Cattle/cow acts have always been quite popular in Europe, but never caught on here in American. Some would suggest that is because American audiences are not as "sophisticated". I would suggest one reason is we like to see the acts "do something."
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Circus Probst--Germany
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
Wade could you describe the Probst acts? From your comments I take it that the cattle act and the barnyard animal act aren't much more than the critters posing? Of course I've seen a few cat acts that were essentially, "Sit here. Sit here. Now sit here. Now lay down." Saw a payaso in in a show in Salvador a few years ago who two cows that payed futbol. The clown was the official. Pretty funny considering the cows did nothing but stand there and kick a soccer ball. --But it was the monologue and the wardrobe that sold the act.
Ben
Ben
Ben,
You are so right about some cat acts just sitting there. I have been trying to address, "what is training" for a long time. Look at all the pyramid pictures of old cage acts. And a pyramid is probably the easiest thing to teach them. How many, polar bears, tigers, lions, etc were fooled with for a couple of weeks to take a pyramid picture, and nothing more became of it. Yet we hold that up to a standard of excellence.
As for the other acts cattle and barnyard, nothing. It is the novelty. I also suggest there is not much they can be taught.
Wade
Agreed on pyramids. What combination of behaviors go into the "trick" and how is it trained? My explanation would be that we're talking about an extension of the basic work involved in seating. Once each step or stage in the pyramid is understood to be an interim seat a luring stimulus provokes a climbing response and once seated on the proper stage, there's a reward. The variable is the proximity of other animals, and that's not "trained" so much as it's about spatial tolerance and desensitizing -- something we all do with our dogs. Being slightly cynical I might suggest put forty cats on seats and pyramid arrays and you're halfway to calling yourself Clyde.
In fairness of course there more to it and hopefully some thought is given to groupings based on size, appearance, gender, species, and temperament.
Ben
Ben,
As long as you mention dogs, let me preface it this way. What is great training? Teaching a dog to sit, or training a Schutzhund? Teaching a Polar Bear, or any bear to walk on it's hind legs, or teaching a horse, or tiger to do the same behavior?
Wade Burck
This shot is certainly from the Probst show that tours in the western part of the country, and which I saw on its Christmas show at Gelsenkirchen, not too far from Dusseldorf not that long ago. Thus I recognise the logo at the back.
John.
Post a Comment