The Portland daily press., 1897-04-10

AAPAhius the Neeu "a
terry and Courtesy In Dealing with Cats
Differences Between Dogs and Cats
Tricks Explained.
A man with keener sense of rhy ME
than of grammar once wrote:
A woman and dog and hickory tree,
The more you teat EN- the better they Ie.
| Now, the man who wrote these lines
| may have known all about forestry and
femipinity, but ne certainly did not
know all about dogs. Ii he had seen a
current specially at Roster & Bial's by
ten dogs, assisted by four cats, the rhyme
never would have been written. These
dogs are the most highly educated ever
seen in this country, and they were
taught to be good and obedient pupils
through kindness, not beatinas. The
same is true of the cats.
The Tsohernkoff dogs were the original
interpreters Of realistic canine drama S.
Two winters ago they were talked Of IN
several countries. but their performance
seems quite amateurish in comparison
with that of the new canine stars whose
trainer is Leonidaa.
Leonidas ia Greek wanderer upon the
face of the earth. lie does NOT speak any
english except "Up" and Bravo and
"Thank you,'' but that does not matter,
for all his cats and dogs understand his
French perfectly. The company was re-
hsarsing the other morning when New
York Sun reporter obtained entrance in
70 the Eeatre to ask Le0nidas how he
trained his animals. They were doing
circus tricks with evident zest, when he
cold them to sit down in their chairs and
| remain there until he called them. Their
prompt and cheerful obedierce would
nave gladdened any heart
81 train my dogs and CATS" explained
lie 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
10, and then they do 1t quickly enough.
I am sure dogs and cats reason up to
a certain point. They can reason
sufficiently TO understand what want
them to do. 1t isn't limitations, because
I never show them what ] want done,
but explain What wish and tell them to
do it. Dogs have more reason than cats,
and are far easier to train. Cats are. like
wcmen, capricious One must coax
them all the time II you let cal know
that you ale trying to make ii do a
thing, it won't do it. One must be
always kind TO them.
"Humph ~ grunted the interpreter.
~ wish you could see him and his sister
in Jaw"
Leonidas smilei blandly, and. all I'M
conscious IF the comment added to the
text, went on:
g Id rather train fifty dogs than one
cat. II l didn't have thar black spaniel
Cerberus | woull ntyer undertake to
rain cat. Cerberus WAS the Fl st dog
ever trained, and he savei Ole Of these
cass from drowning, and she fulloWs
him, and all the other cats follow her
Bnt about tine tllitIing. An old dog or
CIT can be taught 10 DO all sorts Of
hi rs, but 1T is much easier to teanh
you, g ores You nave seen imbetile
people. Well, we have imb' Gle cats ana
dous too, SO it is ell to select cats for
sraiping With u view 10 heir iutelli-
genie The wolf duRs learn ~ ore easily
tnan any Others different kinds Of dogs
excel in uitfe ient kinda of stage work.
ANY dog that looks like fox is ~xcitable
and does quick work that otter dogs,
say pto le, couldn't do at all Some
dogs do tt cir w,Tk with a perfect IN
deFstanding, while o hers do theiis me-
chemically. This Ia usually the fault of
the trainer, and results from beating the
animals.
lone must love animals and under
stand hem In Greer to train them. I've
been in this busine all nv life.
t. aimed hoises TO o all kinds of tricks.
and had never thought about t5ain ing
do1s aDh cats until ran across tbpt
blck water spaniel one dav, when Twas
exhibiting my t aimed horses. I was
8 andirg on Westminster Bridge and SAW
n cnild fall into the water. Tint speniel,
Cert erus. jumped IN and rescued the lit
tie ore, and said would own that
dog. soon taught 1t to dive for my
purse when dr. pped it into fifteen feet
Of water Not ling after that ,erberus
aved the cat from drowning. thought
il would Re q good idea to teach the cat
some tricks, too. 1t takes two years to
t, sin q Cat well, but ;nuch less time t.
| required to educate smart dog.
| W, rked with Cerberus and the cat be
"a, ed three years, and then hogan to
enlarge II y @ mpany.
"To teach them new trie ks tell them
| what l want done and faiter them into
doing 1t. For instance, when | wanted
TO eaoh Miniisse, the cat. to climb M
70 tine full height of the stage, oren
ana enter a asket attached 10 paln-
chu (which Let loose, bel her on sha
rope an said 'Upi upl upp and pet,ed
her FL the while. soon she knew that
1t would please ME II she would 20 M,
| and MP 81 o started. When ST. got to the
top tell Ter to open the basket and get
in. She und rstood that because she
opens and ente,s n basket which my
= eat Dane holds in his mouth. let
re parachute down very gently at fret,
nut fter she had done the ri several
lines l could bring it down as suddenly
IS Ilei SEQ. Tie time r.qui,sd for
learning new trick depends tn the
t ick and vi on the INDIVIDUAL int Ii
perce Of each one OF the pupils
"Tl things that LUCK hardest to an
| audience are, often the q I'm, lest of the
whole performance. There's the farcieal
pan ominie in which two dogs and o
at engage. erherus is tied to win
and ! al at a tai lie to lunch. A cat. With
n audke chief tied abound her. occupies
air the opposite side of the stage.
m cale away from my lunch. &c :
her 8 ii - bis cad from his collar,