The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-03-09
PERFORMING CATS.
Some OF the Things They Do and
How They We're Taught.
Fyotn the Pail Mall (i1zetfe

at the Canterbury and Paragon music halls
are one more instance Of the extraordinary
results that may be achieved by a
trainer who thoroughly understands
his business; and when it is men
TONED that in addition to walking
along row Of champagne bottles, the corks
| of which are supplanted by shoppers
with a fiat surface somewhat larger
than crown piece, jumping through
| lighted hoops, ascending 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
ruffie the serenity or alarm the susceptible
| tiles of certain rats, mice and canaries
| placed at intervals along the same, to say
| nothing of other minor efforts in various
! directions, it will be admitted that the
professor" had something to be proud Of
found the professor, says a correspond
| ent who has interviewed MIN, 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 announced my desire of learn
ing as much Of his system" as he felt dis
| posed to communicate. 81 may tell you at
| once he said, that the idea Of training
cats to perform in public as mine do did
not originate with myself, although | am,
l believe, correct in saying that beyond
| these you see before you there is at present
only one other similar troupe in existence,
and they are 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 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"
mo, they are not; not one of them.
was with circus in Madrid when | formed
The idea of having troupe as an extra at
traction, and got all my cats there. Most
of them are Of the Angora breed, but
don't see why the British cat should not do
as well as tho foreigner and | am going TO
experiment on one or two very shortly"
Had you any difficulty in getting
thern"
Not the slightest could have doubled
the number if wanted, and as matter Of
fact have had upwards of twenty alto
gether; one or two have died, and the rest
proved useless for training; but all these
(twelve) are as good as | can desire"
Most of them appear young
"H es; the oldest is only years old, or
rather more, perhaps; and the youngest not
above months; he does not do much yet
but he Will be as good as either of them in
What age do you prefer to have them at
for training purposesP
ut really does not matter much. / have
had them as young as or 9 weeks and as
old as l y years That one there-pointing
to well-conditioned light tabby-is one of
my best. Boneta, l call him, and next TO
him Minis Ia tortoise she'll. He does the
pole trick, the most difficult thing of all to
teach; and yet, although Bonata was year
older than Minis when l had him, / don't
know that he wasn't the easier of the two
to train. Taken all round, | should say
about 6 months old is the best time to begin
training at. OF course it is as well to have
them younger, so as to get them thoroughly
well accustomed to you"
And how do you set about training
them, may | askF'
First Of all get them used TO me. and
as fond of me as they are capable of being
(which is not saying much, for | don't be-
lieve cats have any real affection 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 in
| telligence can be trained to do almost any
thing in nine or ten weeks. Feeding and
coaxing does it. If you attempt to resort
to harsh measures it is all up. They turn
sulky directly"
what is the first trick YOU teach
them"
ITO sit up and beg, and then feed them
when they do well; then creeping through
the chairs, and gradually walking over the
backs, and 80 on. When they have once
b4guh to learn and find they get bits of
meat when they do trick neatly, they give
very little trouble after
What about the rats, mice, ETC.. Do
your cats appear antagonistic to them at
frstp
mot bit. I have had a cat that has
been taught to walk the rope the first time
the mice or rats have been put on, lust to
knock them off with her feet so as to get
them out of the way, but not show the
slightest desire to hurt them; and the same
way with the birds. One of the greatest
difficulties have to encounter is to teach
them tho CATS to lift their feet up so as not
to upset the rats or birds"
And the rats, birds, etc, do they mind ~
mot bit; they don't take the slightest no
tice 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
thatp well, as q rule, that is the most
difficult thing Of ALL You see a cat may be
made to go up a little way, say; and there
she sticks, won't go up or come down; aud
you can't do anything in the same way as
you could II they were performing on the
chairs or the tight rope, waere 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 first"
Have you ever had cat fly at your
mo, can't say | have; they have given
me some nasty scratches before now, as
well as bites, but l don't mind that. If
they turn sulky | let them alone; coercion
is no good in their case, and force is no
remedy. You must just let them have
their sulk out and then start again."
DO you consider cats easy to tame or
otherwiseF'
Most decidedly otherwise. | have
trained all sorts of animals and birds and
next to a goat (which is, l verify believe,
tIe most obstinate animal in the world to
instill an IDEA into, cats most certainly are
entitled to second place. You can never
get them to take an interest in their work;
they H. it, and do it we'll enough generally.
but they do not take pride in what they do,
like horse or dog-thatS the pointn
Piles-Blind, Bleedineand Itching
Positively cured by Darbys ProphyIactic
Fluid Battle with little of the Fluid
qhHa1 70 the A sipnla