START Border collies have helped solve the local geese nusiance at area properties.
FOILING FOUL FOWLS Geese Chasers’ border collies scare off Canada geese and their attendant droppings from parks, reservoirs, housing developments and other areas
By Bob Yearick
B
ob Young has an allergy to dogs, but like most parents, he would do anything for his kids, and his wanted a dog, so the family acquired a border collie. The breed is known for its boundless energy, and with the kids in school, the job of giving Boomer his required exercise often fell to the paterfamilias. One day, after Young had turned Boomer loose on a ball field, he was approached by the owner of a nearby golf course that was plagued by flocks of Canada geese and their copious droppings. The man told Young he had recently read that border collies were effective in controlling geese, and would Young consider bringing his dog to the course periodically to chase the irksome birds? In exchange, he would give Young and his son golf lessons. Young agreed, and Boomer began spending hours gleefully chasing geese off the course. While he never took the golf lessons, watching Boomer work stirred Young’s entrepreneurial spirt. Why not, he thought, acquire more border collies and hire them out to golf courses, parks and other areas plagued by the foul fowls? Thus was born the predictably named Geese Chasers. That was 1998. While Young continued to work in the medical field, his side business, headquartered in Mt. Laurel, N.J., grew to 11 franchises, including Delaware, that reach as far west as Chicago. In fact, Young says, Geese Chasers has grown between 15 and 25% every year since its inception. And no wonder. Flocks of Canada geese (that’s the correct name; not “Canadian geese”) plague public, commercial and corporate properties, reservoirs, golf courses, housing developments, lakes, and ponds. Generally, the offenders are not the migratory birds seen flying south in a V-formation every fall; they are resident geese that stay in an area year-round.
POOP PROBLEMS
The birds are attracted to any area with a large expanse of grass or water. They can cause several problems, almost all related to their feces, which is ample. Both the males, which weigh 6 to 14 pounds, and females, weighing 5 to 12 pounds, can produce 1 to 2 pounds of droppings daily. The poop can degrade water, make walkways unusable, and foul mowers and other maintenance equipment. The birds also often tear out grass by its roots. And during nesting season, they tend to be aggressive toward humans. ►
MARCH 2022 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM
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