Connecticut western news., 1889-07-31
TRAINING SHEEP.
Teaching a Stupid Animal to
 Perform in Public.
How a Trainer Succeeds in
 Instructing Seals S

sheep, the most timid of animals, writes David Wechsler in the Brooklyn Citi- zen. She owns three performing sheep, and they do wonderful tricks. Her account of the way she succeeded in training them is interesting. s'It should be known that sheep have scarcely any intelligence, and therefore no memory" she said. "Sheep are carried through number of perform ances from day to day for months at time, until they seem to do their tricks merely from instinct. If they fail to do one trick in their repertoire it is useless to have them try it again at that performance. If I attempted to make them go back and do anything they omitted it would confuse them, and they would do nothing. Nearly all the animals keep their eyes on their trainer while going through with perform ance, but sheep never do. That very fact shows that they lack the intelli- gence of a horse, a COW, or even goat, because the latter do have an ocular in- telligence, so to speak, that is wonder full. Sheep have to be taught together, they are so timid and lonely when they are separated from their mates. The way trained the three I have, and they are the only trained sheepin Amer ica, was by betting them and getting them used to me. I handled them daily, patted them on the heads, and finally got them so they knew their names. The male sheepI found much easier to train than the female. They are affectionate in their disposition and do not require much punishment to make them obey. The fact is they are willing to obey, but are too dull to remember or know what 10 do. have string attachedto their necks and guide them with it while driving them over the bars. At evory performance I have to exercise the same care and go through with the same amount of physical exertion to make them perform. If I could stop as I do while training them at rehearsals, and fondle them affectionately, could get more out of them in public perfor- nance. It is strange, but true, that | fo,x, o1o 4o trainer has to throw them down fre- quently, and hold them there. We'll, I have struggle frequently to get my sheep to lie down. Then they are anx- ious to get up and when the signal is given they jump up as if they were shot. Instead of whip to pass over them keep stick in my hand and occasion ally use it on them, not to beat, but to let them know that am near by and watching. If they would look at me am sure l could train them to do many more clever tricks. As it is, I have taught these three seven or eight tricks that they do twice day."
 William McGovern is a we'll known trainer of seals. He has devoted some years to these queer creatures of the Arctic seas, and has achieved wonderful success. He said that he begins to train seal to perform in pubic by first making it familiar with the sound of his voice, and added: "A seal soon learns to distinguish familiar voice from that of stranger. It often takes me five or six weeks to accustom a seal to the sound of my voice, and the next pro- cess in training is to inspire confidence. do this by taking it from the water and placing it on platform. It is ner- vous and easily frightened, but handle it gently and finally get control of it enough to show it how to do things. I have taught seals how to ring bells, play on instruments, shoot pistols and sing or howl. They are intelligent enough to know that after one trick they have another to do, and so they are impatient to get through. Their sight is splendid, and if another man is present on the platform while they are performing they are sure to see him and object to proceeding further. They are easily frightened and, if hurt in any way, it takes long time to restore their confidence"