The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-01-16
EACHlNG a DOG.
He Easily Learns to Distinguish Words
Limit of Intelligence.


Limit of Intelligence.
1t occurred to me whether some such
system as that followed with deaf mutes,
and especially by DR.. Howe with Laura
Bridgman, might not prove very in
structive if adapted to the case Of dogs.
l have tried this in a small way with a
black poodle, named Van" | took
two pieces of cardboard about ten
inches by three, and on one of them
printed in large letters the word
food" leaving the other blank. l
then placed the two cards over two
saucers, and in the one under the
food put little bread and milk,
which ''Van," after having his atten
ton called to the card, was allowed to
eat This was repeated over and over
again till he had had enough. In about
ten days he began to distinguish be-
tween the two cards. / then put them
on the floor and made him bring them
to me, which he did readily enough.
When he brought the plain card SIM
ply threw it back, while, when he
brought the food card, | gave him a
piece of bread, and in about month
he had pretty well learned to realize
the difference. | then had some other
cards printed with the words "out,'
''tea, ''bone," water" spelled pho
hetically, so as not to trouble HIM with
our intricate spelling, and certain
number with words to which / did not
intend him to attach any significance,
such as ''nought," ''plain,n "ball, "
l,ris.s.--
ing a card was request, and soon
learned to distinguish between the
plain and printed cards; it took
him longer to realize the difference
between words, but he gradually got to
recognize several; such as food"
''Out," ''bone." tea etc. If he
was asked whether he would like
to 90 out for walk, he would JOY
fully 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 indis-
criminately and in a great variety of
positions. Nor could the dog .ecog-
nize them by scent. They were all
alike and all continually handled by
us. Still did not trust to that alone,
but had number printed for each
word. When, for instance, he brought
a 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, a third, then a
fourth, and so on. For 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 row of cards and pick
up the one he wanted could, | think,
doubt that in bringing card up he is
making a request, and that he can not
only distinguish one card from another,
but also associate the word and the OBJ
ject. This is, of course, only begin
ming, but it is, | venture to think, sug-
gestive, and might be carried fur
ther, though the limited wants and
aspirations of the animal constitute a
great difficulty. My wife has very
beautiful and charming collie, ''Pa
tience," to which we are much at
tached. This dog was often in the
room when "Van'' brought the food
/ card, and rewarded with a piece of
iDreau size musU nave seen Unis uI1ou--
sands of times, and she begged in the
usual manner, but never once did it oc-
cur to her to bring card She did
not touch or indeed take the slightest
notice of them. l then tried the follow
ing experiment: prepared six cards
about ten inches by three, and colored
in pairs-two yellow, two blue and two
orange. put three of them on the
floor. and then holding up one Of the
others, endeavored to teach cyan" to
bring me the duplicate. | certainly
thought that he soon would have
grasped what was expected of him.
But no. We continued the lessons for
nearly three months, but as 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 matter of pure accident
which card he brought There is, |
believe, no reason to doubt that dogs
can distinguish colors, but it was
lust possible that Evan" might
be color-blind, we then repeated
the same experiment, only substituting
for the colored cards others marked re-
spectively l., II. and Ill. This we con-
tinued for another three months, or,
say, allowing for intermissions, 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 unim-
portant," was an excellent observer,
mentions case in which man was
anxious to shoot crow. 70 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
was found necessary to send five or six
TO the watcs-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. Litchenberg mentioned night
ingale 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 third it knew that the feat was