The Grenada gazette., 1888-03-24
EDUCATING DOGS.
Intelligent Animals Trained to Perform
Many FeAts.

MANY
at seems just as though those dogs
understood what their master says, "
was the remark Of a lady as she watched
troop of performing eanines in cir
Gus that recently visited this city. The
antics Of those educated dogs are truly
wonderful, and people who believe that
the majority of them are not worth the
tax that they cost annually, are sur
prised to see to what an extent they
may be trained to obey their masters 8
command.
A gentleman living in the city who
owns number of fine dogs, and who
knows the course ofinstruction through
which they must pass in order to be
stars, was seen by reporter few days
ago. When asked if he would give
away the secret Of the profession, he
said: There is no secret about it Ii
is all done by the power Of kindness.
There is no conjuring or trick of the
trade. The only qualities needed are
kindness, patience and perseverance.
Yon have got to be fond of the animals
and in sympathy with them.
Snow, whenever ! am around a
strange horse or dog I always try to
teach him something. All you have to
do is to make friends with your dogs,
and then you will have a troupe of per-
formers that will make a theatrical
manager green with envy; you do not
have to buy bouquets for the prima
donna; none of your comedians will
strike for a raise of salary when there
is applause from the gallery, and there
is not continual draft upon the re-
ceipts for new and expensive costumes.
"Whenever & horse or dog is edu-
Gated by kindness he is not simply
mesmerized and under the control of
one person, but he has learned some
thing that ne will never forget. He
may get ugly and fractions at times
and make up his mind that he will not
obey orders. Then you must persuade
him to behave himself. That is done
by kindness, too, not by thrashing.
Most people who see troupe of per-
forming dogs think that they are ill.,
treated and beaten to make them do
tricks. That is not so. You must 90
at them in the simplest way. You can
never teach an animal in any other way
than the one l have told you, sympathy
and patience. There is great deal in
doing yourself what you wish an animal
to do. All animals possess that faculty
of mimicry that formerly was supposed
to belong only to the monkey family.
Suppose | take lot of unframed
dogs and try to teach them a certain
trick. Do You suppose will begin to
beat them? Well, no. They will sim
ply wonder what | am beating them
for. You have got to take them one at
time, talk to him, pull him about,
give him the order. and then show him
what it means After awhile be knows
how to do it by hearing the order,
Then take another and show him how
it is done. and after awhile all Of them
will know how to execute a fall in or
face about without being obliged to
touch them.
"Do you mean. then. that animals
understand words =? - That is Just
what | mean. They learn the mean
lhg Of il word just as foreigner does.
If you were teaching foreigner a
word. you would speak it and then il
lustrate it. That is the way that dogs
are trained, and anybody can do it as
well as | can. Every word You say to
an animal must mean something, un-
less you are simply pettiAg OF caressins
him. One Of the most difficult tricks |
have to teach dog is to Jump the
rope. Every dog has q natural dread
for Il rope, for he seems to think that
it is to be used only on his neck or in
attaching a tin pail to his tail. Dogs
can be taught easier than horses.
They are natural comedians. Con-
cerning the most intelligent kind of a
dog, think the poodle or spitz make
the best pupils. The coach dog nat
urally likes to follow horses the shep-
herd dog naturally takes to sheep and
cattle; hunting dogs naturally to the
hunt, and so on through the different
braa1c Ono rpasnD uhV 7 thipE l1ra
have more brains than horses is the
fact that dog will try to take care of
4 horse. Pugs are more intelligent
than they are given credit for, but they
arc the most timid dogs | know of.
For this reason large amount Of
their natural intelligence is scared out
of them. 81. Paul Globe.