Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1889-08-02
TRAINING SHEEP.
Teaching a Stupid Animal to
Perform in Public.
How a Trainer Succeeds In
lnstructing Seals.

Miss Rosa Starr ha4 ma le study o,
sheep, the most iimid Of animals writes
David wecaslcr in the BROOKLYN chi.
cen. She owns three performing sheen
and they do wonderful tricks Her
account of the way she succeeded in
training them is interesting. .It
should be known that sheen have
scarcely any Intelligence, and therefore
no memory" she said. "sheep are
carried through a number of perform.
anccs from day to day for months at a
time, until they seem to do their tricks
merely from instinct. If thoy fail to
do one trick in their repertoire it is
useless to havcD'hem try it again at that
performance. II 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-
gcnce Of horse, COW, or even goat,
because the latter do have an ocular in
telligcncc, so tospeak, that i, wonder.
ful. Sheep have to be taught together,
tley are SO timid and lonely when thy
are separated from their mates. The
way trained the three | hive, aud
they are the only trained shecpin Amer
lea, was by petting them aud getting
them used TO me. l handled them
daily, patted them on the heads,
and fn9j.t- got them so they
knew their names. Tho male
sheep found much easier to train than
The female. They are affectionatc in
their disposition and do not require
much punishment to make them obey.
The fact is iiey are willing 10 ob3y, bu.
are too dull to remember or know what
o do. 4Ase, a string attached o their
nccls sd guide them with it while
driviK them over the bars. At ev.ry
pclf 1rpancc ] have to exercise the same
caE - go through with the same
az my Ii 81 physical exertion to make
!. sOd d.',,, and fIorm. If l could stop as do
& IS SawiSaslose 3, them at rehearsals, and
ish to III, ny hseaatelg | could gel
,oeS SS'%s and Erei'y '1'''a q 'F''i as sss,sss
nance. 'afs Strange, but true, tha
few ana pals ike TO lie down. Th
trainer pas to throw them down fire
qpentlg, aud hold them there. Well,
hase a struggle frequently to get m,
shesp to lic down. Then they are anx
ious 70 get up and when the signal
given As jump up as if they were shot
Instead OF whip to pass over them
keep stick in my hanl and occasion
ally use it on them, not to beat, but (
let them know that l am near by an,
watching. If they would look ut me
am sure could train them to do man
more clever tricks. As it is, ! hav
taught these three seven or eight trick
that they do twice day."
William McGovern is we'll know
trailer OF seals. He has devoted som
years to these queer creatures of tn
Arctic seas, and has achieved wonderfu
success. He said that he begins /
train seal to perform in public by frs
making it familiar with the sound of hi
voice, and addel: "A seal soon learn
TO distinguish a familiar voice from tha
of stranger. it often takes me five Q
six weeks to accustom n seal to til
sound Of my voice, and the next pre-
cess Ia training is to inspire confidence
do this by taking it from the wate
and placing it on platform 1t is mel
vous and easily frightened, but handl
it gently aud finally get control of
enough to show it how to do things.
have taught seals how to ring be |,
play on instruments. shoot pistols an
sing or howl. They are intelliger
enough to know that after one trio
they have another to do, and so the
are impatient to get through. The
sight is splendid and if another man
present on the platform while they al
performing they arc sure to see him an
object to proceeding further. they al
easily frightened an, if hurt in an
way it takes a long time to restore the
confidence" "