San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-08-02

IMAGINE holding a flfteen-mlnute
conversation with your dog every day
and having it tell you the correct time,
forecast the next three days weather, the
pitch of a musical note and that you
smell Gross or "sad."
These things are hard to believe and
vet Miss Kenny kindermann, in her re-
cent book, lola, or the Thought and
Speech of Animals" asks her readers to
believe that she has done these things
and very much more astonishing ones.
While it is almost incredible that dog
can think. frame sentences and spell them
out with its paw, still it is just as hard
not to believe in the sincerity of Miss Kin
hermann.
The conversations were carried on in
German. the native tongue of both the dog
and the author, but have been translated
into English and published by Methuen &
Co., of London. Lola is an Airedale.
When Miss Kindermann had purchased
this two-year-old female dog, she began
to teach it arithmetic.
holding up fingers and putting down
pieces of sugar while at the same time she
called out the numbers they represented.
In three days, Lola was able to give the
correct number of pawtaps up to ten and
there for a while she stuck and her
teacher shifted to addition and subtraction
within the limit of ten.
To get beyond ten it was later neces-
sary to teach the dog to use the left paw
for decimals and the right for units.
Eventually she learned the numbers up
to 100, addition, subtraction, multiplied
ton. division and could even extract the
cube root of small numbers. All this
was interesting and important only in that
it gave promise of further possibilities.
Then came the great test, the alpha
bet. A chart was made with the twenty
six letters and the diphthongs, which are
very important in German, and under
each one a number The dog was told to
tap with her paw as many times as the
number under each letter indicated. Miss
Kindermann writes that Lola learned the
alphabet, not perfectly, but fairly well, IN
two lessons Of fifteen minutes each.
Apparently dog and probably any OF
the lower animals has far better memory
than a child and ran learn much faster,
If YOU can only make the beast under
stand what is wanted and if you can do
something that is often more difficult, get
and hold its wavering and capriciOus IN
terest. After the alphabet came spelling
lessons, simple words, Of course, which the
dog already knew and was interested IN,
such as dog, eat, rat, meat, eat, run, bite,
etc Capital letters were not attempted
and the dog was allowed 10 Use her own
form Of simplified spelling according to
the way the words sounded to the canine
ear.
Once thoroughly learned, Lola never
forgot the number Of any letter but her
teachers memory was not as good and
she had TO keep the chart around for her
own use in interpreting the pawtaps.
From now on the progress depended on a
background which many another dog has
acquired, the understanding Of human
conversation.
Passing over the earlier chapter Of the
book, which explain how the dog was
started on the simplest sentences and
brought by degrees TO more complicated
ones and even abstract thoughts, we come
toward the END, 70 fascinating chaplef
entitled: "A variety Of answers which
purport to show the actual workings Of
the dog mind.
why DIES Lola like going in the
woods? This question brought a prompt
reply: Where there is wood there is also
deer and hare"
One day the following frank and il
Illuminating conversation went on between
the Airdale and its mistress:
Q.-Lola, what was it that ran away
from you on the meadow?
A cat
Q.-Whst did you want 10 do with the
poor cat?
A-Kill.
Q.-Have you no pity?
A-kot