Meet Our Geese Chasing Dogs

At Go Geese Go, we have eight herding dogs and two retirees who make an appearance when they’re feeling up to it. Each dog is a border collie, a breed that was developed to herd sheep and other livestock at the Scottish borders. Border collies are intelligent, athletic and energetic, and their herding instincts make them an excellent solution for ridding your property of geese.

Border collies have a “herding eye” – an intense stare that’s used when herding. Rather than simply chase the geese, these dogs drop their heads and stalk the geese, waiting for the perfect time to make their move. Quick thinkers, the goose dogs are able to herd the flock while keeping an eye on stragglers.

While the geese may believe they’re being hunted, the dogs want to herd them to their handler. Geese are not touched or harmed during our process.

Our border collies come from one of the top trainers in the country. Before coming to us, the dogs receive basic obedience training, then go through about two years of herding training.

Once they’re officially on the Go Geese Go team, our trained dogs enjoy the comforts of a heated and air-conditioned building with five acres of fenced-in land for playing, exercising, and herding goats.

The dog’s instinct is to herd animals to its handler. When the geese take off, the dog may feel a lack of confidence due to its inability to bring the geese to its handler. Once back at home, the dog is able to successfully herd the goats to restore its confidence.

Among the various lessons each trained goose dog learns in training are the universal herding voice commands, which are different from typical sit/stay commands for pets. While working, the handler acts as the dog’s eyes and helps direct the dog in where to go and to avoid potential dangers. There are different commands for telling the dog to go left, right, lie down, and the rewarding “that’ll do” when they’ve done a great job and can call it a day. The more “in-tune” dogs can even tell by the handler’s tone of voice how urgent the command is.

When at work on your property, a Go Geese Go handler will bring one or two dogs. As the dogs herd the geese, the geese believe they are being hunted by a predator and move away from your property. Should the geese seek safety on the pond, we use various scare tactics, including swimming the dogs, remote-controlled boats and noisemakers. Once the geese determine that the dogs “own” the property, they’ll choose to live somewhere else and learn to stay away. While we can’t guarantee that you’ll never see another goose, we certainly make that our goal.

Do you love border collies as much as we do? Check out our friends at Kuykendall’s Border Collies!

Want to learn more about controlling your goose population with visits from our herding dogs? Give us a call at (614) 841-GONE. We serve the Central Ohio area as far north as Polaris, east to Pataskala, south to Groveport, west to Hilliard, and northwest to Marysville.