Month: July 2018

A flotilla of geese slowly swam across the small lake toward the beech. They make their rounds feeding the young geese. I counted 85 in all. Geese travel around the lake to various properties, the privet homes, the summer camps and the town beach. Soon all those geese would have been up on our clients’ beech and the grassy lawn, feeding. It would only take a few minutes for goose poop to be all over the place from that number of geese. But as that large number of geese appeared close to shore, I set Jim and Skye into the water to herd-chase them past the beech. The two Border Collies leaped into the water and swam toward the geese, turning the flotilla slowly away. As I recalled Jim and Skye, the geese decided to head toward a nearby summer camp were nobody was onshore and try their luck there. These geese were the most unwary I almost have ever seen in our 16 years of goose control service. Another time I would take our kayak with Skye in it with me and chase the geese further away into the lake, but for now, the geese were too near the camp. In a few minutes, I saw a camp counselor slowly move at the geese from a camp building on a bike, make a few turns towards the geese as they were eating and get the geese to walk off and swim a few yards up the lake, slowly.

Being chased off in summer from property to property is not unique to these geese, we have seen it over and over at a number of lakes. Of course, the converse is true, people do get aggressive with the chasing of geese, and there is legal hunting and property owners can contact US Fish and Wildlife for capture and kill service. Also, in New York State farmers and beach managers can contact State DEC for lethal permission, time of year dependent. But with nonlethal means as in chasing or herd-chasing, I have a few tips that seem to work better than arm waving and shouting. Geese are smart enough to wait out the presence of someone or dogs on a property. There is something I call “awaken the geese pray instinct.”

I describe it this way,”what is the difference between riding a merry go round and a roller coaster.” One is more exhilarating than the other; it is the difference between a form fear and a ride around a ring. Geese are prey animals, birds. That means they are in the natural world food for predators like fox, coyotes, and wolves. People, of course, have been hunting and eating geese and other waterfowl since probably Native Peoples, First Persons were doing so 1,000s of years ago in The Americas. Today with fewer predators around and less hunting the geese get used to going about unwary or with no need for the “look out for danger” attitude of a prey animal, bird. Interestingly, we herd our livestock, sheep, and poultry at home and we herd-chase wild geese.

The next stop on our morning of goose control visits took Skye and Jim and me to another lake in Western Massachusets. We stopped on a private properties lakeside lawn and beach. There was a small group of geese there eating the grass. No sooner than when I set Skye on an outrun to the left and Jim to the right the geese started moving quickly to the lake not far away. Before the dogs had finished their circular runs around were the geese were, the geese were quickly swimming across the lake. I also had the Border Collies jump in and swim after for a short distance and then took out the kayak, Skye with me and “gave chase” a quarter of the way across the lake, soon the geese were practically out of sight. We have patrolled this property for three years now. The first year geese were regular feeding there, now it’s just once in a while. The thing is, we are the only ones chasing the geese off this property with a herd-chase method.

My advice is,” A gentle scare is worse than no scare at all, geese get resilient.”Repeated visits of dogs that look like they mean business but have the disposition not to hurt anything helps a lot with humane goose control. It helps to have good dogs, but we have clients who use golf carts and ATVs to good advantage, or, in addition, use their own dogs. Fencing and decoys and other nonlethal means can help but only help. The best practice to keeping geese under control with nonlethal methods is to “awaken their pray instinct,” give them a roller coaster ride and then repeat and repeat, soon you will find they will move off and may even stay away. Of course, per Federal guidelines directed from the Migratory Bird Act, it is illegal to hit, hurt geese without a hunting permit or permission in classified situations. When chasing geese you can be held responsible if you throw objects and separate families,of geese.

The new herding whistle hung around my neck on the old lanyard. It and two others like it had just arrived from the UK. I was told that these herding whistles work better than most. They are easier to use than some which can take a long time to learn how to make notes on. Herding whistles have been used by shepherds probably for hundreds of years if not longer to communicate with their dogs when working sheep. Herding dogs can work other livestock, farm animals as well, with the use of herding whistles or voice commands. Cows and poultry would be the most, “other” categories worked by herding dogs. Farmers working with dogs herding livestock is the original way grass-based agriculture, farming was and is practiced. A good team of human handler and herding dog can easily move sheep, cattle, and poultry from one pasture to the other with time-saving and stress saving skill.

Herding Whistles replace the voice commands for each move a Border Collie makes for farm work and goose control work. These commands make sense to the Border Collies and other herding breeds and have been in use for a long, long time. The commands for recall, stop, go left go right as examples have been bred into the collies over time, you can say. Most Americans think of Border Collies as hyper dogs that will herd anything that moves. But this is because most Border Collie owners don’t take the time to understand their dogs’ instincts and history. With a little background work and planning nonworking Border Collies can be made comfortable in their lives.

Soon after the new herding whistles arrived, I just had to try one out. I took Blade our talented three and half-year-old male and Skye our most experienced Border Collie outside to move our sheep to pasture. As Blade started to herd the sheep toward the pasture gate, Skye watched. I stated with a verbal command “walk in.” It is customary when the Border Collies are close to the handler to use a verbal command. When the dogs are further away from the handler, whistle commands are often used. I then blew on the whistle a, go to your left command to Blade, and he looked back at me a bit as if to say, that sounds different. But soon he and I were moving the sheep with my commands nicely with no issues at all; I like these new whistles. And it seems Blade and our other dogs do too; the tone is nice and clear. Herding whistle commands also have the benefit of not containing emotions the handler may be feeling.

The next day my dog team of Nash and Tara were on goose control trips in New York. One of our stops was at a large pond. The dogs and I got out of our goose mobile and saw several geese swimming. We could easily get the geese to fly away if I positioned the dogs in the right places around the pond. I verbally sent Tara running on what is called an out run to my left around the pond and I sent Nash to go directly to the ponds shore in front of me. When Tara got to a narrow part of the pond I blew the stop command. She did so and looked at the geese with what is called the Border Collie eye. Nash, though a mix breed eyed the geese from his position. Soon with a few moves from the dogs, the geese felt uncomfortable just enough that after some honking and Tara jumping into the water for a little swim, the geese flew off. I blew the recall command for Tara and yelled a verbal recall to Nash and both dogs soon made their way back to me.

Soon I was driving with both dogs to goose control visits in Massachusets. Both Nash and Tara rested comfortably in the goose mobile as we made our way down early morning roads and highways. Of course, there is a lot more to communicate with these dogs than verbal and whistle commands. There is understanding what you are doing with herding farm animals and herd-chasing geese. You need to understand the animals, birds, and dogs as well as “your self.”The relationship you have with your dog or dogs is essential. Good relationships gets work done stress-free. It’s a joy to be involved in these three species relationships.

Jim came running around the geese on a ball field were kids regularly play. When we first started with this particular client, we would find many geese on our geese control visits. This day, Jim and his teammate for the day, Tara only had a few geese to herd-chase off. Jim does a great job with goose control work. And for a ten-year-old dog, he is in great shape. His arthritis is the only thing that seems to slow him down, and that is under control with a supplement. Our veterinarian says that exercise is great for arthritis. And like most working line Border Collies, Jim loves to work.

Jim wasn’t always free to work or run around, I am told. The first six years of his life he rarely got out of his kennel and seemingly wasn’t taught much. He was antisocial and hyper not just active. As the son of an English herding Champion, that is startling but sad for any dog. Jim’s second home was a rehab home. He learned to be social with people and other dogs and learned how to play. And he was taught the fundamentals of herding with sheep. Jim came a long way in that year from a middle age dog that had been languishing to a happy guy who was eager to play and work.

But I guess I’m like anyone who rehomes a dog, we think we have done something special, as in “rescue” the dog. But from what people tell me who knew Jim from when he arrived in his rehab home to now, he has vastly changed to a dog that seems comfortable and happy in the world around him. Jim will probably never full fill what his breeding would have been able to have him do. I am not positive, but I think that’s a result of him never getting much experience with anything until he turned six. His herding work is adequate, but if he was taught the proper techniques as a young dog, Jim would probably be a spectacular working Border Collie. As a result, he needs a lot of direction when he works as he gets mixed up which way to move sheep on our homestead. That said, Caleb, who is Jim’s primary handler has done a great job with him. Jim and Caleb placed third a couple of times at their level in sheepdog trials last year.

Jim and Tara and I walked from the field we had just chased geese off in New York. We needed to check all the fields at this school and then head off to Massachusetts. The Border Collies moved ahead of me, and when I caught up to them, I could see they were looking at geese on that next field. I called Jim and Tara to me as it works much better to start every job with your Border Collies next to you as you give a command, thus orienting the dogs to where they should go when herding or herd-chasing. I sent Jim to the left around the geese eating on the field and Tara to the right. Jim did a wonderful outrun and ended up on the far side of the geese. Then he with Tara’s help moved in on the geese., herd-chase mode. The geese got alarmed thinking something was hunting them and took off in flight. As the geese flew across the field, Jim tracked the geese, running almost under them as if they were sheep he was to move to another place.

Jim has great vision, and as a goose control dog, he excels. I guess goose control work makes sense to him. He is slowly getting better at farm work, and he did do well in sheepdog trials last year. But he sure seems satisfied with his goose control work. We all need something to make the world make sense to us.