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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



A Chapter of the Agassiz Association. (Incorporated 1892 and 1910.) The Law of Love, Not the Love of Law. 



How Animals are Taught Their Tricks. 



The training of animals, to teach 

 them to perform all sorts of entertain- 

 ing tricks, is a task that requires per- 

 haps a special talent on the part of the 

 trainer, but above all demands pa- 

 tience and a thoroughly methodical pro- 

 cedure. Let us begin with the dog, and 

 see how he is taught his tricks. We 

 commence with the simplest, and grad- 

 ually work up to the most complex 

 and apparently impossible feats. 



The first thing every dog must learn 

 is his name. Select a short, sharp- 

 bounding name, and stick to it. Never 

 call him anything else. If you have 

 several dogs, the name is taught on 

 the same principle. Divide their food, 

 and then, placing a piece on the ground, 

 call each in turn by his name, and give 

 him the food when he comes for it. 

 Send the others back if they come for- 

 ward out of their turn. By and by 

 they will learn that a certain name is 

 always associated with a certain dog. 

 Ramble among the dogs, and call out 

 one of their names every now and 

 then. If the right dog comes to you. 

 reward him with a piece of cracker. 

 Pay no attention to the other dogs. 

 They will learn very soon ; and the 

 first great lesson — dependence and 

 obedience — will have been learned. 



Having taught a dog to fetch and 

 •carry — which he will easily learn — the 

 next thing is to teach him to go and 

 get any object called for. Place a 

 glove on the floor; then say to the dog. 

 "Fetch the glove," putting the accent 

 on the last word. Then, when he has 

 done this several times, place a shoe 

 on the floor ; and teach him to fetch 

 this in a similar manner. Now place 

 both objects on the ground, and teach 



him to fetch either one, as asked for — 

 rewarding him when he brings you 

 the right one, and rebuking him when 

 he fetches the wrong, which you take 

 from him and replace. He will soon 

 learn to distinguish the articles, when 

 a third may be substituted, and so on 

 until a number are on the floor. You 

 should then go into the next room, tak- 

 ing the clog with you ; and send him 

 m to fetch any article you mention. 

 After a little time, he will bring you 

 the right one every time. 



Next, teach him differences in color. 

 Place a red object on the floor, and a 

 blue one beside it. Teach him to fetch 

 you the article called for as you did 

 before, being careful to reward him 

 every time he brings you the right 

 handkerchief. Then put down a green 

 object, a purple, a yellow one, and so 

 on ; until finally the needed array of 

 colors can be placed for selection. 



Next, he should be taught the ar- 

 ticles of furniture — table, chair, etc. 

 He must go to each one as you call out 

 its name. Finally, combine some of 

 the previous commands: "Place the 

 glove on the chair"; "Get the handker- 

 chief, and place it on the table," etc. 

 At first this should be said very slowly 

 and only half the command repeated 

 at once; but the halves of the sen- 

 tence may be gradually blended to- 

 gether, until you can sav it as you 

 would to any individual ; and the dog 

 will obey your command. 



To a certain extent, also, dogs may 

 be taught the letters of the alphabet, 

 the numbers of spots on cards, large 

 dominoes, etc. The method of train- 

 ing them is simply one of constant re- 

 petition. Cards bearing the letter or 

 number are placed in front of the dog, 



