I thought that you would probably like to see how I got the goats to wear their costumes and look so angelic.
I’m a pretty decent animal trainer. I readied myself with a sliced banana, a food that they love but get rarely. When I train, I tell them when they’ve done what I want with a sound marker – a clicker – which enables me to communicate with precision. I slipped the clicker (that I have attached to a bracelet) onto my wrist. I brought the props and the treats into the barn. The goats are always excited to see me. They’re always optimistic that something good, or at least interesting is going to happen.
However, to be a really good animal trainer you must think through every, small step. Perhaps I hadn’t had enough coffee. Perhaps I was being a tad casual about this. I had carried the bananas out to the barn in a plastic bowl, which I set down onto a fence post while I organized the costumes. I turned my back on the goats.
Pip tipped it onto the other side of the fence. As the saying goes, Close, but no banana. Given the opportunity, he won’t make that mistake again.
The halos were surprisingly easy to get on the goats. I rewarded the boys for wearing them and they didn’t seem to mind.
However, at one point Caper was wearing both halos. I have no idea how that happened. He didn’t get double treats.
The next step was to get the wings on. Once again, the goats were enthusiastic.
Before the photo shoot, I hadn’t actually checked to see if the wings fit. As it turned out, the elastic straps didn’t stretch as far as I had thought they would (perhaps I underestimated the boys’ rotundity?) The best that I could do was to lay the wings onto their backs, which was not the look that I was going for.
Their was a brief moment when all of the stars aligned and wings and halos were on, but it didn’t last.
Besides, having their wings on required me to hover over the angels, which marred the angelic goat image that I was trying to get. (By the way, notice that one “angel” has his nose in the treat bag.)
In the end, I decided that a photograph of the goats wearing only the halos was as angelic as I could get. A better trainer (and elastics that fit the goats’ bellies) would have been able to get them fully winged. But, who cares? We all had fun.
(If you missed it, the Angelic Goats photograph is in yesterday’s post.)
Thank you so much for sharing all these photos….love “behind the scenes” stories that you share. The boys looked so angelic (with or without wings). Happy Halloween!
I love their short little legs!
And they say hearding cats is difficult! Great pics.
What fun. I was imagining how the dressing evolved. The pictures are great. It must have been quite the circus, but with great results. You probably had as much fun as the goats. Terry you are the Angel that provides so many of us a bright spot in every day!! Happy Haunting.
Too good! Love Caper looking at Pip wearing his wings like a saddle as if to say ” No, no, no silly goat. Let me show you how it is done”.
All three of you look great. I recall dressing up a friend’s dressage horse for (the horse’s) birthday. We put a dime store tiara on her, hot pink leg warmers, a giant pink sparkly tutu and we even temporarily glued giant (and I mean giant) false eyelashes about a half inch above each eye. The horse, a pale grey, was completely unphased by the whole thing. Somewhere I have a photo of her out in a paddock with three other ‘normally dressed’ horses, just looking like a deranged prom queen the day after…
Animals are the best.
Oh no! Don’t give me any ideas! I’m looking at a horse on Saturday. I will not breathe a word of what you said, or he won’t want to come home with me. (But if you have a photo, please scan and email to me.)
I happened to tune in to hencam.com just as the goat maid and photographer were busy with the boy’s Halloween photo shoot. For the most part I thought the score was Pip and Caper: 8; Terry and Steve: 2, but when posted I was amazed at the great pictures of the boys. You would have thought that they had been complete angels throughout the whole adventure. By the way, the funniest part was watching the girls all lined up along the fence watching the action. Beatrice was particularly enthusiastic.
It’s ALL about the food. lol
Ha Ha they look so cute!
These pictures are wonderful! I loved yesterday’s final picture, but seeing all the action is even better. You are so loving and patient and your efforts definitely paid off. They are adorable! I love the final shot with your smiling face and your two angels. Thanks for generously opening up a window into your life. Your farm is so fun and inspiring. ♥
I agree with some of these comments that although yesterdays photos were lovely, today’s behind the scene photos were really fun. I really enjoyed seeing the action and how clever the goats are at finding the treats themselves. I loved the whole post, thank you and happy Halloween.
Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes story and action! Although I agree the angels were the best pick for Halloween costumes……. the Boston Red Sox hats and beards sure would have been very timely, and appropriate! Congrats on the World Series win!!!!!!!!!
And all this time I thought yesterday’s photos were “photo shopped” because I could not see the bands underneath the halos. Now I know all the trouble you went to make the halos look real!
Hencam still my favorite place to come because you never know what your going to get. I love the laugh days. You are gifted enough to make my laughs come from somewhere deep within and it’s audible. Thanks so much. People need to laugh more. The boys are so charismatic. Pics are great esp. last one. Have a great Halloween Little Pond.
Such sweet, rotund, pain-in-the-butt angels!
I think these two goats are going to need much bigger wings to fly ;)
Congrats to Steve for capturing these enduring and charming halloween photo shoot of the boys! The boys seemed to be having a jolly good times. Thanks for sharing the photos, Terry.
So cute! Who knew goats could be so photogenic!
This is great. I got a good laugh. Oh those boys…always into something lol
Oh my goodness, those guys are hilarious! Those angel costumes just suit them. Happy Halloween Everybody! :-)
Best laugh I’ve had all week! Even when they’re being Naughty Angels, the goat boys can’t help but be adorable. Thank you for sharing.
Oh my gosh. You do have your hands full with those two boys. That was hilarious! The great behind-the-scenes photos paired with perfect commentary just completely cracked me up. Thank you for sharing.
Nothing better than goats in costume! :) Ha ha! Thanks for sharing!
Hi Terry, Your goat angels are adorable! Isn’t it an interesting adventure to share your world with goats?! We have 3 Nigerian Dwarfs and we love our boys … There’s not a day goes by that they don’t do something comical or silly … Curious souls, they are ! Love your blog ;-)