TO DANCE.
A dog is generally considered sufficiently accomplished in this “graceful and agreeable art” when he has learned to hop around on his hind legs, and to keep turning completely around at short intervals. There are several modes of arriving at this result, the most simple of which is, probably, to take a long switch, after the dog has learned to stand erect, and to this switch attach a piece of meat. With this you can trace out in the air, in tempting proximity to his nose, the figures you wish him to take, and you may depend upon his instinct leading him to follow the motions of the switch. This may seem rather an absurd plan for initiating your pupil into the mysteries of the ball-room, but it is nevertheless one of the most effective that can be devised. The dog should be rewarded with the meat after he has danced enough to fairly earn it, and after a few lessons the switch may be used without any bait attached. He will at first follow its motions in the hope that there is something attached, and if he be rewarded for doing so, he will soon comprehend that following the switch means meat by-and-by. If he is dressed up in feminine apparel, as is generally done at public exhibitions, the absurd figure he cuts, and the ridiculous caricature of a lady “tripping the light fantastic toe” which he presents, is extremely laughable.