The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-12-26
THE NAUGHTY GOAT.

maps their grandfathers before them.
were amused by trained animals of ono
Aino or another, it is only recently that
goats nave been educated" for exhibit
zion purposes. Horses, dogs, lions and
monkeys have been performing their
trlcks In public for at least couple
or centuries, but the trained goat, says
successful modern trainer, is a pres
ent day product. He is not hard TO
tram, but is often difficult to manage
In front Of an audience
AS in the case of all trained animals
the feats that look so remarkable on
the stage are really things that goat
does naturally in a different environ
ment. The same balancing power that
enables goat to stand on sharp
pointed rock enables it to stand on
the top of a bottle, and the same agility
mat helps 1t to leap from one rock
TO another helps it to leap through a
paper-covered hoop or over rows of
chalrs. The trainer patiently teaches
a goat to balance, jump, stand on it's
hind legs, and so forth, at certain def
mite signals, rewards it with a lump of
sugar when it is obedient, and whips
1t when it is obstinate. The result.
after long period of patient labor, is
goat that can be expected to do tricks
In public provided the trainer can keep
control of it.
But what makes the goat hard to
manage in public is something that
seems like sense of humor combined
with remarkable intelligence.
The goat learns that it's trainer does
not like to whip it at any time, because
a trained goat is too valuable to be
mistreated. But more than that, it
discovers that the trainer will not whip
goat in public. The audience would
invariably side with the goat. So the
moment the goat gets in front of the
audience it is likely to turn disobedient
Feats performed readily enough at re-
hearsai it will try to dodge during the
performance, and instead Of staying
quietly in it's place when not perform
Ing it will now and then plague the
trainer by trying to run away from
the stage and get back to the stable.
There are often minor changes in
the performance of troupe of trained
goats that are quite unsupported by
the audience.
Sometimes a goat gets so unmanage-
able that the trainer has to enlist the
sympathy of the spectators by explain
ing matters. There was trained goat
once that became day by day more and
more unreliable, until there came per-
Torrance when the educated animal re-
fused to do anything whatever. The
trainer was in despair, and the goat
apparently laughing at him. The goat
had to be disciplined. The man knew
it must be disciplined there and then,
or it would become utterly worthless,
and the training would have to begin
all over again. He turned to the au-
dience.
Ladies and gentlemen" he said,
"here I've got very bad goat. l don't
want to punish him. You don't want
me to punish him, and he knows it.
Goats are like children. If they're not
punished just when they misbehave it's
no use Furnishing them afterwards.
With your permission, I'm going to
give this fellow one good touch of the
whip and make a well behaved goat
of him."
He held up a hoop for the goat to
jump through. The goat merely looked
at it and then at the audience. The
trainer swung his whip and the lash
curled sharply round the goats hind
quarters. With an expression of sur
prise and disgust the animal jumped
through the hoop.
sThank you, ladies and gentlemen"
said the trainer. "Now that goatll be-
lieye that an audience is always on
INV side and shall not have any more
trouble with him."-Youth's Com
paniOn