The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals: A Book of Personal Observations

TREATMENT. "I fed him, washed his hands, face and feet twice a day, and brushed and combed his hair,--which he would try to do himself whenever he got hold of the brush or comb. He soon got to like all this. TRAINING. "My next idea was to teach him to be strictly clean in his habits. It was my ambition to be able to have him upstairs in our house as an ordinary member of the household. I taught him first as a child is taught and handled. This took some time. At first I could not make him understand what we expected of him, even though I always petted him and gave him grapes (of which he was especially fond), but I think at first he imagined that this treatment was a punishment. At first, without other reasons, he would roll on the floor and shriek, but directly he understood what was expected of him he soon learned, and began to behave excellently. "This training occupied quite six weeks. About February, 1919, we took him out of his cage, and allowed him the freedom of the house. Thereafter he would run upstairs to the bathroom of his own accord, turning the doorknob of whatever room he was in, and also opening the door of the bathroom.... He would get out of bed in the night by himself, go back to bed, and pull the blankets over himself quite neatly. FOOD. "John's appetite seemed to tire of foods very quickly. The only thing he stuck to was milk, which he liked best when warmed. We began by giving him a quart a day, rising to three and one-half quarts a day. I found that he preferred to choose his own food, so I used to prepare for him several kinds, such as bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, raisins, currants, dates and any small fruits in season, such as raspberries or strawberries, all of which he liked to have warmed!