The Irish standard., 1888-12-01
PERFORMING CATS.
Things They Do, and How They
Are Taught and Trained.

are Iau&QC ana Ir61QoQ.
The Most stubborn Animal, Outside Of .
Mule or Goat, to Instlll an Idea Into
Facts Furnished by-a Profes-
sional Trainer.
The twelve cats comprising the troupe
which made their debute the other evening
at the Canterbury and Paragon Music Halls
are one more instance Of the extraordinary
results that may be achieved by trainer
who thoroughly understands his business;
and when it is mentioned that in addition
to walking along row of campagne bottles,
the corks OF which are supplanted by stop
pers with fiat surface somewhat larger
than crown piece, jumping through
lighted hoops, ascen ding and descending a
good-sized pole temporarily erected in the
center of the stage. walking tight~rope,
first without any obstruction thereon and
later on picking their way gingerly across
the same, taking the greatest care not to
rufRe the serenity or alarm the susceptible
ties of certain rats, mice and canarles
placed at intervals along the same, to say
nothing of other minor efforts i'll various
directions, it viii be admitted that the
"Professor" has something to be proud OF.
found the Professor, (says correspond
ent Of the Poll MaN Gazette who interviewed
him, in the small yard at the rear of the
hall, engaged in supervising the morning
toilet and general comfort OF the feline
members Of his troupe, and at once an
nounced my desire of learning as much OF
his system - as he felt disposed to COM
municate. ''I may tell you at once," he
said, :s that the idea Of training cats to per-
form in public as mine do did not originate
with myself, although am, believe, cor
rect in saying that beyond these you see be-
fore you there is at present only one other
similar troupe in existence, and 1t is just
now being exhibited on the continent by
Prof Bonnette, who came out some twelve
months ago; and it was from him some four
months later that I got the idea, and set
about training similar troupe on my own
account
"These cats" said, "do not give me the
impression Of being quite English, you
'know'n "No, they are not, not one OF
them; I was with circus in Madrid when
formed the idea Of having troupe as an
extra attraction, and got all my cats there.
Most of them are Of the Angoro breed, but
don't see why the British cat should not
do as well as foreigner, and am going to
experiment. on one or two very shortly"
"Had you amy difficulty in getting them?"
"Not the slightest. could have double the
nnmber if wanted, and. as matter OF
tact, have had upward of twenty alto
gether; one Or two have died, and the rest
have proved useless for training, but all
these (twelve) are as good as can desire"
"Most of them appear young" Eyes;
the Oldest is only two years old, or rather
more, perhaps; and the youngest not above
three months; he does not do much yet, but
he will be as good as either OF them IN
another month or two"
"What age do you prefer to have them at
for training purposes?'' "It really does not
matter much. have had them as young as
eight or nine weeks, and as old as one and
half years. That one there [pointing to a
welI-conditioned light tabbyl is one OF my
best. Roneta, / call him, and next to him
Minis enthusiastically. He does the pole
trick, the most difficult thing OF all to teach;
end YET, although Boneta was a year older
than Minis when I had him, don't know
that he wasn't the easier of thetwo to tram.
Taken all round, should say about six
months Old is the best time to begin train
ing at. OF course, it is as well to have them
Younger 80 as to get them thoroughly well
accustomed to you."
"And how do you set about training
tl1em, may aslz2' ''Ffirst of all / get them
used to me and as fond of me as they are
capable Of being (Which is not saying much,
Tor don't believe cats have any real affec-
tion whatever), and having done this the
rest follows easily enough by degrees. You
mustn't expect to do it all at once; but any
cat of average intelligence can be trained
As. i,1r tan
Feeding and coaxing do it. If you attempt
to resort to harsh measures it is all y 2.
They turn sulky directly"
"What is the first trick you teach themW
''To sit up and beg, and then feed them
when they do it well; then creeping through
the chairs and gradually walking over the
backs, and SO on. When they have once
begun to learn and fnd they get bits of
meet when they do a trick neatly, they give
very little trouble after.'
'sWhat about the rats, mice, ETC.? Do
your cats appear antagonistic to them at
first?' Not bit. l have had cat that
has been taught to walk the rope, the first
time the nice OF rats have been put on, just
to knock them off with her feet so as to get
them out of her way, but not show the
slightest desire to hurt them; and the same
way with the birds One of the greatest
difficulties l have to encounter is to teach
them the (cats) to lift their feet up so as
not to upset the rats or birds"
''And the rats, birds, etc.-do they
minds" 'sNot bit. They don't take the
slightest notice of the cats so long as they
don't tread on them. They are not the least
afraid; in fact, it is case of neutrality on
both sides.''
"And the pole trick; how do you manage
that" ''Well. as rule, that is the most
difficult thing of all. You see, a cat may be
made to go up little way, say; and there
she sticks-won't go up or come down; and
you can't do any thing in the same way as
you could if they are performing on the
chairs or the tight-rope, where you can
reach them. OF course, there is always
bit Of meat at the top Of the pole, otherwise
they would not go up at all; and even with
this inducement they usually make great
fuss, especially the coming down head
6rst"
'*Ha1e you ever had a cat fly at youl"
y':No, can't say have; they have given me
some nasty scratches before now, as well as
bites, but don't mind that. II they turn
sullky let them alone Coercion is no good
in their case, and force is no remedy. You
rnna& i,,st la& tham have their sn1k ont and