Jim turned toward the house and sulked his way to the door. Everything seemed well with him, it was a lovely summer afternoon, and I was out with all our dogs in the gardens. The Border Collies were resting from goose control, Blade and Skye from a weekend of sheepdog trialing and I was gathering sunflowers for sale. But Jim turned toward me, and he had that wide-eyed look of discomfort if not fear, it could mean one thing.I knew a storm was out there in the distance.
Many dogs do not like thunder, and many don’t like loud noises like gunshots and fireworks. Jim is our one dog out of our five who has an issue with those abrupt sounds. As a matter of fact, here in the State, we live in, New York, many of my dog and Border Collie friends report more and more issues with dogs, theirs and others due to more frequent fireworks going off this summer. This increase in fireworks may well be due to New Yorks charge in law to allow what are called “sparkling devises” as of 2015. This is dependent on local, county, and city. Sparkling devices don’t have the pop of their bigger brethren but tell that to some dogs. The local fireman I know will tell you the genie is out of the bottle.
Many people don’t realize that the natural world operates in part by sound. Birds, whales and other beings of the sea and mammals on earth came along before things got amped up. Scientific studies have been underway on the human noise toll on the natural world. Songbirds, of course, are easy to understand why their lives would be disrupted and put under stress from “noise pollution’. But whales and elephants and a famous study on Prairie Dogs are animals which as examples are significantly affected by noise.
Roads are considered one of the major sources of “noise pollution” impacting nature. Plants are affected because insects are even affected by overwhelming noise pollution. Farm animals are also affected. Flocks of chickens and ducks and sheep, goats and cattle and horses all communicate with one another, and when the environment becomes unnaturally noisy, I am sure there is stress. Farmers do communicate with their animals, calling them as farmers have traditionally called to their cows or other animals for thousands of years. People and working dogs have been living and working together for Ten of Thousands of years. It is so important that communication is clear when working with Border Collies, that herding whistles were invented. All this can be interrupted and drowned out as say a large group of Harleys passes by a sheepdog trail field while a competitor and his or her dog lose track of what they are doing, herding sheep during their run in the competition. The soundscape would now be overwhelmed.
The next day, all the storm had passed. I and Jim and Skye were together for some goose control visits. The two Border Collies hopped out of the goose mobile, a Honda Element, and I called them to my side as I had seen geese on our client’s pond. I sent Skye to the right around the pond and Jim to the left. As both Border Collies reached the opposite ends of the pond I pulled out my herding whistle as they were far away enough that my voice might not carry. Just then a drone flew nearby over the rooftops of nearby homes. Its noisy motor was taking up all the soundscape. Fortunately, it was gone in less than a minute, and the dogs stood patiently were I had asked them to, some fifty yards each from me.
Skye and Jim and I were able to work those geese on our clients property without many more pitfalls; all was safely done. There were not any undue distractions after the drone flew off. Being safe is an integral part of goose control and farm work, a lot can go wrong if everyone is not on the same page. Skye and Jim came back around that pond as the geese flew off with big dog smiles on their faces. We all knew it was a job well done.