Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-04-01
TEACHING A DOG TO TALK.
A Canine That Can AK for a Drink and
say Good Night.

From tie Ne1O York St1r.
There's dog that can talk, " said stumpy
little man. as ne led a bOhtaled bull pup
zero the floor of a downtown barroom yes
terday afternoon, 10 where big man with
red n.se sat on an empty lager beer keg.
IN bet you he can't" said the TX man,
getting interested. ''and you can uame any
hgure you ike. I've heard about that dog
and, although I'm drm believer in the theory
that dogs can be taught TO talk # taken in
manu- y"ung, don't thluk that fellow can. be-
cause his mead lsn't big enough. es, sir. 1t
makes all the difference in The world about
the size II dogs head. some dogs have such
large heads that If they were properly train
ed Jhey' ii almost make good lawyer or bank
eIs. Does any Que mean To say that <
mat Knows enough to practice all sorts OF
tricks hasn't sense enough to talk il lie could
only get his tongue into snapeP
Come he @. JIM said The little man to the
dog. that appeared 10 know just what was
ing on; This m IN lays you can'tta.k. Now
snow him what you can do"
Jim looked wise for about minute; then he
lo1hed crOss-eyed a. The fat man, snarle and
showed his mouth Whic was Ike q Cha5m
painted red. He walked over to the bar
dlaSonaily from where the men sa', lifted his
paws up on the bar piece, wagged n 3 5tumpY
Iall, ana wlnked one eye at the bartender.
without raising his paw from the cross iece
jim turned his head deliberately around,
stared back at the fat man in a familIsr, good
ha'urei way, and nked. The fat man pre-
tended not to see the dog, but Jim kept on
staring and wiukiog by tn ms, and vt length,
When he was beginning to LOOK tired, bui tel
ont Volley OF sounds which said the follow
ing more lalnly than some meu could:
"Whatcher gOin' to have, whisky'n seller or
p am sodyY Gimme rum"
Inc bar lender placed gin bottle in front Of
jim anu showed the red rum over to the fat
man. Jim put his paw against the gin bottle
ana pushed it away from him, saying as he
dld 50:
mistake. Gimme rum"
Jim owner poured out a small dose Of rum.
ana the dog picked up the glass, dropped down
on the floor and drank it. Then he held up
the glass IN his paws and sad;
When he had drunk the water. JIM put
back the GA on the bar. tlrned to his owner
ana paved at his trousers pocket until the
drinks were paid for. Z hen he bowed politely
TO the TAT man and said. Tanks" wagged
MS tail, and epurted alb ut the barroom with
an air of triumph which showed plainly he
knew he had done something b g. Jim's
owner was delighted WI h his dog aud wanted
{" know II ANYBODY would still deny that he
couldn't talk
Jim is only beginner yet" said the little
man, land intend to make him an expert
English scho ar before | get through He is
only II months old, aud ne err thought about
teaching him until SIX months ago. IL look
MN two months to say the first word. which
was COOL At first he couldn't te what
l wanted HIM to do, and he would sit and
watch me for an hour at time. One day |
spent Two hours repeating Good 1t grew
so mOnotonous hat jim got mad and struck
Z L
stop he sat and watched my lips move. Then
ne began 10 initiate the movement and bef,re
/ knew 1t he b gan to say Good too. His
first eff 'rts were feeble and modest, hut the
next day he could say tine word quit dis.
tlnciIy' ana Kept on repeating it as he had
seen me doing.
II taught him other words, and finally he
got so he could repeal short sentences. The
iun OF II Was Jun liked to talk, and won
hardly do anything else. He would run after
me sometimes and Jump at my face in a way
tnat plainly Indicated that he wanted to talk
to me. II ught him to say the word Talk
ana after hat he repeated it intelligently
jim Is no parrot. He never uses word or
sentence hat doesn't express lust what he
means, ant never gets mixed up either. The
longest sentence he can express now is Pm
tired and must go to sleep Good night OF
course he don't say itqute as plain as that,
but he does very well Tor a dog.
">ome days Jim picks up two or three words
ana often II takes him two or three days to
learn one. 1t all depends on how he feels,
ant whether the words have vowels in them
or not. Hes great dog, and I'm going to
kee him at school until he can talk like
United States Senator.