Knowing what you are doing is essential, right? We would not want to go to a restaurant where the cooks do know how to cook, and a garage were the mechanics do not know how to fix our autos. And I might add, know how to “do it ” well. Yes, doing things our selves can work out just fine if we have the skills and time, but would you fix the foundation of your house without really knowing how? Hazing wildlife is simple enough a concept, but the background about each wildlife species adds layers to the knowledge needed. Working with dogs is another thing.
I have heard of wild goose control efforts with dogs that go badly. There have been some franchise efforts that have been nonstarters. And a lot of the issues start with not understanding the dog, the dogs, most often Border Collies. If we lived and grew up from when we were young with Border Collies and the livestock they were breed to work with, the “understanding” would be ingrained. Most people in America working Border Collies today did not grow up with these beautiful, highly instinctual, energetic dogs. In the UK and Ireland were the breed was first developed the opposite is true.
There is a steep learning curve when learning how to work and live with Border Collies. It can take years but is sure to take months and months to get a grasp. Yes, you can trot out a Border Collie or any instinctually driven dog out to haze wildlife, chase geese, but the results are often mayhem without a knowledgable hand. If you are just working your own property, that is more doable than say if your hazing multiple properties. It is not fair to the dog or dogs to not know “what you are doing” with them. And as a matter of fact, it is not fair to the wildlife. Wild geese can be overly panicked and cause a negative impact on your efforts and safety can be very much compromised.
The whole point of working with Border Collies is to be nonlethal and go about moving sheep and also geese in a calm manner. Yes, that’s right, “Be calm and herd or haze on.” These dogs are from The Britsh Isles and Ireland after all. Handling Border Collies in any other way, is asking for trouble. Rude and unknowledgeable handling runs against the Border Collies DNA. There actually is no such thing as an unconditional dog; I’m sorry to say. And indeed it goes to say with Border Collies, all dogs, what you put in is what you get out, but factoring in the genetics of course.
So, take lessons, go to sheepdog trials, be ready to take the time and effort. The reward will last a lifetime, and the miracle of a deep and ancient relationship with the animal kingdom will be yours. Hazing,”chasing” geese, working with farm animals is something that was almost lost to Americans with our “full-throttle rush to the future.” We have come to realize that it is the relationships, the understanding of how we fit together with nature and its “creatures” that matters. And, while your at it become a student of wild geese and the envirments they live in too. Understanding a bit of the science of why overpopulation on man made and wild lands is a bad thing is very cool too.