104 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
The lady was invited to come to Cornell University, 
which she did, making two visits of about a month 
each, and submitted to all the tests the Psychological 
Department could devise. 
The numbered cards were strewn on a rug; the 
lady knelt at one side of it and the dog stood at the 
other. His average of correct answers was nor¬ 
mally about eighty-five per cent or a little better, far, 
far above the possibilities of chance. After a little 
they put a low screen before her, hiding her hands 
and her body up to approximately the waist line. 
The dog’s average of correctness fell at first, then 
slowly came back to nearly normal. 
Then they used a higher screen, concealing all but 
her head and neck. His average fell way down, but 
improved somewhat, although it did not get back to 
much more than half his normal average. Re¬ 
storing the lower screen, it jumped to about 
normal right away. Photographs were taken, even 
motion pictures, without avail, until one photo hap¬ 
pened to show a little more plainly the very faint 
signal the dog was guided by—the slight involuntary 
movement of the lady’s head and her fixed gaze 
toward the proper card. Once noticed, the same 
slight movement was detected in other photos. 
Personally, I never saw an animal respond with 
any certainty to such a faint signal, though I judged 
a competition of trick dogs once and gave first prize 
