Now that our busy months have finished here in the North East it is time for a break. Despite the impact and disruption of the Pandemic, we have had a busy year. Part of the reason for all the activity is that wildlife enjoyed free rein this Spring. Geese became emboldened by the lack of people at parks and ball fields, schools, and at our corporates. Then it became alright for folk to get fresh air and the same empty outdoor spaces became overfull with humans. Imagine what the geese and other wildlife thought or how they reacted to all that. I expect at first delight and then disappointment.
As someone who has farmed, gardened on a small organic scale for years, I expect something new every year. But of course, this year beats them all. Human issues have overshadowed concern for other issues concerning human existence with the natural world. The natural world will run its course impacted by us. We go about our lives and they have to react to us and a host of environmental factors that impact wild lives. It has been this way since the dawn of humans and the wild will most likely outlive us. We, humans, have the ability to plan and hopefully arrive at equitable solutions.
The age-old relationships tie directly into how we do goose control with Border Collies. People have lived with dogs for 10,000s of years. Dogs have helped people survive, hunt, protect, and live with livestock as well as negotiate the wild world. Being able to have our human homes, towns, and so forth was greatly aided by the human-dog relationship. Today the modern world culture is much different but we can touch and honor the ancient bonds by going outdoors with our dogs. And, we have found great value in having dogs on our homestead and with our goose control work.
My family is able to grow our gardens because of the presence of dogs. Also, our animals and poultry are kept safe with aid of our dogs from wild predators. Of course, many people do not have the lifestyle we have but getting out and coming up with something “to do with your dog” is so much fun and has great benefits. One of the cool insights I have about goose control with our Border Collies is that it seems to actually work better than the use of firearms. Yes, believe it or not, we have a major client that now stays relatively goose free where once they had 100s of geese. These even nested at building doors preventing employees access. This year we discovered that two major properties near our client’s facility had lots of geese even though they continued to shoot at the geese.
But, what do you do with those active Border Collies during the North East’s long Winters? One answer is to stay active yourself. Yes, get outside and keep moving. The dog do love walks, maybe not as much as work, it is a great change of pace. We do have sheep and poultry at home, so that herding activity, the basis of our goose control work, is great for working line Border Collies. Believe it or not, happy and active Border Collies do curl up on winter nights and days too to take long naps. It is a great relationship that does grow a strong bond that touches our very natures.