Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1909-03-05
THE NAUGHTY GOAT.

-~O~-~~~~~~-N~~D~
Although our grandfathers and per-
haps their grandfathers before them,
were amused by trained animals of one
kind or another, it is only recently that
goats have been educated" for exhibit
hon purposes. Horses, dogs, lions and
monkeys have been performing their
tricks in public for at least couple
Of centuries, but the trained goat, says
a successful modern trainer, is a pres.
ent day product. He is not hard to
train, 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 q different environ
ment. The same balancing power that
enables a goat to stand on a sharp
pointed rock enables it to stand on
the top of bottle, and the same agility
that helps it to leap from one rock
to another helps 1t to leap through a
paper-covered hoop or over rows of
chairs. The trainer patiently teaches
goat to balance, jump, stand on its
hind legs, and so forth, at certain def
mite signals, rewards it with a lump of
sugar when it is obedient, and whips
it 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 a 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
a 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-
hearsal it will try to dodge during the
performance, and instead of staying
quietly in its 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 a troupe of trained
goats that are quite unsupported by
the audience
Sometimes a goat gets so unmanage-
| a tboF tho fro ipa1s tO enlist thn
sympathy of the spectators by explain
ing matters. There was a trained goat
once that became day by day more and
more unreliable, until there came a 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
1t 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
there I've got a very bad goat. l DOM
want to punish him. You don't want
me to punish him, and he knows it
Goats are like children. If they're moi
punished just when they misbehave it'E
no use Furnishing them afterwards
With your permission, Pm going tt
} give this fellow one good touch of the
whip and make a well behaved goa
of him."
He held up a hoop for the goat tt
jump through. The goat merely looked
at it and then at the audience. Tht
trainer swung his whip and the lasE
curled sharply round the goats HIND
quarters With an expression of sur
prise and disgust the animal jumped
through the hoop.
THANK you, ladies and gentlemen,
said the trainer. "Now that goatll be
lieve that an audience is always oil
my side and 1 shall not have any NOR
trouble with him" Youths Com
, panion.