On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 01:29:40 GMT Spot  whittled these   
   words:   
   > What's the point of him chasing them further into the water unless he's   
   > supposed to catch them?   
      
   The idea is to harrass the geese into choosing another home.  The   
   alternative is to kill the geese.  It is an increasingly common method of   
   keeping the density of geese in urban aras to manageble levels.  If the   
   geese only need to go into the water to termnate the chase then they will   
   learn that and will not leave.  If that happens lethal control is the next   
   alternative.  So the idea is for the dog to continue chasing the geese   
   until they decide the area isbn't safe and they leave.  Which means the   
   dog needs to swim after them.  VEry few BOrder Collies are intersted in   
   actually catching the birds. Their motivation is control and chasing.   
      
      
   > "Mick Ribault"  wrote in message   
   > news:sPbHd.433$PA2.198@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net...   
   >> So I've started doing some work with my border collie (already trained to   
   >> chase geese). He has had some time without chasing geese, and now he won't   
   >> go all the way to them in the water. How do I train him to keep after   
   > them??   
   >> He's been successfull in the past. He swims half way out and then turns   
   >> around. I hate to be negative when he's in the water. Any advice   
   >> appreciated.   
      
   Mick, I don't know the answer to your question.  I know someone who has   
   trained several goose dogs but I've never worked one myself.  I recommend   
   joining the Herders-L group. At least two people experienced in goose   
   control work post there regularly.   
      
   email listserv@apple.ease.lsoft.com   
      
   the body of the message should have ONLY the following   
   SUBSCRIBE HERDERS-L yourFirstName yourLastName   
      
   (do make sure to put YOUR firstname and YOU last name in, not the words   
   "yourfirstname" and "yourlastname" - you'd be surprised at how many people   
   miss that)   
      
   And while you are doing that and getting answers from the experienced here   
   is my thought for you to chew on.  As I said above Border Collies are   
   motivated primarily by the opportunity to control.  Is your dog getting   
   any opportunity to work ducks/geese in a situation where the dog can   
   actually control them?   
      
   Hope to see you and the answer on Herders-L   
      
   --   
   Diane Blackman   
   http://dog-play.com/   
   http://dogplay.com/Shop/   
      
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