Lola; Or, The Thought and Speech of Animals. Henny Kindermann
being of Bavarian descent.
"At the close of the meeting Rolf was told to name certain melodies, and a gentleman present whistled the beginning of the song 'O, Deutschland hoch in Ehren'—but the dog did not at once recognize the song and spelt out—'nogmal!' (i.e. noch einmal = once more!). Then the entire song was whistled to him and he spelt: 'heldons sdurm gbraus' (i.e. Heldensturm-gebraus) and, as he liked to hear singing, he added: 'Wagd fon rein singe, bid' ( = Watch on the Rhine sing, please!). The same gentleman then obliged him by whistling the 'Wacht am Rhein,' but he was not quite content, for—as he subsequently observed, 'this was not singing' (dis nid singt).
"At the close of his tests Rolf was rewarded with a cake which he promptly recognised as 'basllegrl' (Basler Leckerle = a Specialité of Bâle).
"'The Heidelberger Zeitung' commented on the performance as follows:
"'The astonishment of the audience increased with every moment, while their delight and enthusiasm at the close of this remarkable and interesting evening found vent in a storm of applause.'
"Another journal, the 'Badische General Anzeige' wrote:
"'The evening's performance must have converted many who before had been sceptical.'"
Even as there are numerous horses capable of exercising similar abilities, so too, is Rolf not a solitary example among dogs of his kind to profit by instruction. Indeed, many of his descendants are receiving tuition under the guidance of different instructors, and are giving a good account of themselves.
I will here add Professor Ziegler's Report:
"NEW REPORTS CONCERNING THE CALCULATING AND SPELLING DOG6
"By Professor Ziegler
"The descendants of the dog Rolf that have been trained by Frau Dr. Moekel,7 are now full grown, and several of them have acquitted themselves with success. These are the bitch Ilse, the two males, Heinz and Harras, and the bitch Lola, and I here purpose to set down the latest information about these animals. It is of great importance that the various persons under whose care these dogs were trained should—though independently of each other—have made similar observations. All investigators have reported the same astonishing memory, this affording the foundation for the dogs' feats in reckoning and spelling.
"As these reports come from persons resident at different places, who neither know, nor are in communication with each other, we here have the surest proof there is no secret or trick involved in the matter."
"A. Report on the Bitch Ilse
"Concerning Ilse, of whom a clergyman is the owner, Dr. Oelhausen has already given us some details in earlier numbers of our 'Communications'.7 He now sends me the following, which he received from Frau Dr. Moekel in the summer of last year. The reverend gentleman had left Ilse for a few hours at Frau Dr. Moekel's—as he had often done before—while he went into town to make some purchases. On this particular occasion Frau Dr. Moekel noticed that Ilse looked particularly depressed, and her little daughter, Carla, being disturbed about the dog's woe-begone air, said: 'Mummy, Ilse must be in trouble! Only see how serious she is!' So Frau Dr. Moekel asked the dog: 'Ilse, are you really sorrowful?' To which Ilse responded: 'Ja, hr hib.' ( = yes, Master beating!). Frau Dr. Moekel: 'But Ilse, I am sure your master is kind to you; you are imagining!'
"Ilse: 'bd'.
"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Bed? Ilse—have you a bed?'
"Ilse: 'Nein.'
"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'But where do you sleep?'
"Ilse: 'hols.'
"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Ilse, you poor little dog! Have you to sleep on the wood behind the stove?'
"Ilse: 'Ja!'
"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Then I'll tell you what to do, Ilse: you just get up on to your master's bed—he needn't have it all to himself.'
"Frau Dr. Moekel said later that she had not made this suggestion seriously, that, in fact, she had said it more to quiet Carla, and had soon forgotten all about it. But the next day the dog's master called again and complained of Ilse, saying: 'What do you think of this? Ilse is really getting unbearable—the beast got into my bed last night: there she was this morning—stretched her whole length!' And Frau Dr. Moekel had now to confess that she herself had instigated this lapse on Ilse's part.
"To this account Dr. Oelhausen has added: 'This statement has several points of interest. There is firstly the complaint about 'beatings,' and secondly the comparison drawn between her own nocturnal quarters and those of Rolf. It may also be noticed that she was very sparing of her words, using, indeed, no more than the merest 'essentials'! Then, observe the careful way in which she followed 'Mother's' advice—only getting into her master's bed after he was well asleep!'
"Another incident, the details of which were supplied to him by Ilse's master, has also been communicated to us by Dr. Oelhausen:
"'The clergyman had taken several of his village school-children for a walk, during the course of which he asked them the names of the various trees. Among these was one of which no child could tell the name. Ilse, his constant companion, was also of the party, and she now pressed forward with such marked interest that her master put the question to her too. At this Ilse started rapping and spelt out the correct name—the tree was a larch. Her master was greatly surprised at this, suggested, however, that it was probably less a matter of knowledge than of thought-transference, yet Dr. Oelhausen queries whether the dog might not have heard the name mentioned on some previous outing, and her master admits that this might have been the case.'
"We know the unfaltering tenacity with which the Mannheim dog, Rolf, remembers names, so that it would seem more reasonable to ascribe the spelling of the name to her excellent memory than to thought-transference, which would be quite as inexplicable and incomprehensible.
"To the above I may add one more incident touching Ilse, which I received from Frau Dr. Moekel on 25 May, 1915:
"'Ilse will prove valuable to us, for—though I have given her no instruction—her master has achieved the very same results with her as I have with Rolf.8 This is what took place the other day: My dear husband went to see our reverend friend and having arrived too early for Divine Service, seated himself on a high stone in the neighbourhood of the little church and not far from the parsonage. Our friend saw my husband and came out, accompanied by Ilse, to fetch him into the house. Ilse jumped up against my husband, wagged her tail, licked him—and showed so much exuberant affection that her master was quite surprised, and asked her:
"'Do you know this gentleman?' To which Ilse replied: 'No!' adding, as though as an after-thought—'Rolf!' She had evidently scented Rolf (who is her father and of whom she is very fond) about my husband's clothes'"
"B. Report on the Dog Heinz
"A second dog, by name Heinz, who came into the possession of Mr. Justice Leser in Mannheim, has proved himself to be an excellent arithmetician, and this without ever having been worried with instruction. In the same way as Rolf he gives two raps for 'yes' and three for 'no,' while four express that he is 'tired.'
"Mr. Justice Leser reports:
"If I ask Heinz whether he will do arithmetic he invariably raps "2," even though sometimes accompanying his assent with a yawn. I am generally obliged to hold out the prospect of some reward as an inducement to do his sums. I should have preferred his rapping against some article one could hold in one's hand, or that he could be induced to "rap out" on a board setting forth the numbers, and which might be placed on the floor before him; but to neither of these alternatives will he agree, having since his earliest youth learnt to rap in the same way as Rolf does. He will, however, not only rap for me, but for any person he knows well, solving such problems as: 3 + 4 - 6, or √121 + 3, or 14/2 + 4, or 32, and he seldom makes a mistake, even when the sum he may be asked merely resembles the form of arithmetic he has learnt. But he generally gives up after two or three sums and is generally distracted. He can read the figures too, and generally