296 SENSITIVENESS. 



Dogs and other animals have an equally keen sense of 

 man's disapproval, as expressed by rebuke, reprimand, re- 

 proof, reproach or any .other form of Uame, especially if this 

 blame be merited on their part. Scolding in all its forms 

 produces a remarkable, immediate and sometimes even a 

 serious effect. Distress may be extreme and disproportionate, 

 for instance, in sporting dogs. Things only said of a dog by 

 a master, if his expressions take the form of blame, at once 

 produce sometimes shame or dejection (Watson). His re- 

 proving looks are equally well understood. Some dogs are in 

 misery so long as they feel or see themselves under a master's 

 displeasure. In other words, just as pleasure is the result of 

 man's approval, pain is the effect of his disapproval. Man's 

 blame may be conveyed in specially offensive and irritating 

 ways, in taunts or upbraidings, associated with ridicule or 

 sarcasm, in which case the moral result is much more serious 

 than in ordinary reproof. Sarcastic taunts are only too apt 

 to sink deeply into, and to rankle in, the minds of highly 

 sensitive animals. 



A lady writer in the ' Animal World ' tells us that her 

 dog e dreads words of displeasure even more than the whip,' 

 and this appears to be the case with many other dogs. In 

 other words, moral reproof or punishment is frequently felt to 

 be more severe than that which is simply or directly physical; 

 and what may appear to be a purely bodily punishment 

 has its moral effect, being regarded even by the animal 

 culprit as an expression of man's displeasure. Highly 

 trained dogs, that are intimately associated with cultivated 

 man, have a great and salutary dread of his reproach, ver- 

 bal or other. 



As has been already stated, encouragement is of the highest 

 importance in the training and treatment of animals useful 

 to man, and it is important to note how simply, with how 

 little trouble to man, in how many different ways this can be 

 accomplished. There are very few animals that do not 

 require to be, or that are not, at least, the better for being 

 cheered in various ways in the execution of tasks or work 

 that must be most uncongenial. The necessary or desirable 

 kindly cheering can be effected equally well, in different cases, 



