The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1881-07-15
TRAINING ANIMALS.
A snowman's Twcnty-seven Years Ex-
perience.

A Snowman's Twenty-Seven Years Ex-
perience.
"How long have you been in the tam
ing and training business?" asked a
Chicago Mvning Ne,rs reporter Of Willis
Cobb, whose dogs, monkeys, and steers
are so prominent feature of Sells
Bros. circus.
"Twenty-seven years, all in ALL" was
the reply.
"Why, you don't look older than
that" responded the enquirer.
perhaps not, but was born in 1S42,
and shall be 40 come next February /;
but you see I sowed my wild oats when
l was young, and haven't tried second
crop. I never take liquor of any kind /;
wouldn't drink glass of cider il 1 saw
it crushed out of the apple; never &c.
cept drink and never ask anybody to
take one. If there's anything on earth
a sensible animal detests it's q whisky
breath"
"And what made you take to training
animals?"
"Well, I was spoilt child, and my
father used to keep lot of black-and-
tan terriers, which, on Saturdays, when
1 was about six years Old, / used to take
down to the levee to see them go for
the rats, and l soon taught them a lot
of tricks. After that / got bull terrier
of my own, and I made up my mind he
should talk, and actually taught him
to say, "Oh, no !" 81 WON'T" and "Mor-
mon" almost as naturally as human
creature. / sold him to a horse dealer
named John Carmon, who took him
across the plains to California. Now,
of all the dogs in the world to train, a
bull terrier is the easiest; you can make
them do anything. next got hold of
six German poodles, nine months old,
and 1 taught them scores upon scores of
tricks"
'Is much cruelty required ?"
Cruelty? You just once try cruelty
and make the dog afraid of you, and he
will never be trick dog. Kindness
and patience are all you want, and every
time you scold dog you have all your
work to do over again. Suppose you
want to teach dog to hold up one leg,
| just gently clip him on that leg with
snap of the fingers hewon't understand
at first, but when he does hold it up,
pat him and speak kindly, then try it
again, and hold it up, always using the
same words Go lame" He gets the
words. and the action together in his
mind and never forgets either, and you
teach him to walk by leading him round
in the same way, always petting him
when he does right"
'Do you deprive them of food Or re-
ward them with extra rations ?"
"Neither. feed my dogs three times
day, a light breakfast, a lunch after
the matinee, and when the circus is
over good full meal. I've got ten
dogs here, Russian poodle, Spanish
poodle, English water spaniel a coach
dog, and black and tans. The Russian
poodle is my boss dog, andI christened
him Bloss, after poor Bloss, who was
killed while on the Cincinnati Enquirer
who said he was the cleverest dog he
had ever seen, but he couldn't read his
copy. Old Bloss is twelve years old,
and knows more than many q human.
"My next trial was with two ponies,
and two mules. The mules we're for
Dan CASTILLO. then taught a horse
which 1 christened Fred Hunt, after
another newspaper man, Iplayed / him
through the country with the dogs, and
then sold him to John Robinson, ir.
II then took to training goats, which
was no easy matter, but l taught two
of them to fire pistol, walk on their
knees, lie down, sit up and make an
ascension up two.inch plank to
pedestal twenty feet high.
"But the worst animals to train are
monkies. They are cunning, lazy and
vicious, and these scars" showing
numerous marks upon his hands, 'nre
the result Of monkey bites. One big
brute, that I named Jack Darwin, q tight
rope and Ia perche artist, bit me through
the ball of the thumb, and / came very
near dying of lockjaw. He took sick,
and nursed him night and day, but he
died about four years ago. You are
never sure when monkey is going to
turn on you, and their bite is more dan
gerous than a tigers, for they've got
three .conered tusks like bayonet.
"When I'd got my monkeys, goats
and dogs started miniature circus,
the first ever run in the world. Old
Bloss was my clown, and cleverer
never entered ring, either on four legs
or two.
"About two years ago Mr.. Lewis Sells
sent for me to Columbus, O., to know
if would undertake to educate for
trick acts half dozen steers. As I'd
made up my mind there was no animal
on earth [ could not teach, undertook
the job, but it was tedious job. l
taught them separately, and it took me