TRAINING DOGS FOR POLICEMEN.
By J. E. Whitby
[J. E. Whitby, in Modern Culture.] THE dogs are taught by means of dummy figures made up as much as possible to represent the thieves and dangerous characters they may be likely to meet. How much patience is needed by him who undertakes this particular form of education only those who have tried to train animals will properly appreciate. The dog must be trained to seek, to attack, to seize and to hold, but without hurting seriously. The first step is to place the dummy in such a position that it shall represent a man endeavoring to conceal himself. The dog soon understands that it is an enemy whom he must hunt, and enters heartily into this part of his lesson, but it is not so easy to teach him not to injure it. The teacher lowers the figure to the ground, and the dog learns that, tho he may not worry his prey, he must not allow his fallen foe to stir so much as a finger until the order is given. After the dummy a living model is used; and as this process is obviously not entirely without danger, the person chosen for this purpose is usually he who ministers to the pupil's creature comforts and for whom the canine detective is sure to entertain a grateful affection. Nevertheless he is prevented at first, by means of a muzzle, from an exhibition of too much zeal. Afterward the experiment is tried on other members of the force. In four months the dog's education as a policeman is considered complete, and he takes his place with the rest. The animals are also taught to swim and to seize their prey in the water; to save life from drowning; to scale steel walls, and to overcome all obstacles, so that any enterprising burglar who goes “a-burgling” in Ghent has a lively time of it if he meets with one of these four-footed “bobbies.” The dogs work so well and so conscientiously that their number is to be increased, and there is every probability that the plan will be adopted in other centers. Their keep comes to about three pence a day, and they cost the town altogether about sixty pounds a year, including their doctors and their tailors' bills.