Devils Lake Inter Ocean

Pet animals.

Asked a reporter of a dealer.

"Such a variety of people like pets, said he, "and they like them in so many ways and for so many reasons, that it is hard to say which ones have the call. Perhaps it's the good hearted people, and then perhaps it isn't. The biggest price I ever got for a cat was $30, and that was from a man who would feel sore about giving 25 cents to a blood relation. He was a widower. One morning he came in here to collect a bill, and a fine Maltese of mine kept rubbing against his leg. The widower made believe not to notice the cat, but at last he looked up to me quite suddenly and said: 'I suppose a man has got to love something.' He said it as though it was a sort of hardship. Then he paid the price without grumbling.

"The wisest old chap that ever came into this store bought a terrier for a grandson of his who was a sort of an invalid.

'My grandson's mighty irritable,' said the old gentleman, 'and he is hard to live with, but if he gets interested in this pup, he's going to get well.' I have had quite a number of customers among people in poor health. They were mostly ladies. Some women take to pets because they think no one else will care for them, or because they have been disappointed in love and want to care for something that will show affection.

There is one curious difference between men and women about pets. A man will sometimes sell one when it gets sick, but a woman will hold on to it until it gets well or dies. Women that have the genuine love for animals seem to care all the more for pets that are sick. I have often sold them sick pets that they would not have fancied had the animal been well. A woman came here for a pug last winter, when I had advertised some very fine ones, but she concluded to take a spaniel that looked as though he wouldn't live a week. The dog got well and became the most affectionate animal I ever saw.

I am coldly distant to anything in the nature of a watchdog. I couldn't sell a watchdog if I allowed him too much familiarity on short acquaintance. Dogs intended to sell for pets must be kept just on the ragged edge of affection, as it were. If they show too much love for the dealer some ladies won't want them. I have had a tender-hearted lady remark that she wouldn't take a dog of mine because it would be cruel to part us. Of course, a circumstance of that kind injures a dealer's business.

"Artists prefer cats to other pet animals, and they are first rate judges. A large, finely-marked tortoise shell suits them well. I took in 20 from an artist one day for a superbly-marked mottled gray. It had what we call the night and day stain. Artists go strong on having a graceful cat. Now, all cats are graceful, but some have more of an easy movement than others, and some have more style. There are lots of people who think it makes things look comfortable to have a large cat around. Some of my biggest tabbies have been sold to people who cared more about getting a cheerful effect in their rooms than they did for cats.

Dogs do not seem to be in favor with musicians. A violinist once told me he couldn't keep them because their barking grated on his ear. But musicians don't seem to care for singing-birds any more than for dogs, and there is a belief in the trade that the only pet that goes well with musicians is a monkey. Monkeys and parrots are not genuine pets; they are curiosities. I have known monkeys to show great fondness for each other. But they do not care for human beings. A lady customer of mine has three of them. She says that none of them has shown any affection for her. She likes them partly because they amuse her and partly for a queer idea she has. She says she couldn't love a pet that returned her affection.

People learn to dislike pets for queer causes. A woman came here to swap off a pat terrier because he barked one day when she took off her wig. Another woman gave me back a monkey at half price because, she said, he made faces behind her back--she saw him in the glass. I told her that monkeys had a habit of making faces, and that it was necessary to their nature. And so it is. I've seen them go into a corner and make the most outrageous faces, without any apparent cause. But the old lady declared it was disrespectful. I had a parrot that had been educated by a sailor. When I told her about it she at once took a strong fancy to the bird because, she said, she thought she could reform it.

"I know a man that spent a year in teaching a monkey how to use eyeglasses. He assures me that every time the monkey hops up on his library table with a newspaper or stretches out in a chair with the glasses on he excites irresistible laughter. I didn't understand how the fun could be so lasting, until one day, when I went up to doctor the monkey. One look at him was sufficient. When you consider what awful faces a monkey can produce, even in his most serene moments and then imagine what he would be capable of developing with an eyeglass, you can gain an idea of the intrinsic value of such an animal."