The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-06-14
ANIMAL REHEARSALS
TRICK DOGS AND CATS AND THEIR
WAYS OF LEARNING.

Their Trainer Explains the Need of Flat
terry snd Courtesy In Dealing with
Cats - Differences Between Dogs and
Cats-Tricks Explained.
The Tschernkoff dogs were the original
interpreters of realistic canine drama.
They were talked of in several countries,
but their performance seems quite anna
flourish in comparison with that of the new
canine stars whose trainer is Leonidas.
Leonidas is n Greek wanderer upon the
face of the earth. He does not speak any
English except cup and bravo and
"thank you" but that does not matter,
for all his cats and dogs understand his
French perfectly. The company was re.
hCarsing the other morning when a report
or obtained entrance into the theater to
ask Lconidas how he trained his animals.
They were doing circus tricks with evident
zest, when he told them to sit down in
their chairs and remain there until he
called them. Their prompt and cheerful
obedience would have gladdened any heart.
! 81 train my dogs and CATS" explained
the master in response to question, "by
| kindness and patience-oh, so much pa
thence! The main thing is to get them to
| understand what you want them to do,
and then they do it quickly enough. l am
sure dogs and cats reason up to a certain
point. They can reason sufficiently to un-
| derstand what l want them to do. 1t isn't
| limitations, because l never show them
what l want done, but explain what l
| wish and tell them to do 1t. Dogs have
more reason than cats and are far easier to
train. Cats are, like women, capricious.
One must coax them all the time. If you
let a cat know that you are trying to make
it do n thing, it won't do it. One must be
always kind to them.
"Humph!" gruhted the interpreter. 81
wish you could see him and his sister-in-
law"
Leonidas smiled blandly and, all uncon-
scious of the comment added to the text,
| went on:
"I'd rather train so dogs than one cat.
If didn't have that black spaniel Cerbe-
rus, l woulu never undertake to train
cat. Cerberus was the first dog l ever
trained, and he saved one of these cats
from drowning, and she follows him. and
all the other cats follow her. But about
the training. An old dog or cat can be
taught to do all sorts of things, but it is
much easier to teach young ones. You
have seen imbecile people. Well, we have
imbecile cats and dogs, too; so it is well to
select cats for training with a view to
their intelligence. The wolf dogs learn
more easily than any other Different
kinds of dogs excel in different kinds of
stage work. Any dog that looks like a
fox is eXcitsble and does quick work that
other dogs, say poodle, couldn't do at
all. Some dogs do their work with a per-
feet understanding, while others do theirs
mechanically. This is usually the fault of
the trainer and results from beating the
animals.
zone must love animals and under
stand them in order to train them. I've
been in this business all my life. trained
horses to do all kinds of tricks and had
never thought about training dogs and
cats until | ran across that black water
spaniel one day when l was exhibiting 10y
trained horses. l was standing on West
minister bridge and saw child fall into
the water. That spaniel, Cerberus, jumped
in and rescued the little one, and l said
would own that dog l soon taught it to
dive for my purse when l dropped it into
Ii feet of water. Not long after that Ger
berus saved the cat from drowning. /
thought it would be u good idea to teach
the cat some tricks too. 1t takes two years
to train u cat WE'LL but much less time is
required to educate smart dog. worked
with Cerberus and the cat he saved three
years. and then l began to enlarge my
company.
''To teach them new tricks 1 tell them
what l want done and flatter them into
doing it. For instance, when 1 wanted to
teach Mimisse, the cat, to climb up a rope
the full height of the stage, open and enter
u basket attached to parachute, which
let loose, held her on the rope and said,
Up, up, up!' and petted her all the while.
Soon she knew that it would please me il
she would coup and up she started. When
she got to tho top, L told her to open the
basket and get in. She understood that,
because she opens and enters a basket
which my Great Dane holds in his mouth.
l let the parachute down very gently al
first, but after she had done the trick sew
eral tiE.es l could bring it down as sud
denly as pleased. The time required fol
learning new trick depends ON the trick
and upon the individual intelligence OF
each one of the pupils.
'Somo men train animals by hunger
l don't believe in that method for you
can't rely on them, particularly not OF
cats A cat will prowl around and gel
something to eat somehow, and then wher
the time comes for it to act it won't act
SO as to be fed afterward for it is already
, satisfied. l feed my dogs and cats at 4
O'Clock every afternoon, for I'm convinced
that they do better work when not hungry
ut is not necessary to rehearse trained
animals every day. They are so familiar
with what they do, they learn their lessons
so well, that they do not forget. In fact
they often perform better if they don't
practice much after they've learned a
thing, for they don't get so tired of it.
! ''Do you ever punish your dogs and
catsY" asked the reporter.
"Ho'n saw No - said the intprprptpl
in an 'aside" before putting the question
, to the Greek, 'but he does all the same
He beats the dogs like fury occasionally
but not often.'
sob, it's very seldom l have to whiI
one of the dogs, answered Leonidas, "and
/ wouldn't dare punish the cats at all
They are too contrary. Why, believe If
struck one of those cats she would never
act again.
''It takes IA long time to get an idea into
u cats head. When l was teaching my