Open post
Sam and Border Collie,Blade look for wild geese

Changes to Wild Goose Control with Border Collies

Seasons change and so does our interaction with wild life. As human development of land continues, wild life, geese included have to adapt. Humans change ,or don’t the way we think about bears coming to our bird feeders or wild geese defecating on beeches and play grounds and deer eating vast amounts of farm crops. Weather your making your living raising food for people to eat or you just want to feed song birds you might have a different perspective from some one who does not. Thing is, we all gotta eat, I personally don’t want my food coming from a factory. But this is more about how we keep golf courses from being overrun by wild goose poop and 6th grade soccer players safe from protective daddy geese who raise their young next to that soccer field.

Right now, things are changing. The weather is indeed changing,  you may have noticed. This impacts wild life to the point of behavior pattern changes. Early last winter the geese didn’t leave! Why? because it was unusually warm in December. We got called back by a number of clients after we had suspended service for the winter. In some cases clients had hundreds of geese which had gathered to “migrate” and did not until after Christmas. I even was told that one community lake which when it finally did freeze over, that geese got frozen to the surface. In all my years doing this, that is a first. Changing weather patterns, weather extremes play a role in other changes to geese behavior, which I can talk about another time.

The Pandemic I think played a role in what we are dealing with with wild goose control. No matter where we go with our Border Collies in the states we operate in, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut the fluctuation in people being not around at all to being ever present I am sure has effected geese in parks and other public places. How could it not! Wild Canadian Geese are very adaptive to humans but that doesn’t mean they like being around us. I will leave it there and let you come to your own conclusions.

I will end with a short story from a goose control visit last spring. A community park we work is surrounded on all sides by town roads and then homes. It is a quiet enough place but there is still traffic going slowly, people mowing lawns and walking dogs and pushing babies and kids playing basketball in the small parks as well as people fishing. The geese can poop up the parks quickly, pollute the lake if their numbers get high, denude peoples lawns confront people and so on. Its our job to keep the number of geese down by herding the geese with our Border Collies to train the geese to stay away or stay out of the peoples way.

One day last spring geese were just about to enter the lake from a small park. I was kayaking with our seven year old Border Collie, Blade in front of my seat. I told Blade to jump out swim the little way to shore and then move in on the right of the geese while I paddled to the left. This maneuver usually sets the geese to fly off. Just then a man and a women show up with bags of bread. They start feeding the geese. I tell Blade to stop, he does. The geese are near a road and in the road and cars have to stop and people walking and walking dogs are not shore where to go to safely get by. The drivers are not sure what to do as well. Meanwhile the couple keep feeding the thirty odd geese flinging white procced bread all over the road and road side. I call Blade back to the kayak and I give up for that day.

While differing attitudes toward wild life and pets for that matter are nothing new. I think the heated stance that we see some folk take is new. There are so many factors that play upon all aspects of how we live that simple solutions may be counterproductive. Wild goose control, a non lethal and a traditional solution at its core, is one tool to help us reduce conflict with wild geese in a changing world.

Open post
Goose Control works best with a Border Collie that has a good head on his or her shoulders.

Border Collies Spring into Goose Control

In the North East this year Spring seems to be a bit unusual. Sure we think of April to be a “tease”. But the amount of rain and cold weather seem to be more pronounced. The late snow in some spots seems almost crazy. For some of us this seems a distraction. But what about wildlife and outdoor activity and even farming? Yesterday after a snow fall in the Hudson Valley in New York I saw more than one person at a red light, jump out to remove several inches from their wind shields. I with two of our Border Collies, Moses and Tru had been coming back from a mornings goose control. We had not seen much for geese but one sad looking pair of Canadian Geese huddled at an end of a lovely suburban Lake. Snow was on the ground and the temperature was in the thirties.

How does wild life, like geese cope with drastic weather and severe weather changes? How do farmers grow our food in drought and overly wet conditions? When our sons played school sports, of course a late snow meant a disappointing stoppage to the baseball season. All the geese we had seen on goose control trips the days before the late snow seemed to have vanished except for that one sad looking pair of geese. I am sure they were around, and not too far away. When snow fall happens in earlier Spring, geese seem to fly off to not too far away more spring like conditions. This would be places that do not have snow or iced up ponds. In the North East conditions due to weather can be changeable in a matter of an hours drive. That is not an unrealistic flight for geese.

Here at our home with its small farm, we not only feed the dogs, sheep, chickens and farm ducks, but in the colder, cooler months, we feed the wild song birds. if you don’t do that, you may never have seen the huge jump in feeding birds at a feeder before a very cold night or storm. They need extra food to stay warm. Actually, this is true for sheep and poultry and other farm animals. It is nature’s way. When people now a days don’t understand how farm animals can be outside in cold weather they don’t understand nature. Or we ignore it and don’t consider all the impacts to wild creatures.

How do we live with nature and wild life and make a place for our human society as well?

That last one is way over the top and something that world wide conferences are designed for. What we can focuses on is how do we keep the bear away from the garbage, the wild geese off the play ground and the wild birds flu from killing our egg supply.

I pulled up in our SUV with the kayak and Border Collies to a golf course pond. Ten geese were feeding next to a green. I let the two Border Collies, Blade and Tara out and called them beside me. Blade to my right and Tara to my left. I said “Blade away” and “Tara come by”, and both dogs ran out in their respective directions to get to the other side of the wild geese. The geese feeling the “pressure” from Blade and Tara felt uncomfortable, started honking, thought to go into the pond, but this time, flew away over the golf course and out of sight. Blade and Tara ran back happily to me. They had done their job, and very well, its what Border Collies live for. And those wild geese I am sure could find somewhere else to feed, live and be.

Open post
Skye a border Collie practicing her herding with farm ducks.

New Dog Old Dog Goose Dog Farm Dog

Living with dogs has been one of the blessings of my life. Working with these dogs on our little farm, homestead, has been joy with lessons in life, nature and about myself. My family and I have had dogs as long as Lori and I have been married, that is now past 30 years. Our first dog was from an ASPCA where we lived in Rhode Island. Chelsea was a wonderful dog to live with and fitted into the small outdoor farm museum I ran. She kept the fox away from the chickens, mostly and the many groundhogs out of the fields and gardens. She moved with us to The Berkshires and our sons played with her and she did the same helpful work that mix breeds can do at my new job, another “historical farm.” She began to age and before she was 13 we made that sad decision.

Chelsea was the first dog in line of what has become mostly Border Collies in our lives. I call their life span “part of the deal”. I live with and work with the dogs we have, care, love and respect them all and dreed their final days. But the bonds and joy we have through our years together I am completely grateful for. As someone who has “bought into” farming with herding dogs not to mention working with them with goose control, the Border Collies are an indispensable part “of the crew”. Traditional sheep and cattle farmers will say that these dogs, guardian(for predators) dogs too make their operations possible. These dogs do the job of tending sheep and cattle, we herd our poultry in and to pasture, better than many humans and save the very little margins farmers have.

So here we are in 2022 and we have 5 dogs, one is a rehome mix breed. Our family just “lost” two dogs in the last months, very heartbreaking, one to old age. Jim was on his third home here, living with us for seven years. Independent Border Collies can be a mouthful to live with and work with. Modern Americans think of Border Collies as being intelligent and maybe hyper. Both those qualities are as in most things, only part of the story. And individuals in a breed add on their own stuff. Dogs personalities are so important to understand. It makes for a happier life together and is utmost when training/teaching dogs. Border Collies and other working dogs are born with instincts that “drive” them. It is important to understand each dog’s instant set and understand the individual dog as well.

On one hand I was not ready for a new dog or puppy in our lives or to train for the farm and goose control. Jim and the other dog Skye who passed late last year left a hole that needed  healing. But I looked at the work ahead of us this year and for the years to come and decided that it was unfair to put that all on the individuals in our pack/crew. We needed a keen dog I decided. A Border Collie who might fit the mold of Skye, Jim had been retired earlier last year. Keen and Sensitive are two simple ways to describe personalities in Border Collies and for me it is great to have that mix of attributes.

So the search was on for a pup or young Border Collie to fit that “role”, that need. Working Border Collies and other working dogs are different than pet breeds. They are driven and happiest when they get “work”, handled well. Therefore moving from one home to another is not unheard of for the right reasons. Just like we humans that may need a better situation this is true of some Border Collies I know that have “started” in one home and moved on to a happy home that is a “better fit.”. A happy goose control dog and farm dog is given the lessons it needs to be a successful “working dog” and then at the end of the day a good cuddle on what we call the “dog couch” in our living room.

We welcome our new young Border Collie that we just decided on after a lengthily visit with us. We all feel she will be happy with us and over the moon about the work with wild geese control and with sheep and poultry. And her name is Tru.

Open post
Border Collie Ben practicing herding

Border Collie Prep and Wild Goose Control

Spring will come no matter how long the Winter may seem. It is always good to be ready. Maintenance of property is indeed a year round job. Just as it’s important to clear snow in Winter, come the warmer months beaches and fields and lawns and golf courses need maintaining.

If you know wild geese will be a problem. what to you plan on doing? Answers can range from fencing to dog decoys to hunting. Government Wildlife Departments and the Humane Society continue to recommend “chasing” away the geese to keep properties from being overly polluted and conflict between humans and geese to a minimum. An effective way to do this, it is recommended is to use Border Collies.

Wild Geese do in fact in large numbers pollute water for swimmers and other wild life. Wild Geese can become confrontational especially when nesting or raising their young. Wild Geese can also imprint so strongly on properties as home territory or during migration. What do you do with hundreds of geese on a ball field or twenty on a golf green or a family of geese that likes the roped of swimming area of a lakeside summer camp?

Farmers, people who raise the food we and past peoples have eaten as long as their have been people have struggled with wildlife eating crops. Hunter Gathering people have had to keep hunted meat safe from meat eating wildlife and harvested fruit away from, lets say, rats. Modern farming of any sort needs to plan and have a program to deal with flocks of birds and grazing wild mammals.

Dogs have helped keep our food available for us to eat since we have been us. This is as unknown a fact as that draft animals made it possible to grow this food as well and get any ware faster than we can walk until relatively recent times. While I don’t think modern humans will go back much to animal traction I think dogs are a big part of many human lives. I also think that dogs can benefit us and themselves by working out solutions that are not too hard to fix with some knowledge and skill.

So, lets just jump to the modern Border Collie which descends from ancient dogs, breed to be a fine toned herding dog to farm sheep mostly, but poultry and cattle as well. These dogs have the listening ability the athleticism and will, love if you want, to work effectively with out causing harm on the farm. They save a lot of work for the farmer keeping food affordable. The Border Collies skills  can be applied to wild life control. Other dog breeds can be better with other types of wild life. The working line Border Collies seem to excel with goose control.

We have had the wild goose control service for over twenty years. I maintain that being ready for Spring takes a Border Collie that is fit and practiced. In the Winter, we take our dogs for walks. We  keep them used to sights and sounds and practice our herding on our sheep and poultry. All this, a good relationship with your dogs, will keep you ready when the geese fly in.

Remember you want to prevent geese from nesting or decide to addle eggs of any geese eggs on your property. This will go a way to keep your goose population from jumping. Start chasing, we call it herding, geese as soon as they fly in. This seems to take away their love for your property. All this has variable effect, it is up to you to decide on what results you want related to effort, time and money.

Open post
A Border Collie waits patiently during a winter storm on the Johnsons Farm

Winter with Wild Goose Control Border Collies

Snow is falling at a fast rate as I write this at the end of November. It has been falling all afternoon and into the night. At this rate, we may have a half a foot here at our place in Upstate New York. In the elevations of The Taconics and Berkshire Hills, more than that! I am glad I got the snowblower tuned up! The Border Collies know that a big change is here. Less work by far for them. Goose control now may be finished for the year, depending on snow and ice on ponds of clients in different spots of our locations. Wild Geese have been hanging around in now limited locations this late fall, as they usually do until Winter really sets in. And some of our clients who are “lucky” enough to have these very large flocks have kept us busy.

But as I sit here writing this, with 7-year-old Blade and our only “non Border Collie” Nash on the couch next to me, I know as they do, the heavy lifting is about done. The months of goose control, which started in late March this year, the sheepdog trialing and all the training will give way to rest and romps in the snow. There still will be taking care of our sheep and chicken and ducks. And herding training will continue as long as the footing is good.

But while Nash, a mixed breed, is happy to take it easy, the Border Collies, would like a good amount of work daily I think. I…on the other hand, am ready for some downtime. If goose control starts with an early Spring in February or even early March, that is not too far off. As I run the snowblower in the morning, our youngest Border Collie, Moses, and our oldest female Border Collie,Skye, will probably play in the flying snow. I will keep an eye out as always for their safety. Lori will shovel out the sheep and poultry doors and feed the now snow-bound sheep, chickens and ducks. I bet the sheep will wonder what happened to the grass they love to eat! The ducks will make due as ducks do.They seem oblivious of rain and snow. The chickens might venture out over the cold white stuff to look for “an open area” where they might find fallen seeds or even bare ground to “scratch in”.Then Lori will take the dogs for the daily walk which they love.

But as these things go, our client, a school, in the Connecticut Valley, might have not gotten a fraction of this snow. Or, or a client in the Hudson Valley near Albany, a homeowners association, may still have geese and want them flown. Another remaining client, a school on the edge of wetlands where the wild geese rest and fly in from had tons of geese this week. The shallow open water was frozen and the hundreds of geese were using the playing fields to rest on. But anywhere around here, wild geese in December are a rare thing. A bit to our south you might see them year-round. Bet that might make the Border collies happy! But after all the chores are done tomorrow, if the snow is easy enough for the sheep to walk on,I think we will try some herding training. Blade needs practice at maintaining the proper pace, after all. Moses who is a great goose dog needs his time working with sheep to make him a solid working dog. And our small Border Collie, Tara, can work on staying calm and being precise. It may just be the beginning of an enjoyable Winter.

Open post

Wild Goose Border Collie, Sheep Border Collie

You could just point your dog at the wild geese and say, “git’em”.But there might be some issues with that. I could think of a few. In some cases at some times just going with no concern that the geese need to get out of there might be ok. But lack of control, lack of concern for safety and the feelings for those you are operating around, and our own personal ethics, may make you realize that understanding things like how to handle Border Collies and not panicking the geese are important. When I was at the Sheep Dog National Trials recently, I meet a farmer whose cattle were getting very sick with some deaths from polluted water. Tests showed it was caused by a lot of wild geese in the ponds. That would make me want to do something quick.

A good working Border Collie usually takes a lot of work, training. Yes, they have the amazing instincts. Americans usually go to “they are so smart.” But that is not the real point for working Border Collies. Smart is as smart does, you need to put it all into play to get the work done. Border Collies have a lot of stamina, think endurance and energy. Border Collies have a very strong instinct to herd, which can drive them to issues you don’t want to have. And, all these issues can show up in their work, on wild goose control, or on the farm.

We train our Border Collies to herd on our sheep and poultry. This is natural and bred into them. This is the natural environment and the intended life for Border Collies. Then we take all that training, discipline and practice out and do our wild goose control work. You need to know that working line Border Collies are bred for variety, distinct personalities, and herding instincts of different shades. Some Border Collies learn quicker than others. Your own understanding of the breed and of wildlife matters, a lot. Your own personal mind frame and emotions will make or break your relationship with your dog, and thus the quality and quantity of work you can do. And, for all you modern Americans, it is not what you think.

Being quiet and level-headed is all-important. Sheep do not take kindly to a lot of yelling or fast movement. That is a good way to get run over. You may think sheep are cute, but a sheep that is frightened can mash your knee cap or give you a concussion. Whereas wild geese may go away with a lot of noise, some get used to it. Herding dogs need quiet and direct leadership as this is their nature. You don’t see a stalking tiger jumping up and down like a sugar amped 4th grader, do you? That would only irritate the Wildebeest. And I don’t think would impress wild geese one bit. Now,a serious herding Border collie will impress sheep as well as wild geese. What do you think the herding instinct actually is? That’s right, the stalking instinct domesticated and amplified. It is up to you as a trainer and handler to use this safely and effectivly.

Open post

A Good Dog for Goose Control and Farm Work

After taking a month off from this blog, I intend to write about one of our Border Collies named Blade. Then I looked at our website and realized my last blog was about Blade. It was a long summer and Blade was a big part of it. Some folk may find it hard that we might have one standout Border Collie. Actually, we have a mixed breed named Nash as well. But when it comes to our farm work and goose control work and sheepdog herding Blade has been the standout. In the tradition that is working Border Collies, he is “a good dog.” I feel that every one of our “collies” is loved, respected, and given the life and thus the work they crave. But like in some classrooms and workplaces there is a standout.

If you’re running a business you know how valuable good employees are. They can make or break a business. Farming is no differnt. Maybe even more so, farmers, shepherds need hard-working and smart dogs. Grass-based farmers who use dogs Border Collies to tend their sheep or other types of livestock feel that these dogs take the place of several humans and that they could not get the farming done without them. Farming is back-breaking very low margin work and without good “help” you just would not make it. Border Collies keep the flocks safe by moving the sheep and other livestock with ease from pasture to pasture. However, there are “bad” Border Collies that could break a farm. The Nineteenth Century English author Thomas Hardy writes about one ill-trained Border collie who drives a farmer’s sheep over a cliff, killing them all. The poor farmer had to go out of business and become an employee of a rich farmer.

For goose control work, I sure want a good dog, but actually, good dogs for that work. Blade makes the work easy and is very effective as well as safe. But I feel I can count on all our dogs. But it is Blade that I can put in any situation, whether it is golf courses or schools or a factory, and get it done safely and effectively. Blade who will be 7 soon,has grown into this stature. I think most Americans have a picture in their heads of what a Border Collie is, but of course,these dogs are all different as individuals are. And that is ok because their people are different too! Blade and I happen to make a good team.

But what makes a “good dog” for farm work and goose control work, besides a willingness to get a job done. Americans think of Border Collies as “smart” but it is that and more. Smart can not get you far if you are not motivated and wise enough to know what to do and when. Indeed we talk also about a “wise dog” as a goal when raise and train herding dogs. I think it is also health and poise and great instincts which are built upon with experience,training,and practice.

Blade seems to check these boxes. And I am grateful to his breeder Mary Thompson of Western Ontario for the great work she does breeding and bringing these awesome Border Collies into the world. without good breeders, we do not have healthy, balanced dogs and ones with the instincts that we want to build on. Blade and I as of this writing have qualified for the National Sheep Dog Trials Finals in Virginia an experience that will only bring us more growth and add to our knowledge base and enjoyment of this way of life.

Open post
Blade,Goose and Sheep dog

Blade, A Border Collie, Sheep and Goose Control Dog

When it comes to my definition of what a happy dog is, Blade comes to mind.A big “smile” on his face as he works sheep or poultry here at home or in training for sheepdog trials. That smile is there when he is on the job with goose control. That smile is there when he bounds around fields and woods enjoying his life. At six and a half years he still plays with his favorite toy, a hard rubber bone, and chases and grabs his tale. He is a bit more “talkative” than many Border Collies. I like a communicative dog, it brightens my day and makes for a good partnership.

Blade arrived at our house as a weaned pup all the way from western Ontario. The sheep farmer who is his breeder came highly recommended. Mary breeds healthy dogs and ones that make good working farm dogs. It was just getting to be winter when he arrived. One of our sons, Caleb, had driven the long trip to get him and back. Blade sat in the big wing back “dog chare” in our kitchen as the snow came gently down outside. He was a little pup with big eyes and a worried look. He had my heart. As Blade grew, we found him to be an energetic and silly and lively pup. He never really upset the other dogs in our household, all older of course, and at times no-nonsense Border Collies. He really befriended our mix-breed Nash, who was still adjusting to our home, having relocated from NYC.

As Blade grew into a mature dog his personality grew and so did his skills. As a farm dog who herds our sheep, chickens and ducks to and from pasture ,he can always be counted on. And as a goose control dog Blade’s work is always effective and appropiate. The fact that he listens,biddablity,and works very closly with me is pricless. As a sheep dog trial dog his ablity has grown to where he has “placed” sevearl times since 2019 and even won “a trial” here in the North East. As of this writing,I expect to compeate with him in The National Sheep Dog Trials this Fall.

And Blade does this all with a great big “smile” on his face. I know it might well not be a “smile” but I think so. He makes the other dogs in our pack/family comfortable, I think they know they can count on him as much as I do. He is not really a “leader” but just a guy who really wants to get to work and get the job done. I think that is a thing with working line Border Collies, most of them. It is what movivates them to be so keen and have this amazing bond with their people,handelers. It is what what makes them such an important part of any farm that has them. And it is what makes Border Collies great at goose control. The perseption and drive and team work that Border Collies can grow into as mature dogs is a wonder and a huge asset.

In a modern world where dogs are called “pup pups” and “fur babies” the dogs farmers, ranchers, officers, military ,resuce workers team with in indispensiple ways,shows an age old bond that should not be discarded. It brings us closer to nature, our nature and our bonds with the heitage that most have forgotten. These bonds are not a mystery not some sort of majic that most can most not achieve. A dog like Blade and the others for sure in our pack family,Jim,Skye,Nash,Tara and Moses have shown me. They can show you too.

Open post
Sam and Border Collie,Blade look for wild geese

Summertime and Wild Goose Control with Border Collies

Here in the North East, the busy time is Spring. It seems like nonstop work for our goose control service with Border Collies. The geese tend to disappear with the cold and snow of winter. But they also are more scarce in Summer. The molt is the reason. The molt is when adult geese shed and regrow their flight feathers. They are and feel more vulnerable during this time, mid-June to mid-July. So, the wild geese find safe places to be for that month.

If you do not want geese about you best be doing something about their presence in The Spring. There has been an effort to not go that route and leave them alone except for egg adding, but I have found that mostly to be a bad tactic. Golf courses that make their money, including municipal courses that rely on the revenue, want very few if any wild geese present. Schools do not want hundreds of geese on playfields and playgrounds. Farmers do not want geese pooping in water buckets for the farm animals or horses and eating crops.

Different tactics can be used to keep wild geese from being a problem for landowners including business and Home Owner Associations. Barriers can be put up, like bushes and or fences. Lasers can be used and predator decoys. And of course, there are lethal means as well. Border Collies and other herding breeds are used and actually only should be used by trained handlers. In the hands of a knowledgeable handler, a Border Collie can convince quite successfully wild geese to graze somewhere else. We use a technique that is a modified form of herding. Our dogs are regularly trained with sheep and poultry herding. We do not want any mistakes in the field.

By NO “mistakes” I mean that we do not create unsafe situations for the wild geese, the dogs, ourselves or other humans, and other wildlife during our “visits”. Border Collies and perhaps other herding breeds have the drive and instincts for this work, the geese can not get away from the fact that they think a wild predator is about. Border Collies are incredibly disciplined and in the right hands create a partnership that creates a team that gets the job done smoothly. Shepards with their collies, as they were called historically, have worked with ewes, female sheep, and their lambs for 1000s of years, successfully. Our goose control “visits” are patterned after the herding tradition that shepherds have always employed in minding their flocks. Goose control visits may include working with families of geese when the goslings are young.”Baby geese” grow up very fast and soon resemble adults. A family of geese or families of geese will quickly impact “the environment” they are in if it is not an expansive watery wetland, lake, or pond.

I have been thinking of our goose control service, at its best, as a way to renaturalize wild geese. Wild geese once did not have lawns and fairways and playfields to graze. Wild geese lived on aquatic vegetation and did very little interacting with humans. that has changed, as we have changed and as we have changed things. From time to time on a lake or wetlands we work, I see geese at least now part of the time “dabbling”, eating aquatic vegetation. This includes young and “baby” geese, quietly, peacefully grazing the water shallows as they float along. Keeping the interaction with humans to a minimum so conflict is reduced. What else should we want for?

Open post
Border Collies watching wild geese

“Opening Up” with Wild Goose Control with Border Collies

The new year and goose control season is always a changemaker but non more so than 2021. We continued working for clients from the beginning of the Pandemic until last Winter. We are currently hard at work again. Spring is our busiest time as geese like to set up territories to graze and nest and raise young. As the Pandemic changed human behavior, to say the least, wildlife found their lives impacted. I am all for “rewilding” but in certain situations. I don’t want squirrels in my attic, rats in the basement or rabbits and wild birds eating up the gardens we work so hard on to grow food, here at home.

Last year was the most unusual year to work goose control, as you can imagine. For most of the year travel from client to client was easier, with lighter traffic. Working at golf courses was less of a headache, golf courses don’t like any goose poo on the greens. As time went on golfers started play but no one was riding the carts and it made that part easier. However, it did seem the geese had a little more free reign at all our clients, schools and office parks included. We saw Bald Eagles fighting for a few days for territory deer all over little league fields and in one case wild turkeys looking at their reflections and tapping on office building windows.

Again, if you own a property you might not want it impacted. Our presence kept wildlife at arm’s length but we are and were hired for goose control, though we also keep seagulls from pooping all over and Turkey Vultures from roosting on buildings. The first species can make more of “a mess” than wild geese and Turkey Vultures can be destructive and give peoples the creeps. Not many people want to go to work or school with Turkey Vultures hanging out from on high.

This year has been interesting. Geese seem more bold. I have seen more geese stare down traffic and we have a client who has had nesting pairs, confront employees, as never before. It’s hard to tell parents that you want to be nice to the geese when the kids at recess are being eyed down and playing on goose poop. So that is where Border Collies come in. We have had more time to practice our skills over the last year. We train our Border Collies to herd sheep, most often our own sheep. Then that trained and practiced skill goes into our goose control, in the three states work have clients in, New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

I think there should be a place for wildlife. But humans in the “Roaring 20s” may not be of mind about nature. I think what should happen is we should coexist with nature and have a relationship with it with lines drawn if not reexamined from time to time. That is a big social question I am sure. But the least we can do is reduce conflict. That is what a Shepard and “collie dog” ( the overall heading that Border Collies come under) do. Take care and use skill-based judgment and practice. As farming with collie dogs has been a multi-species relationship for thousands of years, it is worthy of us to be so today with our relationships with nature and our property and livelihoods.

Posts navigation

1 2 3 4 7 8 9
Scroll to top
Call Now Button