REACHING DOGS TRICKS. 85 



TO SNEEZE. 



On a recent visit to a friend we came across a dog who would 

 sneeze in a most natural manner whenever his master said, 

 •^' Sneeze, Zip." This being the only example of a dog perform- 

 ing this trick which we had ever seen we desired our friend to 

 give u.s some particulars of the manner of teaching the trick, 

 which he obligingly did, to this effect : " One afternoon, havhag 

 nothing more important to do, I was amusing myself by bothering 

 Zip with a long feather which I poked in his face, to induce 

 him to snap at it. While doing this I by chance tickled his nose, 

 he immediately commenced sneezing. Once commenced, it 

 seemed as though he would never stop, and I said, rather sar- 

 castically, ' Sneeze, Zip.' I don't suppose my words had any 

 effect, but he certainly did sneeze ) this gave me- the idea of 

 teaching hi;n to repeat it at my bidding. Armed with my 

 feather I commenced operations ; tickling his nose gently each 

 thiie I repeated the command. He didn't like the feather very 

 well, and by-and-by, as though his imagination foreshadowed its 

 -effects, he would sneeze on having it pointed in close proximity 

 to his nose. At odd times when I had a little idle time on my 

 hands, I repeated the exercise, and the dog in a few weeks would 

 sneeze very creditably when I commanded. I was in the habit 

 of rewarding every first rate sneeze with a butter cracker, of 

 which Zip was very fond. Zip has since had the reputation of 

 suffering from severe colds in the head." 



This was the only speciaf accomplishment which Zip pos- 

 sessed, and whether this was the result of peculiarly sensitive 

 olfactory organs or his master's training we are unabte to say. 

 Of the merits of the latter we are not prepared to speak, having 

 never given the system an actual trial, but we should imagine 

 that such a course might succeed. 



TO SPEAK FOR IT. 



This may be taught either In connection with the preceding 

 trick, as a portion of it, or by itself. If the former, it is better 

 to let the dog thoroughly master the first part, begging, before 

 it is attempted to teach him to '^ speak for it." "Take a 

 piece of some article of food which he is fond of, and allowing 

 him to see it, command him to '^ speak for it !" Of course he 

 will not understand what you mean, and will probably only 

 gaze wistfully at the morsel. By-and-by he will grow impatient 

 and give vent to a sharp bark. The nioment he has done this 

 give him the article, for although he has not understood you he 

 has done what you desired^ and by rewarding him he learns that 



