"That's not my dog, so something else is in my garage," Probst remembers thinking as she went to investigate with her wildly barking golden retriever Sasha.

A mountain goat stared back at them from the empty bay.

"I thought it was a pet goat," she said after first seeing the furry creature.

Probst opened the garage's other bay door hoping to give the goat an escape route, but the critter went farther inside. It soon leaped onto the hood of the pickup truck parked in the second bay.

The goat started walking in circles on the hood, lowering its horned head and stomping a hoof on its metal perch, she said.

After Probst tied up the dog and called for an animal control officer, she grabbed a camera - in case her insurance company doubted a goat-related coverage claim, if needed.

An animal control officer arrived to survey the situation, informing Probst and her family that this was in fact a wild goat, a 1 1/2 -year-old critter, part of the state's growing Rocky Mountain goat population, that likely wandered down from Mount Timpanogos. The officer called in a Division of Wildlife Resources team to de-goat the garage.

Probst and her kids watched their wild guest until DWR employees arrived.

After looking at the garage, a DWR worker brought out a long, black tube and blew a tranquilizer dart into the goat's neck, she said.

The moment the dart hit, the goat jumped up onto the cab, Probst said. About 30 seconds later, the goat lost consciousness.

Scott Root, the DWR's Central Region conservation-outreach manager, said the team wanted to test out the blow gun, a new piece of equipment.

Craig Clyde, a DWR wildlife biologist, eased the goat down into the pickup's bed to check its heart rate and attached an earÂtag, Root said.

A reversal drug was administered and the goat was moved from the undamaged pickup into a horse trailer.

"We're not quite sure why a goat would go and do this," Root said, explaining that goats usually stay above 10,000 feet in the summer. "Bottom line is it's actually a mystery."

In rare cases, goats have been known to roam up to 100 miles to reach a new mountain range, Root said.

It's possible the stray was heading for new digs.

The DWR team drove up the mountain and let the goat loose at the Timpooneke Trailhead at an elevation of about 7,100 feet.

"It certainly was an exciting day," Probst said.

glavine@sltrib.com