The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-05
TRAINING ANIMALS TO PERFORM.
Kindness Is All Right, But Use of the
Whip often Necessary.
From the washington Times.

Kindness Is All Right, But Use of the
Whip often Necessary.
From the Washington Times.
The trained monkeys, dogs and ponies
which recently appeared in Washington
were remarkable for the clever manner in
which they performed tricks and acrobatic
feats usually gone through by men and
women in cireuses. and their training re
quired months of work and more patience
than is possessed by the. average person.
I'VE have offers of hundreds of dogs at
every city we visit" said the trainer. ''but
it is seldom that we buy any unless they
strike our fancy with being especially
| smart and easy to manage.
The first thing to teach dog is to
| mind, and it is not as easy as you would
think. Kindness is all right, but irmness
is better and there are few dogs that can
be trained without getting a taste of the
rod. The adage about 'sparing the rod
is as applicable to dogs as it is TO children.
Ii takes six months to train a dog 10 fol-
low with the other dogs and to answer
to his name. After that his education be-
| gins in earnest. Dogs are not the least
| initiative. and while a monkey will pick
| w a trick by seeing other monkeys per-
arately to do his work. The old adage,
| you can't teach an old dog new tricks,
| does not hold good in our business, and
| II is easier to teach an old dog new tricks
than it is TO teach a new dog old tricks
| Dog sense does not run in families eth
er, for there are Shellbark and Major,
Russian poodles, full brothers, but She'll
bark is college graduate, while Major is
| still in the kindergarten. Shellbark the
| white woolly clown, with brown ears, ap-
pears in almost every act from knocking
over the baskets TO running under the
| hoop, while Major hauls one of the wagons
| around and does odd jobs.
The stars among the dogs are lust like
| the stars in the comic opera, grand opera,
| or any theatrical performance. All they
| do is the one speciality and then they rest.
| They never appear In the street parade
| and for jealousy they have got the human
stars beaten all hollow. Take Ellis, the
white English collie that rides the pony
| horseback in the show and jumps over the
| pony and rides in the hurdles. After the
! show Ellis lies down and rests and IL any
OF the other dogs make a noise around him
| there IS trouble, for Ellis starts a fight.
| He is jealous, TOO, and if any other dog
gets more applause than Ellis he sulks
| and does not want TO act Cyclone is an
other star. He is the big white grey
| hound that made the high leap, and that
| is all he did. He makes a lean twice A
| day and then he takes it easy The
| smartest dog in the show is Dixie, the
| little white fox terrier with black ears,
| that made the dive from the high lad
J der 1t took just thirty minutes to teach
! him to climb the ladder but he did not
| like the idea of making the jump After
| twenty or thirty minutes coaxing how
| ever, he jumped, and since then we have
no trouble. In an hour he learned a trick
we nave spent weeks trying to teach other
! dogs, but none has succeeded like Dixie
The French poodles which perform the
act of Mr.. and Mrs. Snyder and the
BABY Bunch We're easy to train bur
they are so timid that they never gain
full confidence in themselves and at every
performance they are afraid they are goine
! to make mistakes The care which thew
! exercised in sitting in the chairs and which
looked as If they were trying not to rum
PIE their clothes was caused by their tim
/ ldity, but the audience thought it was good
acting, so the result is Just the same
/ Ihey nave to be treated like timid chill
/ dren, and only coaxing and petting will
! get them to go through with their work.
II required a year to teach Ellis the
/ white English collie, TO leap on the back
/ of the moving pony. He was FIRST tanebt
| to jump up on the pony while it was
! standing, the broad board saddle which he
! first rode on being used. After he had
learned to jump up on this board the
| pony was walked around and the trouble
began, for Ellis could not keep his balance
| and it was several months before he got
/ expert enough TO stay on he moving ami
I nal; after that was accomplished he had
! TO be taught to keep his balance on The
! bare back Of the pony. He could Jump on
the pony all right. but he could not stick
! there. Fina ly he found that by stand.
near the pony's shou der he could brace
! himself and retain his footing, and he has
! the trick down pretty fine. but even NV
! he is not asked to jump on the pony more
! than twice at each performance It is A
| star act and causes more comment than
| any other in the show"
or all the men connected with the show
! any one OF them could be better spared
than "O,d Sam His name is Sam Bren-
| iser but none OF the show people knows
his family name, and it was only learned
| by asking Sam himself With the sho11
| people he is simply "O.d Sam" who ha,
| charge of the dogs day and night when
| they are not in the show ring, and when
they are, Sam is in the tent near, dress
| ing the dogs and monkeys for their nets
| Sam feeds the dogs and marshals them Ia
| and from the train to the show grounds
| when a new town is entered. He knows
| the name OF every dog, and the dogs
| know his voice and obey him Without
! him it would require fifteen or twenty men
| to lead the CANNES about Sam has two
or three dog helpers, who whip in the
| disobedent dogs, but most Of them follow
him closely and halt and start at his word.
| One Of his hardest tasks II 10 teach a new
dog its name when it has TO be changed.
| He spends hours every day repeating over
| and over to the dog the name it has TO
| bear, and then the dog is put into the yard
| where the others are confined and its
name called out. If it does not respond
, one OF the men enters the yard aud brings
| - -----==----