The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-05-06
TEACHING A DOG WORDS.


He Easily Learn. t.. ,f-.insai.h Them
Limits ri fI--ilis-nce.
It occurred to me whether some such
system as that followed with deaf mutes,
and especially by Dr.. Howe with Laura
Brd:-uan. might not prove very in
str,n.,ivc If ada ricd 70 the case of dogs
| have tried THIS ia sn.afl way with n
black poodle. named Van" / took
two pieces Of cardboard abnn' TN inches
bv three. and on one Of thu ,'-nfed in
large letters the word ".tn-:. leaving
the other blank. | then placed two
cards over two sauccrs, and in the one
under the food" put little bread and
milk, which Van" after having his at
tention called TO the card was allowed
to cat This was repeated over and
over again until he had had enough.
In about ten days he began to distin-
guish between the two cards. then
put them on the floor and made him
bring them to me. which he did readily
card simply threw it back, while, when
he brought the food card, I gave him a
piece of bread, and in about q month he
had pretty web learned to realize the
difference. / then had some other
cards printed with the words "out,"
''tea, '"'bone," water" spelled phoneti-
cally, so as not to trouble him by our
intricate spelling, and certain number
also with words to which did not in
tend him to attach any significance,
such as thought" plain" ball" etc.
Van" soon learned that bringing a
card was a request. and soon learned to
distinguish between the plain and print
ed cards; it took him longer to realize
the difference between words, but he
gradually got to recognize several, such
as ''food," .'out, tea" etc. If he was
asked whether he would like to 90 out
for walk, he would joyfully pick up
the ''out'' card, choosing it from several
others, and bring it to me or run with
it in evident triumph to the door. l
need hardly say that the cards were not
always put in the same places. They
were varied quite indiscriminately and
in great variety of positions. Nor
They were all alike and continually
that alone, but had number printed.
for each word. When for instance, he
brought card with food on it, we
did not put down the same identical
card, but another bearing the same
word, when he had brought that third.
then a fourth. and SO on. For a single
meal. therefore, eighteen or twenty cards
will be used. SO that he evidently is not
guided by scent No one who has seen
him look down q row of cards and pick
up the one he wanted. could. | think,
doubt that in bringing card up that
he is making Il request, and that he can
not only distinguish one card from an
other, but also associate the word and
the object. This is, of course, only
beginning. but it is. l venture to think,
suggestive, and might be carried
further. though the limited wants and
aspirations OF the animal constitute
great difficulty. My wife has a very
beautiful and charming collie, Pa
tience.H to which we are much attached
This dog was often in the room when
Van" brought the food card, and was
rewarded with piece of bread She
must have seen this thousands of times,
and she begged in the usual manner,
but never once did it occur to her to
bring card. She did not touch, or in
deed take the slightest notice of them.
| then tried the following experiment
prepared six cards about ten inches by
three, and colored in pairs-two yellow.
two blue and two orange. l put three
of them on the floor, and then holding
up one of the others, endeavored to
teach ivan" to bring me the duplicate.
l certainly thought that he would soon
have grasped what was expected of him.
But no. We continued the lesson for
nearly three months, but as Il few DAYS
were missed. we may say for ten weeks,
and vet at the end of the time | can not
say that Van" appeared to have the
least idea of what was expected of him.
1t seemed a matter OF pure accident
which card he brought There is, be-
Eeve, no reason to doubt that dogs can
distinguish colors, but it was just possible
that Van" might be color-blind, We
then repeated the same experiment, on
ly substituting for the colored cards
others marked respectively L, III. and
III. This we continued for another
three months. or saw allowing for inter-
missions, ten weeks, but. to my surprise,
entirely without success. Leroy, who,
though he expressed the opinion that
''the nature of the soul of animals is I'M
Important" was an excellent observer,
mentions a case in which a man was
anxious TO shoot a crow. To deceive
this suspicious bird, the plan was hit
upon of sending two men to the watch
house, one OF whom passed on while the
other remained; but the crow counted
and kept her distance. The next day
three went, and she perceived that only
two retired. In fine, it was found neces-
sary to send five or six men to the watch
house to put her out in her calculation.
The crow, thinking that this number
OF men had passed by. lost no time in
returning From this he inferred that
crows could count up to four. Litchen-s
berg mentions . nightingale which was
said to count up to three. Every day he
gave it three meal-worms, one at time,
when it had finished one it returned for
another, but after the thirdait knew that
the feat was over.-Frona N1tatre.
They do some queer things in China
They don't use any soap to shave with.