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Office:  (530) 823-3628
Fax:  (530) 885-6132

1431 Merry Knoll Road
Auburn, CA  95603
 

Unless noted otherwise, all content and images © Dog & Whistle Goose Control 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking to obtain a goose dog to work on your golf course, commercial facility or perhaps to start or enhance your own goose control business?

Dog & Whistle Goose Control may be able to assist.  Under the right circumstances we can make available for purchase a trained Border Collie goose control dog.   

How much does a trained goose dog cost?. . . Costs range from $1,500 to $10,000 depending on the dog’s experience, abilities and age.  The cost also depends on your needs.  For example, dogs that go into the water and swim up on geese are typically  more expensive, but perhaps the nature of your facility does not require this skill?  Or, maybe there’s limited running necessary and a medium age dog would work well, versus obtaining a one-year old that is hard to tire out?  

Where do we get our dogs?. . . As was the case with our own goose dogs, numerous border collies come to us through our rescue network (we do not breed dogs, it just isn’t necessary).  While the majority of these rescued dogs are made available for general adoption, we select for training ones that show an aptitude for goose control work.  These tend to be the more energetic ones!

What training do we give our dogs? . . . To start, we bring a dog into our existing pack of five (or more) border collies.  To get a dog to think and work like a dog, placing them into a pack accentuates their natural behavior.  The other dogs recognize us as the alphas and this translates to the new pack members.  

We ensure the dog is housebroken and then start with obedience type training, including a localized recall.  We work to establish the dog listening and working with the handler.  For example, when we walk up stairs or through gates we have the dog wait until called by name.  When we go in the vehicle, the dog is commanded to load up into a crate.  These  everyday efforts  add up to the dog paying attention to the handler.  

Our training is largely off lead, which is how goose dogs work.  We don’t train the dog to heel on a leash in classic dog obedience fashion, but they will be learn to walk closely off lead so you can walk through a public gathering.

As training progresses, a stop and lie down are established and the recall distance is expanded.  The dogs receive on-the-job training and learn to disembark and return to a motorized golf or utility cart.  In a lot of goose control work, you want your dog to pursue the geese into water to drive them fully off the property.  A surprising number of dogs require some work to build their confidence in this area.  We first build their confidence with swimming practice alone and then hone their skills by pairing them with our dogs for actual hazing.      

Are our dogs friendly? . . . Yes, they must be since goose control work is typically performed in public.  Throughout the training we socialize our dogs with humans and other dogs.  In addition to the on-site training, we also include outings to the dog park, Starbucks,  etc.  This may be a significant difference with traditional sheep herding training.  We expect some sheep dogs rarely, if ever, leave the farm.  

Please call to review your situation and to see if we can match you up with a dog.  We normally only train one or two dogs at a time such that there may be some time necessary to fulfill your request.  We are very selective where we place our dogs and if we never place another dog, that would be just fine with us.  But when the situation is right, we are thrilled to see one of our dogs go to a working environment.