If there were any way to prove goats could dream, it’s likely they’d dream about Greg Sheehan’s goat palace, Slippery Hill Farm, in Kirkland.

Sheehan’s pair of Nigerian dwarf goats, Benny and Cooter, reside in comfort and tranquility in the basement of Sheehan’s house. They have their own room, a television and a radio, and Sheehan has set up a camera so he can watch the goats on his television upstairs.

“They’re my boys,” he said

Benny and Cooter are 10 years old, and moved in after Sheehan and his wife, Cindy, retired from more than 30 years in the floral business.

“I wanted to get a little pet,” Sheehan said. “I didn’t want a dog, and I wanted something self-sufficient and not really expensive.”

When the weather is nice, the retired couple put small dog harnesses on the goats and take them for walks. The goats have a particular taste for blackberry bushes, Sheehan said, meaning they tend to seek out brambles while on excursions.

Benny and Cooter often get mistaken for dogs, given their small size and coloring.

“We go for walks through the neighborhood,” Sheehan said. “We’ll draw stares, slow down cars and parents will grab cameras. If there are kids with them, they ask, ‘Can we come pet the goats?'”

Sheehan, 74, brings the goats to the Juanita Farmers Market in the summer, something he says he enjoys. He and his wife help the goats into a van, and set up temporary fencing. He sees it as an opportunity to educate people on exactly how smart goats can be.

See, not only do Benny and Cooter live a life of luxury, they happen to be award-winning for things like best owner-and-goat lookalike (Sheehan grows his beard to match Cooter’s white fur) and best tricks at the Goatalympics every summer.

The Goatalympics are held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds each July, and are a fundraiser for New Moon Farm, a goat rescue and sanctuary in Arlington.

“They have footraces for them, and on- and off-leash obstacle courses,” Sheehan said. “I enter my little boys, and we’ve won 18 ribbons. Cooter is a three-time blue ribbon winner in best tricks.”

While most goats entered in the tricks competition can step through a hoop or other similar gimmicks, Sheehan is of the belief that goats are capable of much more — and Cooter takes things to the next level.

“I’ll ask him questions,” Sheehan said. “I’ll say, ‘Cooter, if you have seven goats and take four away, how many are left?’ And he’ll take his hoof and count to three.”

Cooter can pull similar tricks in Spanish, while Benny is working on wowing the crowd with his looks.

“I’m trying to teach his brother to smile on command,” Sheehan said. “He did fairly well last year, though it was pretty new for him. He got fourth in that.”

Sheehan will entice his goats with salty peanuts, “or grapes, they love grapes.”

Meals for Benny and Cooter are often hand-prepared by Sheehan himself, and the boys keep a regular schedule: breakfast each morning, then they’ll bed down and chew their cud until early afternoon.

And while they may be self-sufficient, the two do need a certain level of care, Sheehan said, meaning Benny and Cooter get sitters when the “old goat” goes away for a few days. The boys also get their shots every so often, and regularly see the vet — all tasks Sheehan didn’t have much experience in before adopting the goats.

“We might have had a kitten [when I was young,] but we lived in an apartment,” he said. “But I’d go down to a farm, occasionally, where my aunt and uncle lived, and I found it fascinating.”

Now, Sheehan lives in a small piece of woodland paradise, where tall trees and greenery fill the view from the back deck. A little brown squirrel makes regular visits to the feeder in the front courtyard, and the noises of busy Kirkland and Redmond don’t quite break through and disrupt the serene existence.

Sheehan says he’s happy with his little section of nature, but the boys downstairs might have it better.