Geese on the pond
When I first moved to Colorado, and saw my first Canada Geese, I thought they were the coolest thing ever! It only took about a year to change my mind - LOL
They poop everywhere and they stop traffic, ignoring cars and people, and sometimes attacking them if they're pushed to much. However... the simple sight of a certain B&W canine makes them take off and fly for cover. I don't have a lot of opportunities to let Ouzo "work" geese, since they don't usually "park" in areas where I can let him off leash. So typically he's on a flexi-leash when I let him walk up on them and make them fly away.
But now they invaded the small park we run and play in every afternoon, and they covered the walkways with disgusting "presents". So a couple of times I did let Ouzo push them into the lake, calling him back as soon as they were all in the water. I can't trust him 100%, but so far he hasn't given me any reason to doubt him with geese, he's always stopped and sat when asked, even with all the excitement around him.
And yesterday all the geese were in the water, and once I told him to ignore them, we were able to sit under this tree and play off leash for 10 minutes, without him even thinking of jumping in the water to chase them.
I trust him not to harm them, but I don't trust that he wouldn't run after them and end up in the street or something. So for now, it's a very closly controled goose removing operation :)
Geese on the pond
When I first moved to Colorado, and saw my first Canada Geese, I thought they were the coolest thing ever! It only took about a year to change my mind - LOL
They poop everywhere and they stop traffic, ignoring cars and people, and sometimes attacking them if they're pushed to much. However... the simple sight of a certain B&W canine makes them take off and fly for cover. I don't have a lot of opportunities to let Ouzo "work" geese, since they don't usually "park" in areas where I can let him off leash. So typically he's on a flexi-leash when I let him walk up on them and make them fly away.
But now they invaded the small park we run and play in every afternoon, and they covered the walkways with disgusting "presents". So a couple of times I did let Ouzo push them into the lake, calling him back as soon as they were all in the water. I can't trust him 100%, but so far he hasn't given me any reason to doubt him with geese, he's always stopped and sat when asked, even with all the excitement around him.
And yesterday all the geese were in the water, and once I told him to ignore them, we were able to sit under this tree and play off leash for 10 minutes, without him even thinking of jumping in the water to chase them.
I trust him not to harm them, but I don't trust that he wouldn't run after them and end up in the street or something. So for now, it's a very closly controled goose removing operation :)