Category: Connections to Dogs

My family and I have been living with and working with dogs, mostly Border Collies for close to thirty years. That seems like a long time! But there are people who, like our sons who grew up on farms with working dogs and have lived with them all their lives. It is a great experience living with these intelligent, motivated, and active dogs. You do have to stay motivated yourself! Farming is not an easy life and we see fewer people living traditional ways.

My point is that when it comes to living on a farm and with dogs as partners, experience matters. It takes a lot of practical experience with farm animals, also known as livestock to get a real grip on doing things right. This is true with working and living with livestock dogs, herding breeds, and guardian breeds. And it does help to be in the environment these dogs were bred to be in to really “get” what they are about.

I do know people who have had successful and happy lives with Border Collies and other motivated breeds who don’t live on farms. These people have done their homework. I did not do so when I started with my first Border Collies at the farm museum I managed years ago. I thought it was going to be easy to work with the collies. I found out differently and almost quit. I took lessons and started to work diligently daily. I read and asked questions. After a few years, my collies and I and my family were happily enjoying life and work. For Border collies, life and work go together. And that is true of traditional societies too! In pre-industrial lives, there is no real division between leisure and work, or those concepts just don’t exist.

I feel that we are pretty good at our goose control work because we are happy together, the dogs and us. We have one rehomed mixed breed. We enjoy and I think understand each other. We respect and care for our livestock, both the dogs and us humans. Our Border Collies know how to correctly work with sheep, chickens, ducks, and wild geese. It’s about, how to correctly herd, without stress. What a joy it is to get the job done well. And how satisfying it is to live in connection with these dogs and with the other species too, sheep, wild geese, poultry.

People have been living with dogs for tens of thousands of years. I think it is a natural way to be. Dogs descended from wolves in some way and ended up living with humans to guard and share and hunt and care for the farm animals. There was and is a large part of the globe that calls for non-plant-based food to be a staple of the human diet. And though modern thought can call for nonanimal farming and only plant-based diets, maybe it’s in  the how we do things. Maybe it’s how factory-based we are. Maybe it’s how traditional, or how close we live with nature. For me, living and working with these dogs, wild goose control, or farm work is only natural.

Some years it comes early other years a bit late. Here on our homestead Spring matters. Our sheep want to get out and eat grass as the snow melts. Our chickens and ducks also want to forage for their own meals. Nothing says Spring to a hen like digging up bugs under the leaves in the woods. Our Border Collies really love Spring. Spring is time for more work! Work is a Border Collie thing. The chickens and ducks and the sheep all get herded in and out of pasture each day. I train with the Border Collies for sheepdog trials and herding demonstrations. And of course, there is all the goose control work which can get very busy in Springtime.

As I sit here writing this blog here at home in eastern New York the snow is falling gently down as it has so many times this late winter. But the days are getting warmer there have been no negative temps for a while. And the seed catalog for the gardens sits next to me with the order form almost complete. Each year as it has for us for three decades, thereabouts, the garden is tilled and planted new chicks arrive maybe some lambs and the Border Collies skills, mine too, get polished. We want to be ready for the tomatoes to grow and the Border Collies to be at their best.

As I was driving about recently in nearby Massachusets to do some errands I was surprised to see geese fly over. And this was the third week of February! The snow was heavy on the ground with more to come. All the ponds and lakes had ice. But a flock of geese was flying overhead. I was guessing they were ready for spring too. However, I then remembered seeing geese flying over western Massachuseets at the same time last year. My wife and I were on a guided nature hike through a winter nature conservation property. The naturalist we were with was startled at the sight of geese. But I’m guessing that geese as with songbirds maintain a schedule rather than taking weather cues. So I think it is good to be ready.

But despite my late winter observations, it is with just a little warm weather and snow and ice melt that geese show up. My clients in the Connecticut Valley report geese activity earlier in the year than clients further north.
Small flocks of geese seem to show up first. Then pairs will separate and start settling down to nest sometimes with snow still present.

Border Collies do a good job herding wild geese into the sky and convincing them to go somewhere else. You do that herding job enough and geese lose their interest in a property and go somewhere else where the pickings are easier. Here on our homestead the Border Collies and our mix-breed Nash who has a somewhat personalized role in our team help with bird control for the sake of the garden. The dogs will also keep rabbits away from eating garden greens and blackbirds from eating the chicken food. Occasionally a fox or cyotee will come too close and the dogs are a big help there too. It’s all about nonlethal wildlife, goose control, and the joy of spring.

Moses is only two and a half, so I don’t think of him as a “dog”. But being over two years old, he officially is. Still, he is a guy, so he is a little slow to mature, but he of course is also an individual. As I write this, Moses is tucked under my wife’s, Lori’s desk taking a nap after breakfast and morning chores. It is a Winter’s morning in mid-January. The last goose control client visit for the season happened now, weeks ago. There has been farm work with our sheep and poultry, herding. We also train herding with our sheep here at home. The herding practices on larger fields of my mentors has stoped for the time being due to winter footing, ice, and or snow.

As the wild songbirds flock to our feeders, the sheep chew their cud and the chickens huddle out of the falling snow, maybe it is time to stop and do what Winter has us do, best. Gently falling snow does bring with it more work, in the cleaning up, but it gives us days where we can or have to sit and soak in what was and what will or can be. Big boy pups, like Moses and the other dogs, snoozing here and there in the kitchen and dining room bring a sense of peace. Oh sure, life is a struggle and this last year is a strong strong reminder that is so.

That is why we need and take the time to reflect. Napping pups and songbirds making their way in the world. Our farm animals, sheep, chickens, and ducks sheltered from what Winter brings. Soon I will stop writing this blog draft and dogs and I will pop outside to make sure all is well. This is, to keep the hawks hunting elsewhere, the fox no further than the edge of the wood and the dogs skipping around in joy in the newly fallen snow. It is how we take care of all these relationships that matter. How we make choices in what we care for, and how we do it, and what we consume. It will soon enough be time for goose control and our farm work in places like Connecticut and Massachusetts soon enough..but for now..

As the Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, Cardinals, and Woodpeckers gobble down the black oil sunflower and suit, I will take Moses out to our field with some of the sheep. Spring will come and the geese will be back. Perhaps more than the very few sheepdog trials we had last year will happen too. I would love our demonstrations at festivals to be back as well. But Moses though a talented young fella, has things to learn. He is very good to the sheep when herding but he needs to learn to concentrate all the time. Just because you are a sweet guy with loads of talent does not mean you can work halfway. He also needs practice visualizing where he is in relation to where I standing and what the sheep are doing at any given moment. But those things will come as sure as Spring will.

So, Moses just got up from under the desk, gave a big stretch, and gave me a quiet look in his way, to say “what’s up?” His six-year-old cousin Blade has started wiggling and vocalizing, ready to go. Blade has grown into an amazing dog, eccentric but extremely talented both at goose control work and sheepdog trials. These dogs are definitely individuals. Moses will be himself, will be himself. A quiet somewhat shy super talented big boy. We will see. So, I will let the dogs out, now, put on my boots and hat and coat and step on out, outside.

A few weeks ago I arrived at a school that has had a wild goose problem periodically. I drove up next to a playing field with two of our Border Collies in the SUV. The school had recently reported to me that they were seeing a large flock of geese on this field daily. Our service with the school had been on hiatus so I triggered a “package of visits” for the school district. I parked and let Skye and Blade out of the SUV. I looked carefully at the access road we had to cross to get to the field, the geese had already seen the dogs and were on alert. This situation is where discipline comes in, the Border Collies have to listen to me and only actively herd when given the command to do so. After getting safely off the road I set Blade to one side of me and Skye on my other side. With the appropriate commands off they ran, Blade counterclockwise and Skye clockwise in large arcs to get to the other side of the flock of geese. The now very alert geese that had been grazing and pooping on the grass, all 75 or so of them, flew off just as the two Border Collies reached the flock’s far side, in effect, herding them into the sky.

Different goose control “jobs” or “situations” and let’s say, clients, call for different ways of operating. The different environments we work in range from golf courses to town parks to corporate campuses to homeowners properties. How we work with our Border Collies on these properties depends on the activities taking place and how severe the problem is. “The problem” very much is in the mind of the client, but we help decide the right course of action, by coming up with a plan, how and when to schedule visits to herd the geese, away. Some of our clients want or need “coverage” to get results in the spring only. Some clients have geese show up in numbers in the summer, think, summer camps. We usually have good results with our trained dogs, we have one rehomed mix breed, see the “Our Dogs Page” with just three visits a week. Some clients require only two visits a week when their situation is not a big issue. If you are planning goose control with your own dog think about what your highly motivated dog will do once you have few to no geese.

There are, of course, several ways to “deal with” a population of geese that are “causing an issue”. Don’t forget that you can legally addle the eggs of the wild geese. This is an effective way to keep the geese population down on a property. Laser lights and blanks from guns as well as dog and coyote decoys all can be deployed. I have seen all these methods being used as well as shrub growth and fencing by waterways. These last two methods work if geese do not fly over them. And I should note that our service with dogs is more effective for one industrial client than a nearby property that shoots the geese. This may come as a surprise but if you think about the age-old relationship between land predators and waterfowl it may make sense. Using Border Collies to herd geese “away” over a period of time makes the wild geese think that a “property” is “unsafe” for them. The real-life “working” dogs seem more effective than decoy dogs and coyotes. After these decoys are set up on a property we usually see geese grazing contentedly nearby undisturbed.

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.

It is impossible to answer the question, “how successful will your goose control service be on my property.” Wildlife is unpredictable and there is a lot out of your or my control. All I can say is, “we are usually successful.”But do “you” want to have no geese or are some ok?” Of course, you can decide if you care to see the geese alive or dead, unharmed? But then, if you don’t want the geese trained to stay away, for the most part, with Border Collies, if you would rather see those” winged rats dead.” But I can point to one case at a large property where it appears that we are far more successful than nearby major properties that use firearms. And I don’t really know why that is. Maybe it’s just that going way way back, geese “fear” or at least worry about being hunted by predators. The Border Collies herding them are “make-believe” predators, you could say. Dogs parading about parks and ball fields on leashes, not such a worry, in the goose mind. But, but, you must realize that dogs regularly around the pesky geese on your property not worrying the geese is indeed a factor. So is people trying to scare the geese by, well, clapping, waring alligator hats, using dog silhouette decoys, big eyeball balloons, lasers,  too little to no effect. Geese know what is real.

You should know that the amount of grass you have, how tasty it is, how much water is nearby if you can herd the geese out of the water once they leave land if there are real predators about, like fox and coyote all factor in as well. Also, you should know, there are resident geese and migratory geese. Most people don’t know this. But at some point in the 1960s, the wild Canadian Geese almost went extinct, no really. You should think, the Passenger Pigeon when I say this, that went extinct after their numbers were seemingly so plentiful. So, the US Government introduced wild Canadian Geese to different areas. But, guess what? these geese did not and do not migrate. Now that there is less hunting the migratory geese have recovered but the resident geese stay put. These local geese hang around as long as they can into Winter moving just far enough, sometimes by a few miles, in the deep Winter.

So, I don’t think there is a pat answer to dealing with wildlife, especially if we want to be respectful. Humans have been living with wildlife for a long long time. Our modern ways will not conquer or suppress nature if we kill one species another will take its place. Though we will be the pooer for wildlife extinctions, even the pesky ones.  Let’s only hope that there are enough wildlands for the wildlife to go and live in. I think that is only right and besides, it will affect your property. Sometimes the best solutions are ones that have been with us for a long long time. After all, relationships are important, if not the key. We can live with wildlife and have our properties the way we want them if we adjust and think about how all this works together. I think you know as well as I, those easy solutions can often backfire.

There were hundreds of geese at the park! The team I had for the goose control trip was our rehomed dogs, Nash and Jim. It is very unusual to team them up as the Border Collies we raise up seem to end up with a bit more skill. But Tara, Blade, Skye, and Moses had a busy weekend and needed a rest. So, Nash and Jim were not going to argue about getting an extra turn in, they love the work. We had three groups of over a hundred at that park to fly off at that park. Jim, going at eleven years and mix breed Nash enjoyed every minute. We flew off half of the geese the other half went to the small lake. Nash and I got in the kayak and paddled after them and most of those geese flew off.

It has been a very dry late Summer and early Fall so this Park does not need what grass it has eaten down to nothing, goose poo all over playing fields, parking lots, and beach. The geese can feed on nearby riverside wildlands a local cemetery and school fields that see little traffic right now. The community where the park is located does not want the geese harmed, so that is where we come in. It is Fall now and the geese are gathering in numbers, perhaps the local geese flocks and some migratory geese add too many more than were around just a week ago.

All Border Collies have different personalities and their herding instincts and life experience are individual as well. I like many working Border Collie folk try to raise up the young Border Collie inside a system where they can be fulfilled, happy, and as talented as possible. We use our homestead with sheep and poultry to raise and train the Border Collies in their natural environment and then translate that to the goose control work. Our method of goose control is ‘herding the geese” to train them to leave a property alone as much as possible. Nash, as I said is not a Border Collie but a rehome mix of some sort. I don’t care really what that “mix” is. He enjoys his life and role on the homestead and has his role with goose control as well. I do not recommend goose control with mixed breeds and non-working breeds. I have heard several said stories. But with knowledge and the right dog, there can or will be success.

We aim to be effective and humane in our work. All our dogs train and work year-round, not just because they love it, but to stay sharp. Nash and our oldest Border Collie Jim are not required to be as skilled as the other Border Collies but a level of behavior and skill is expected. Skill and good behavior allow them the pleasure of being out in the world helping our clients and moving by walkers, dog walkers and fisher people, and so on, without a problem. The early year migratory geese, the families of geese, and the other stages of the goose year can be addressed with skill and effectiveness. It makes for happy dogs, a lot less conflict between wild geese and other wildlife and humans and geese.

After our goose control trip to that Town park and a second Town park after Nash and Jim slept all the way home. They had done a good job at both parks and fully enjoyed themselves. The wild geese would find feed enough at nearby reservoirs and riversides, where nobody would get upset.

My friend Amy and her red and white Kelpie, Sue moved the large flock of sheep across the field. A Kelpie is a herding breed developed in Australia. A sheepdog trial was taking place and it was Amy and Sues’ job to herd the sheep to where the participants would gather groups of the sheep for their turn in the trial. The sheepdog trials measure each team of handler and sheepdog for skill. Though the instinct is natural with the sheepdogs the practice and teamwork can be months and months of training. Of course the long farm days year in and out never really truly factor into the profitability of a farm’s bottom line. Sue and Amy have been at this herding thing of a while now and their gaining skill showed as the flock of mixed breed sheep moved slowly but surely up the large hill on the Finger Lake New York farm.

Border Collies and Kelpies were developed as a breed to work on farms for herding work. There were herding or multiskilled dogs before the Border Collie. But when the Border Collie was developed in the UK there was a need for highly skilled herding dogs to move, herd, sheep on large grass-based farms. Farm work, if you have never tried it, is hard with long hours and not much time off at all. The Border Collie, other herding breeds had to and still on farms today around the world be able with good spirits show up every day and get the job done. The Border Collie made or makes it possible to get sheep and other types of farm animals from pasture to pasture without trying to rely on a lot of human help which is less available and unaffordable as time goes on.

Tara went running around the edge of the large pond splashing all the way as if she was on an outrun to gather sheep. However, this was a goose control trip and our purpose was to keep wild geese away from a summer camp beach. The geese, a large flock of seventy-five were just offshore of that beech and stopped swimming when they saw Tara. I didn’t have to tell Tara where the geese were, she saw them and stopped on that camp beach fifty yards from me as if to say, “geese you better stop and turn around.” This had been a long summer day into the evening that started at 530 am and it was now getting dark at 830 pm. There were goose control visits in the morning to New York clients and then farm work and now in the late afternoon and evening goose control visits in Western Massachusetts. Tomorrow clients in Connecticut would be on the list. Tara had not worked all of that, we have six dogs after all, but I did.

I walked to the handler’s post on a Saturday afternoon of that sheepdog trial. Blade my five-year-old male Border Collie at my side. He is an athletic Border Collie with great enthusiasm and an ability to listen well to my commands. We have trained long and worked now years with sheep and our poultry and many many goose control trips. All that ability would come up zero if we do not work on our teamwork. Amy was under a tent busily tallying up scores, Sue asleep at her feet. Other participants, human and dog sat on the edge of the trial field out of that afternoon summer sun. As we reached the handler’s post in front of the judge’s tent, Blade saw the three sheep we would herd for our run. The three sheep were “being held”, up on that hill by a Border Collie and handler waiting for Blade to gather. I set Blade to my left and gave him a quite command to run out and gather those sheep. And off he went, happily doing what herding breeds do.

We live in uncertain times and are relooking at our mental health which is so impacted by the Pandemic. All the noise out there does a job covering up the need to pay attention to ourselves, fully. I do think, that most of us understand we need to take care of our mental state, our emotions. There is plenty of laughing, right now, at the crazies. However, being kind and making sure we are secure is the way with most people, if we turn away from our devices long enough. For me, a sense of purpose and the connections are all important. And, I don’t think this is any less important for our dogs.

Anthropologists tell us that we coevolved with dogs and suggest that is why we have such a strong relationship with them. Putting aside how dogs evolved from wolves, our thousands of years of living together creates a deep bond that has created perhaps needs which are similar. As a farmer and lover and student of nature I will by no means say that other animals don’t have “needs” ” intelligence” and “emotions”. What I mean is, dogs and humans may share and I believe do share strong bonds, emotional similarities.

I believe it is not enough for a dog to have a physically secure and loving home. A dog should be mentally stimulated and have a sense of purpose to be mentally healthy. Now that is a strong statement. There are many different types of dogs, breeds, and individuals. So, we can say that what stimulation is needed and what a sense of purpose is, is probably as varied as the complex human species is. We now have dogs that are a long way from functioning as what we call ” working dogs” that do have instincts and abilities to move life forward on a daily basis for human and canine. “Work” as we call it in our modern society is just “life” in many other societies. Therefore we have “working” and “non-working” breeds or dogs in modern times.

Our Family has had mixed breeds and now more so the Border Collies. I have to say, that every one of them is or was different. They all need attention, though in different amounts and ways. The Border Collies are such a variable breed that each, even of our current dogs responds to the want to get something done and the need to socialize as an individual differently. I do take care to make sure that all our six dogs, five Border Collies, and a mix breed, feel like a valued member of our “pack-family”. We actually have a group exercise to enforce our bonds which is great fun.

Our Border Collies love their “work” and being outside and for the most part, enjoy learning their craft. We work on our herding training throughout the year and it is a joy to work with them gaining more and more skill, on the homestead, and with the wild goose control. It took a while to figure out where our mix-breeds mindset and instincts lay. But over time we found that this intence guy gained deep satisfaction not only in his daily roughhousing with our son but great joy in guarding our sheep and poultry. He gets all proud when he has chased a hawk away from the chickens or a rabbet from the vegetables. He actually can do a little herding too and loves to take part in some of our goose control work.

I came off the large sheep pasture with our one and half-year-old Border Collie, Moses by my side. The world-class sheepdog trainer continued to talk as we walked toward Lori our other dogs Skye and Balde who were also there for training. A colleague also waited by the field with her dogs for her turn. We were in upstate New York for a day trip to get pointers for training for our two older dogs who have lots of experience and they were the only dogs that were supposed to come with us. Moses was resting in the SUV when we loaded up at home and his almost all-black color blended into the interior so much we took off with him! Minutes into the trip we realized our mistake and decided to take him with us. Caleb would stay at home and use three years old Tara as his “chore dog” to move our sheep and poultry to and from pasture while we were gone. No goose control on this day as the very busy spring moved to a bit quieter period.

With years of working, training, and living with Border Collies under my belt I felt it a good time to see what this great handler could teach me. And she taught me plenty. There was a lot of different techniques to consider, steps of training to know and understanding each dog’s own individual nature to incorporate. Top-notch teachers in the Border Collie world, sheepdog world all have their own ways, but maybe the world-class folk have a definite step by step approach with teaching methods to achieve that. I do well enough with my Border Collies both for chore work at home and for the goose control work and for sheepdog trailing. I have been working on getting better and better and why not? Is it not good to know what you’re doing? Is it not the best way to teach kids skills in school a way that is natural and would give them tools to live and handle their lives? Do we not want to be successful? And do we not want to be kind while living and working?

“My dogs need to understand that they must be kind to sheep”, she said, as we continued to walk off the field.” That is the only time they hear it from me”. Not that my dogs weren’t, she was just making a point about always being kind and supportive to her dogs while she was teaching them skills. She is also a goose control contractor and I know this applies to geese she works for clients too. When you work sheep or geese, job number one is to lower stress to a minimal level. Our dogs will understand this as they grow to adulthood and or be taught from pups ways to herd that take care of sheep and geese that are not harmful at all. This has were the skill the training and preciseness in the work come into play.

As Moses my teacher and I walked off the field we felt that something had been accomplished. In fact, I think my Border collies and I had learned quite a lot in that afternoon’s training. We neared the waiting dogs and people and Moses turned his head up toward me and gave me his great big smile. It is great to work together and have things go well, learn, and grow. We sat on that edge of the great big field as the sheep happily grazed our dogs rested and got to know the other dogs there a bit more. Now it was time for my colleague to work with her dogs. The teacher got up and started teaching again. I can’t tell you how I admire that dedication. Lori and I gave our Border Collies a bit of time to roam the nearby fields and do their business. Then we loaded Skye, Blade, and “stowaway Moses, and drove home.