook.com/SandpointLionsClub; or at Bonner Community Food Bank, 1707 Culvers Drive, Sandpoint. The deadline to submit an application is Monday, Dec. 14.

Masks are required to enter the Lions Den building or those dropping them off may also place them into the red box next to the door.

Toys may be dropped off at the Bonner County Daily Bee, 310 Church St., Sandpoint; Farmhouse Restaurant, 477227 U.S. 95, Ponderay; Columbia Bank — Sandpoint branch, 414 Church St.; and Ponderay branch, 300 Kootenai Cutoff Road; Walmart, 476999 U.S. 95, Ponderay; and North 40, 477181 U.S. 95, Ponderay.

There are a host of coin jars around the community where spare change can be donated. In addition, monetary donations may be dropped off at both branches of Columbia Bank and the Bonner County Daily Bee during normal business hours. Donations may be mailed to the Sandpoint Lions Club, Box 414, Sandpoint, ID 83864.

Donations made by check are preferred. Be sure to include a note with your check indicating that it is a Toys for Tots donation. If you wish to make an anonymous donation, please include a note. If the donation is being made in someone’s name, be sure to also include a note.

Information: Sandpoint Lions Club, 208-263-4118

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee. com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.