16 AKT OF TRAINING ANIMALS, 



of these rewards whenever lie obeys your order, is really the 

 main secret of training. Of course there are many important 

 details in the practical application, and many clever devices 

 resorted to by trainers to increase the effectiveness of tricks, as 

 well as skillful combinations of simple tricks to produce elabor- 

 ate and astonishing feats. These we shall fully explain in their 

 proper places. 



To certain scents has sometimes been ascribed a mysterious 

 influence upon animals, rendering them docile and subservient 

 to the human will. To the use of these many persons imagine 

 trainers owe their success. Though some scents are relished 

 by certain animals, we doubt whether, as a rule, they have so 

 great a fondness for them as has been asserted. Certainly there 

 is no general use of them in the profession, though they may 

 have been sold to' the credulous by ignorant or unprincipled per- 

 sons, for this purpose, Oats are fond of catnip, and we know of 

 instances where kittens, displaying a violent resistance to being 

 carried in a basket, have been quieted by being given some leaves 

 of this herb. Animals no doubt receive pleasure from the grati- 

 fication of their sense of smell, but there is about as much 

 reason in conquering an um*uly school-boy by giving him a sniff 

 of cologne water, as in taming a colt by causing him to smell 

 that or any other perfume. 



To the oil of rhodium is most frequently ascribed the greatest 

 and most general mfluence over the animal kingdom^ almost all 

 animals, according to this theory being powerfully affected by 

 it. This is the ^^ horse taming secret " sometimes sold for con- 

 siderable sums. There is no good reason to believe it has any 

 i aportant influence over either the disposition or actions of 

 .my animal. 



The horse taming powders, composed of " a horse's com 

 grated, some hairs from a black cat's tail," and like absurd in- 

 gredients, are too nonsensical to deserve serious notice, though 

 once a staple part of the veterinary art, and still, possibly, be- 

 lieved in by a few persons. 



To a certain extent many animals are able to understand the 

 meaning of words. That is, if any particular word of command 

 be used in instructing an animal to do a particular act he will 

 learn to associate that word with the action, and be able to dis- 

 tinguish between a variety of words and apply each to the act 

 associated with it, without confusing them. In training animals 

 It is important that each word of command should be used only 

 in its proper place. The common habit ignorant drivers have 

 ijf using the words "back," " whoa," and others indiscriminately 

 'o absurd, and it is not wonderful that their horses sometimes 



