The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-03
TRAINED AS BIRD RETRIEVER
DOES ALL THIT a DOG GOULD
DO.

/
Uncommon among cats is Wuzzy, the
son of MUTT, for Wuzzy goes a-huntlng'
He does not hunt as all cats do, but,
! instead goes with hunter and gun and
retrieves game, the accomplishment
coming partly from heredity and partly
! from long patient and careful training
! While in India several years ago saw
| a cheetah, or hunting leopard, that had
been trained to bring down game at the
command Of its master. This opened a
field of possibilities in training ANIMALS
| of the cat kind, and the question M
medately arose regarding the domestic
! cat If a wild animal could be tanned
and trained, why could not one that
was already tanned be taught TO 40 as
We'll? After experimenting for several
wears on these lines in a disconnected
way, I found that it would take long
continued and patient effort to succeed.
/ became the possessor of a beautiful
Australian tiger cat, who responded to
the name of MUTT MUTT was affec-
tionate and of good disposition, and
| began training her to hunt While she
was a kitten. 1t was most dltncult
undertaking, and when I had reached
point in her education where she would
follow me a short distance from the
house and pick up birds that were shot
she became the mother of three kittens.
Two of these were consigned to buck
ct of warm water at birth, but the
third was so beautifully marked that
he was saved. Some one remarked
that he was "a wuzZy little cat" and
"Wuzzy" he was named.
The coming of family duties effectu-
ally stopped the further education of
MUTT, and the effort was transferred to
Wuzzy. Wuzzy's father was evidently
a disreputa BILE old fellow, but the sons
markings We're even more perfect than
those of his mother, and now he is a
miniature tiger in all but disposition,
for more lovable and loving cat it
would be difficult to find The nomad-
ic instincts of his father, combined
with the training of his mother, made
Wuzzy an ideal subject for experiment
tation, and as soon as he could play l
began teaching him to retrieve.
Patience is the paramount idea in
training a cat A scoldng will undo
the work of days and a blow viii ruin
any cat. A cat will be a companion,
but never slave. If you teach it any
thing 1t viii do it because it wants to
never because it has to. All this |
had learned in the school Of experience
before | gan teaching Muzzy, and the
result is that now, at the age of one
year, he has never been scolded or
struck. and Is utterly without fear
This DEPRESSION may give an idea of
what it means to teach cat
After Wuzzy had learned to retrieve
he was taught to follow at request-not
command-and then to come to Shout
der. dog is taught to heel, but Wuz-
w preferred my shoulder, and would
climb there and remain perched there
during the long walks. Now came the
most important and most delicate part
of his education He would retrieve
and would follow; would he stand fire?
Would he retrieve birds? Beginning
with small rifle which made but
slight sound, | gradually accustomed
him to the discharge until he would sit
on my left shoulder while 1 fired a shot
from the right
i he next ltSSOIl was 10 tOHlpliie inc
sound of the gun with the idea of re-
tlieving. and on firing threw the ball
with which he was accustomed to blay
and he quickly associated the bun and
the ball Then the ball was displaced
by a dead bird, a linnet or sparrow
freshly killed and it took but a few
lessons to teach him to retrieve the
bird as readily as the ball. The next
lesson consisted in hanging the bird to
a limb and dropping it as the gun was
fired. He soon learned to watch the
motion of the gun and his keen eyes
detected the bird before the shot. His
eagerness and expression of expectan-
cy showed his impatience and the trig-
ger was scarcely pressed before he was
off for the fallen bird
Having sufficiently inculcated into
his mind the sequence of events, I now
put his lessons in practical operation
and took him on his first hunt. He
followed me readily for about a quar-
ter of a mile, and then showed a desire
to return home. Calling him to Shout
der. shot a llnet. He watched the
motion of the gun with evidences of de-
light, and as the bird fell he sprang to
the ground and brought the bleeding
trophy to my feet: This was sufficient
for the first day, and we returned
home, where he received the bird as his
share of the days sport.
Every day for a week I continued to
take him further and further from
home until | felt that his education
was about complete tramp of three
miles and back had no terrors for him, |
and his bright golden brown eyes We're |
often first to discover the hidden bird |
/ have not yet succeeded in teaching |
him that all birds are not game, nor |
have / succeeded in getting him to re- |
trieve rabbits and squirrels. Like all |
Of his kind, he has an antipathy for |
water and will not venture in after |
birds that fall in streams.
The details of our most recent hunt |
ing trip are typical of this work, and |
will erve to show TO what extent |
education has been carried I !
started out one evening and gave a pc !
culiar whistle, which the cat has |
learned to recognize as his particular
call He came sleepily around the cor
ner of the house, as If half-inclined to |
resent interference with his nap, but
when he saw tho gun his resentment
passed and he was all life and action