(Published in Acreage Life)

Sherri Hall is on a wild goose chase.  And she’s got eight super-charged border collies to help her with her mission.

Hall is the owner of Bye Bye Birdie, a goose control company based in Alliston, Ontario that uses border collies to harass unwanted Canada Geese on public and private properties.

She and her team of border collies have been hired by golf courses, municipalities, corporations and private residences to deal with the growing problem of Canada Geese.

According to Hall, one goose can leave more than 1.5 pounds of droppings in a single day. Hundreds of geese in one location can make for a whole lot of shoveling.

And droppings aren’t the only problem left behind. Canada Geese also eat crops, and have been known to be aggressive to humans.

“We’ve had problems with office buildings where Canada Geese were attacking customers,” says Norm North, water fowl specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Although there are Canadians who would gladly support a cull of the species, many are strongly opposed to such drastic measures and argue that more humane methods of goose control should be utilized.  

Whether or not the bird has a special place in your heart, there’s no doubt that the population of geese has exploded. In fact, the population in Ontario alone has risen from the low thousands in the 1950’s and 1960’s to 600,000 says North.

According to North, in the 1950’s the geese population in Ontario was so scarce that it got a helping hand from the Department of Lands and Forests who introduced the bird to various areas of the province.

Since then Canada Geese have not only become a problem for municipalities and lakefront property owners in Ontario, but across Canada including Regina, Vancouver, New Brunswick and more recently Montreal.

To deal with the problem, the Canadian Wildlife Service has expanded the hunting season for Canada Geese. In Ontario, 130,000 Canada Geese were shot last year. It also relocates birds in urban areas to rural areas where hunting is permitted and it has implemented an egg oiling program, which prevents goose eggs from hatching. (The eggs are sprayed with mineral oil or safflower oil.)

Hill works alongside the Canadian Wildlife Services on their egg oiling program.

“I have the only egg and nest detection dog in the world,” she says.

According to Hall, every gosling that hatches on a property will come back and lay its eggs there.

“We have created the perfect environment for the Canada Goose,” she says. “They have lost their desire to fly south.”

A business is born

Hall got into the goose control business five years ago. Her first gig was at the famous five-star Nottawasaga Inn.

“I live near the Nottawasaga Inn and I knew it was a growing concern,” she says. “I was seeing tons of geese there.”

She approached the inn with a proposal of using border collies for goose control and was hired.

“A thousand geese flew in there to live for the summer. There were also flocks of 200 who would stop to take a break there,” she says.

The ‘eye’

Because of their strong herding instinct, border collies are an ideal breed for harassing geese. Instead of going after the birds to retrieve them as some breeds would do, border collies attempt to round them up.

Hall, who is also a veterinary technician, a professional dog trainer and breeder, says there’s a lot more to chasing geese than meets the eye. Although a 45-hole golf course can be serviced with one dog, the job requires a significant time commitment.

“People think you just take a dog and go out on a golf course and chase the hell out of the geese and that’s not the case at all,” she says. “To implement a proper goose control program is a 3-5 year project.”

Hall and her dogs are on the scene 2-3 times a day, seven days a week from March until December.

Because of the huge commitment, a 36-hole golf course can expect to pay $30,000 annually for full-time harassment, which includes egg oiling.

Hall also leases the dogs to golf courses for the purpose of goose control and provides training to golf course staff. Although she does not sell her dogs to golf courses, other goose control companies will charge up to $10,000 for a dog adept at goose control.

Business Booming

Hall says that her dogs are an effective means of goose control “100 percent of the time.” Hall says she and her dogs are so busy that not only has she had to hire four full time staff, she’s in the process of franchising her business.

“I’ve had a lot of interest, especially from older couples that are seriously into dogs and are heavy duty golfers that would love to do nothing else but drive around in a golf course all day long with their dogs,” says Hall.

Sidebar: Got a Goose problem? Here are some tips

Lakefront properties are especially attractive to geese. If you own waterfront property, or simply have a pond that is attracting unwanted numbers of geese there are ways to make your property less inviting, says Norm North water fowl specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Service.

• Leave a buffer of tall grass, wildflowers or shrubs between your lawn and the shoreline. Geese like to be able to see what’s around them. Geese do not like tall grass, which could make them vulnerable to predators such as coyotes and foxes.
• Put up a low level fence between the shore and your lawn. This will prevent goslings, which cannot fly, from entering your property.
• Oil eggs. You can apply for an egg oiling permit from the Canadian Wildlife Service. This will allow you to spray eggs on your property with mineral oil or safflower oil, which will prevent eggs from hatching. Beware: adult Canada Geese will often attack to protect their eggs.
• Get a Border Collie. Herding dogs such as border collies can be an excellent means of scaring geese off of your property. However, border collies are an active breed and need lots of stimulation. And of course, buying any kind of dog requires a huge commitment. Make sure you are prepared to make it. If you already own a dog and it’s not a herding breed, the dog might be more into retrieving the birds than harassing them.
• Invest in a pond diverter. Sherri Hall says one way to reduce the Canada Geese population from a pond is with a pond diverter, which is similar to a buoy that has reflective tape dangling from its side. The cost of one of these devices is approximately $500, and larger ponds would require two or three.

Sidebar: Goose Facts

• Most Canada Geese mate for life, but a new mate will be chosen if a partner dies.
• Many Canada Geese live longer than 10 years and some as long as 25 years.
• Canada Geese will lay two to eight eggs in one season.
• Peak hatching occurs in May.
• Adult geese moult their wing feathers a few weeks after goslings hatch, leaving them flightless for up to six weeks. This makes them vulnerable and highly reluctant to leave the rearing/moulting area.
• Peak hatching occurs in May.

From Canadian Wildlife Service website http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/brochures/geeseshorelines-e.html