Nash is actually a mix breed which came into our lives, our home a few years ago. He was two years old and his family had moved to New York City. The thing is, Nash was not exactly a good fit in The City.He and his litter were rescued as pups and so even though that was when they were very young, he has that going on. The City move was for his “first moms” work, so it had to happen. His first family found us, we needed a dog at the time, but I was not sure he had any herding instinct. After a month trial period, I realized he didn’t, but we fell in love, and Nash became a member of our pack, our family.
Nash is an emotional guy, and he was still young when we “got him,” so he had time with us to “grow.” It was a rough first year, but then pups are not easy, as easy as people think. He pretty much tried to do as he wanted and that was hard with anything practical, like working with our farm animals or the goose control. But over time, he has matured into a loving and useful dog that everyone seems to love. He can do some “farm work,” driving, but not gathering. You may wonder what is “driving” and what is “gathering.” Driving is when a herding dog moves the sheep, etc., away from the handler, “gathering,” as it sounds, is the opposite, “getting” the sheep. His nose very instinctually drives Nash, so he does not see well enough to “gather.” But he does so, once in a while. He can gather our farm ducks, for instance, not the sheep.
So, do non Border Collies make good goose dogs? For the most part, I would say not so much. Herding breeds have the discipline, instinct, and strong affinity to work with their handlers that other breeds don’t. Other breeds do “other things well”, but herding breeds are good, or very good at working with farm animals, and that translates to goose control work very well. I do know of someone who uses Spaniels for goose control work, but he is the only one who does that. People often patrol their property for geese and to haze other wildlife with a variety of breeds. But, as a service business, I think the Border Collies are ideal. They listen, readily, are trusted off-leash, and have the instinctual drive to get the goose control work done. ( please see earlier posts for descriptions of how we work with wild geese).
So, how does it work that Nash is part of our “team.” First of all, we live on our Homestead or call it a small farm. Nash is good at keeping away predators like fox and hawks which would kill our chicken and ducks. And I think the coyotes that would be an issue with our sheep know the dogs, especially Nash, are around. Yes, we haze even hawks at home away from our place. Nash has learned, with a lot of work, how to fill in as a “bench player” with the goose control. He can be trusted and do a decent job for us. I am proud of the hard work he has done to try to help out. And he gets very happy when he does “help out.” I would not recommend a non-herding breed for goose control, but Nash has had all our Border Collies to learn from.