All this on the common supposition that the primates do imitate, that a monkey in the place of these cats and dogs would have pulled the string. My apology for leaving the matter in this way without experiments of my own is that the monkey which I procured for just this purpose failed in two months to become tame enough to be thus experimented on. Accurate information about the nature and extent of imitation among the primates should be the first aim of further work in comparative psychology, and will be sought by the present writer as soon as he can get subjects fit for experiments.
In a questionnaire which was sent to fifteen animal trainers, the following questions were asked:—
1. “If one dog was in the habit of ‘begging’ to get food and another dog saw him do it ten or twenty times, would the second dog then beg himself?”
2. “In general is it easier for you to teach a cat or dog a trick if he has seen another do it?”
3. “In general do cats imitate each other? Do dogs? Do monkeys?”
4. “Give reasons for your opinion, and please write all the reasons you have.”
Five gentlemen (Messrs. R. C. Carlisle, C. L. Edwards, V. P. Wormwood, H. S. Maguire and W. E. Burke) courteously responded to my questionnaire. All are trainers of acknowledged reputation. To these questions on imitation four replied.
To the first question we find the following answers: (a) “Most dogs would.” (b) “Yes; he will very likely do it. He will try and imitate the other dog generally.” (c) “If a young dog with the mother, it would be very apt to.... With older dogs, it would depend very much upon circumstances.” (d) “He would not.”
To 2 the answers were: (a) “Very much easier.” (b) “It is always easier if they see another one do it often.” (c) “This would also depend on certain conditions. In teaching to jump out of a box and in again, seeing another might help, but in teaching something very difficult, I do not think it would be the case.” (d) “It is not.”