TEACHING DOGS TRICKS. 93 



fore paws, his head not necessarily touching the ground. To 

 teach the trick, provide yourself with a switch twenty inches 

 in length, and moderately stout. This switch, held in your 

 right hand, you place under the dog's belly, and while you raise 

 up his hind quarters with it, you place your left hand on his 

 he-ad to keep him from moving away, and to make him retain 

 his reversed position. As the dog rises into position the switch 

 should be gradually carried along until it supports his hind feet. 

 This is the process for the first few lessons, until the dog under- 

 stands what is required ; after that it is better merely to tap 

 his ankles from in front with your switch, giving at the same 

 time whatever order you have accustomed him to in teaching 

 the trick. He should eventually take the position without any 

 hint or help from the switch. 



When the preceeding trick is thoroughly mastered, the walk- 

 ing part may be easily added. Taking your position a little in 

 front of your pupil when he is in his upside-down position, you 

 encourage him to come to you. At the same time you must 

 keep your switch in handy proximity to his toes, which you tap 

 lightly on any signs of his relinquishing his position. 13y-and-by 

 he may be made to walk quite a distance. 



TO " SING." 



When a dog howls in time, we think it fair to call his per- 

 formance '^ singing.'' Dogs may be taught to do this ; at least 

 they have been, and it is reasonable to presume it may be done 

 again. In only one case of this kind do we know positively 

 the mode of tuition, but it was probably pretty much the same 

 in all cases. This consisted in keeping the dog without food 

 until his appetite was quite sharp. When food was shown him, 

 he naturally whined for it. Now, a dog may be made to whine, 

 bowl, or bark, if you make any of those noises yourself; almost 

 any dog will imitate you, and not only that, but the pitch and 

 style of noise he makes will be somewhat regulated by that 

 made by you. The hungry dog is in prime mental condition 

 for this exercise, and if rewarded when he hits pretty near upon 

 the right degree of noise, he will learn to follow your tones 

 quite accurately. If exercised in a regular scale, or in a sim- 

 ple tune, he will by-and-by go through it without requiring 

 your prompting, with sufficient accuracy to be recognized — if 

 the hearers know beforehand what melody to expect. 



It is not pretended, of course, that dogs trained as above de- 

 scribed, do anything but repeat a series of noises mechanically 

 in a prescribed rotation. We find recorded, however, one in- 

 htance of a dog learning to discriminate between the different 



