COUNTERPUNCH LETTERS : More on Arnold the Pig

At the age of 11, I became the “assistant” to the late Donald Leon Smith, the trainer of countless animals for television and film, including Arnold the Pig (“Remembering Arnold: This Pig Was a Trouper Long Before ‘Babe,’ ” Calendar, April 29). Smith was a quiet, self-effacing gentleman who cared about spreading his natural animal training technique. Using a psychological model and isolating the process of operant conditioning, he used to say, “I can train a dog to stack marbles!” And he did: Arnold the Pig, chimpanzees, cockatoos, monkeys, Japanese deer and even koi carp. Smith patiently and diligently shaped the desired behavior through positive rewards, not threats and punishment.

But Smith’s legacy for me remains the tremendous impact on my life. Every time I see a child with a disability playing with one of the animals in the Bon View Animal Care Project at Bon View Elementary School in Ontario, I think of Smith. I give the credit for my field research on chimpanzees and my trip to Tanzania, East Africa, to study baboons to Smith. I would never have had the wonderful relationship I do with animals had it not been for him.

Thank you, Donald L. Smith, for the children at the school and from Arnold for your kindness and patience. I’m proud to say that my 9-year-old daughter, Roxanne, has continued Smith’s legacy of kindness and respect for all creatures, great and small.

CHRIS BUTLER

Ontario