Month: April 2019

So, it is Spring here in the North East. Actually, this year’s Spring is dragging in slow and seems to be reluctant. But, the usual suspects are showing up. Songbirds have arrived. Here in the hills of very eastern New York the buds are just starting to form on the bushes and trees. Peeper frogs are finally singing. Bears are showing up and even attacked a pony south of where we live. Why! really! Yes, the bears are a bit more hungry it seems after this last winter, bad food growth for them last year. Maybe blame it on the strange weather we have been having. We had very few overwintering songbirds over the winter. My best sources say that is due to the erratic weather patterns. And…the geese are just starting to nest, now, but they are taking their time doing that.

We have had wild geese show up early when spring has arrived early, in February. This started the goose control season early, giving the Border Collies and my Family a shorter winter break. We are thinking the pairs of geese will stager their nesting more so this year, because of the cool Spring weather. With some clients, we are finding some pairs of geese settling down to nest while it seems some pairs are nowhere near ready. It is hard to blame them, the cold, windy days we have had seem hardly springlike. Still, there have been some warm ones to get some pairs going as well as the frogs. It has been nice to see the Red Wing Blackbirds singing finally at some of the ponds and lakes we work at.

The weekend before I sat down to write this blog post, one of our sons, Caleb and I took three of our Border Collies to practice herding on sheep at a mentors farm. We compete in sheepdog trials with these three Border Collies, Skye, Blade, and Tara. The training and trailing very much increase our skill level and makes goose control that much more skilled. It was a wonderfully warm Spring day at our mentor’s farm! This farm is up on a plateau and in its own weather zone. Its real name is Taravale Farm and Kennel, but its nickname is Woolywinds. We had a good training season with the sheep there, even pup Moses got in on the act, learning the first parts of herding skills. ( I call what we do with our goose control work “herd-chasing”) It was great to be on the farm with just short sleeves and not much wind!

After the training, I got in the seventh goose control visit of the day, between Caleb and me. Caleb took off to do something related to his college major. The visit was at a school in New York State with a large wetland behind the playing fields. I had all four Border Collies. As the Border Collies and I  walked from the wetlands, we rounded out from a brushy path and came across a grazing pair of geese on the edge of a field. With a word from me the Border Collies flanked around the geese, Blade taking the lead to the right, Skye the lead to the left and off flew the pair, hopefully, a little less likely to bother anyone using that Schoolfield.

The weather from that warm weekend does not seem to want to last. And this week we are back to colder temps, and yes, wind. I will have a heavy jacket and wool cap and gloves and maybe winter boots packed away for the early morning start, the day after writing the draft of this blog! I am not sure the Border Collies will mind frosty conditions. I just hope the cold does not hurt any of newly opening buds on the trees. And I’m sure honey bees will want early spring flowers very soon, with their winter stores probably mostly used up. And just like farmers trying to figure out these new weather “patterns” so will the geese want Spring to really arrive. For now, I’m happy to have these Border Collies, and one mixed breed as working partners. These dogs seem to take everything in stride. They and my hard working Family are a team.
Happy Spring.

Problem populations of wild geese are a Human social issue. Oh, geese can take over an environment, shoving other birds and even animals out of the way. Wild geese can denude grass fields and golf courses and lawns as well as pollute waters. But the sight of all the poop they leave behind as well as the possibility of aggressive geese is why people want them sent off. The Human factor can lead to some raised emotions and strong opinions when it comes to decisions on what to do with “all those geese.” So, it is important to separate whoever is doing the chasing, or as I call what we do, “herd-chasing” from all that all too human angst. Dogs don’t do well with handlers who are emotional and even without dogs; it can be dangerous in any environment if you are not focused.

There, of course, are people out there who will yell at you while you are actively chasing,herd-chasing geese. This can be downright distracting if not dangerous. If you are working with dogs, every moment you’re handling them should be totally focused, to get the job done effectively and as stress-free as possible. But a person yelling, thinks they are protecting the geese from you and the dogs, without any realization of the bigger picture. We have been through these situations a few times, happens to us every year once or twice, so we maintain focus and a calm presence and have someone to call if need be. We ask every client who we should call if we are comforted by anyone with a phone number provided.

About being calm with dogs….It runs counter to most of our American thoughts on how to relate to dogs, but working with them; dogs really appreciate a calm person. Oh, socializing is one thing, we play and greet each other with lots of fun, but on the job as with wild dogs or their relatives, staying focused and being calm is very important. As a matter of fact, if you are not calm with your dog, Border Collie or another herding breed at a sheepdog trial, you do not do well, or can even be disqualified. Sheep and other farm animals do not like a lot of Human noise or fast exuberant movement. And so, the dogs that have been working with these farm animals for hundreds of years know how to act around their “livestock.” Its unknowing Humans who can mess things up.

The weekend before writing this blog post, I had two of our dogs in Connecticut for some goose control visits. My team was the talented four-year-old Border Collie Blade and the mix breed Nash. We were at an office park. It was quiet, few cars on the roads but as we arrived, I saw two people walking several dogs in our direction. I saw geese in the nearby ponds as I pulled in. Timing is critical with goose control, and these geese were in a right spot to herd-chase, waiting for the dog walkers to go past would mean the geese would swim off in the pond, making it difficult to send them flying.

I quickly parked and as calm as I could, got Blade and Nash out of the car. I made sure no cars were coming on the road we had to cross. And off we went to the pond where most of the geese were. I put a lead on Nash as he can go a little too fast in pressure situations and Blade moved calmly with purpose. The geese sensed the dogs moving toward them, started honking and I released Nash. Both dogs went on opposite sides of the small pond, and that was enough for the geese, they flew off. The dogs and I then walked to the other end of the pond to make sure all the geese had left. When we got back to our car, I noticed the dog walkers had passed us on that road and were moving far away. That worked, a quick decision, then a job done with focus and the skills and the knowledge we have. I think Blade and Nash made an impression on those geese and no real harm was done and our client does not have to worry about people worrying about those geese.