New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-26
THIS POLICE DOG
HAS GONE WRONG
Brought Up to Catch Thieves,
She Is Now a Clever
One Herself.

The thief catcher who trans dogs
to aid him in his detection and capture
Of criminals is in danger Of being
hoisted by his own petard. The fact
that q dog ia intelligent enough to
catch a thief proved 20 an expert in
Grim nology tina; a dog would be sue
cessful also as a thief.
4 veritable Pandora's box Of trou-
bles seems to have been opened By
this discovery. now employed for the
frat lime in motion pictures We have
seen the evolution Of the police dog.
trained TO the skillful detection Of a
criminal. Now wc are 70 have the
opposite Of that proposition. the skilled
pole, dog RETAINED by thief TO his
own ends
All dsgS are by instinct thieves. II
is their inheritance from their wolf
ancestors. Through years Of arduous
training We have taught dogs that they
must not seal. But latent. always. Is
that heritage from their wild fore
fathers. The corruption Of thief
catching dog 80 that he becomes a
thief himself is. after all, simple
case Of reversion 20 type.
But conceive the consequences, As
soon As we have a mum Der or thlevlng
dogs operating AT the direction OF
criminal INTEL Cence We naturally con-
front the situation wherein police dogs.
trained to stop thieving. will combat
eX-poice dogs retrained in their nat
ural bent as thieves. Instead Of the
dogs Of war" We seem to face the
war Of dogs We shall have Sher-
lock Holmes turned RafHes.
This is not an academic discussion
o. posi- biliiies. but A cold statement
Of facts. for in chapter 80 Of Our
Mutual Girl written by Irwin :. Cobb,
former German police dog is EN-
plOyed 30 steal n valuable cameo neck
lace He does y with such skill and
so defies detection after the act that
what started out merely as fiction has
turned INTO very solemn condition.
Let rs tell first about the dog. BY
the irony Of things THIS first Of highly
trained dog thieves is a female. Her
name is Ami Won der Heinrich burg
She is German schaferhund sheep
dog. born at Hellingen, Welmar. Ger
many. on December 10, 1909. So she
is not five wears old
Ami comes from splendid line Of
German police dogs. and as the Ger
mans we're first 10 utilize dogs for po-
lice. war and llfcsaving purposes. this
lineage bespeaks years Of inherited
training. Anni's mother Is Reset Won
Jena Paradics. the champion female
dog Of Germany Her father was Sieg-
frien won Jena Paradies. another cham
pon.
ANN was trained from birth until
she was fourteen months old by the
Berlin police authorities. Then they
had 10 dispose Of hcr because she could
not get on with the other dogs. Aar'
was cleverest among them all. but her
Guarrclsouc tendencies made u lmpos-
,iblc for her to he retained IN 'un ken
rcls. There wasn't dog IN the Berlin
squad that she didn't fight and defeat.
Aud go hcr police career came - IN
ghrupt end. She went hack 10 the ken
ucls Of her first owner and spert three
YEAR I'm idlenees. so far as police actlv-
,'io, we're concerned Then she was
hrouch, 70 the United States for nXhi-
b'tiou purposes.
Irwin S. Cobb. who * writing Our
Mutual Girl scenarios. and Arthur
lanes. editor Of Our Mutual Girl.
heard Of Ami her antecedents and her
combaflvc tendencies. When they col
lahoratcd. the one as writer and the
other a. editor. they decided to work
Ami into tho film Naturally. a. the
first Of cx-policc dogs to turn thief
she ie an interesting pel,onage; second,
t would demonstrate what grave dan
Ger 10 society lies nm one Of these hi sh
IS tr,incd animals going 70 the bad" ;
bird. It would Prove that here was =
field Of animal oliver Twists that would
obey their Fagins and ask only for
more work
For seven weeks Anni's sensitive.
lighly trained police capabilities were
turned 10 another channel For fifty
consecutive days her regular physical
regimen was diet Of thievinC. She
was retaught all the habits her primi-
tive ancestors inherently possessed.
And ANN took 80 the course with an
ayIdity little short % startling
This IS the way she first was em-
ployed In tho film: Mrs knlckerbock,r
our Mutual Girls wealthy aunt. pur-
chases a 100000 necklace at Tffany's rs
her niece's birthday present. The aun'
j.. seen to buy the antique canoes by
the clever thief who owns Ami. He
follows Mrs. knickerbocker to her
home. marks the various ways Of in
gress and egress and then gets his dog.
In the meantime Mrs. Knick'rboekcr