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Not only does the amount of reason vary with different species but with different individuals of the same species, and much of the trainer’s success will depend on the judicious selection of his pupil. Professional trainers take the utmost pains in this selection, and they usually consider that the descendants of an educated animal have, by inheritance, a greater aptitude for learning than others.

The young trainer must not fall into the mistaken notion that mere quickness in picking up a trick is the best quality in an animal. There may be such a thing as learning a lesson too rapidly, and what is learned with but slight effort is sometimes forgotten with equal readiness. Another thing, too much should not be expected of one pupil. Public exhibitors are able to show a large array of tricks because of the number of animals they have, each, as a rule, knowing a comparatively few of these tricks, or, in the case of some of the “sensation” tricks, perhaps only one. Still any animal of ordinary capacity ought, with proper tuition, to be able to learn a sufficient variety to satisfy a reasonable trainer. Judicious management on the part of the exhibitor will often make a variety of tricks out of a single one which the animal has been taught; an example of this is afforded by the “educated hog.”