Working Dogs - What They Do and How Much They Are Paid

How would you like to organize and train rescued dogs to control geese and various water fowl (because of their droppings) on playgrounds and golf courses or even airports without harming any birds, dogs, or other animals--as long as the dogs are doing what they most like to do?

According to the June 11, 2010 Sacramento Bee article by Anita Creamer, "Goose patrol: Couple trains border collies to clear out geese," a middle-aged couple from Auburn, in the Sacramento regional area, have trained four of their border collies to be "goose control" canines. (At least any dog's droppings are quickly scooped up and dumped. You can't do that with the hourly droppings of hundreds of geese on a playground or golf course lawn.)

The Dog & Whistle Goose Control website (serving Sacramento) notes, "How do we clear your property of nuisance Canada geese? We direct our trained Border Collie dogs to safely move them. This type of goose control, known as hazing or harassment, does not harm geese but it does unsettle them. If the geese go to water, we move them out of the water. The result is geese fly away from your property." Hazing is recognized by government agencies and animal rights groups as a humane and effective method of goose control, according to the Dog & Whistle Goose Control website. Federal or State permits are not required to perform this work as no chemicals, traps, or other harmful techniques are used to dissuade the geese from taking up residence on your property.

Imagine if you began to organize dog teams giving purposes to the lives of so many rescue and shelter dogs that have the natural instinct to do what they like to do while at the same time serving a purpose to keep the environment clean.

You too, can turn your effort at rescuing a particular breed of dogs now in rescue homes and shelters into canines with careers by organizing the appropriate breed of dog's natural instincts for herding or rounding up animals into chasing, but not harming geese from golf courses and other green areas in Sacramento or other areas.

The couple in their fifties, live on several acres in Auburn and have turned rescued border collies into their "Dog & Whistle Goose Control dogs. The border collies have a sweet, friendly nature and are also being rented out not only in local areas but up in Alaska for the summer as "goose control dogs." The dog's job is to safely herd geese (whose droppings mess up golf courses and other green areas for people) in the regions.

They give goose-clearing demonstrations if you call ahead. Check out their website which lists their email address and phone number. They are members of the National Wildlife Control Operators Association.

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 they can make available for purchase a trained Border Collie goose control dog. If you're right for this type of endeavor, you, too can organize your own goose control business.

The couple's "second-half career" also entails renting just for the summer, one of their Dog & Whistle Goose Control Dogs named Rose to clear Canada geese from an airport on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. The dogs are trained not to annoy any goose families. They just check for geese and send them on their way.

Currently, the dogs are checking for geese at the Auburn Valley Golf Club. They don't bother the two ducks on the pond at the golf course. Just geese because one adult goose produces more than a pound of droppings daily.

That's why playgrounds and golf courses suffer from pollution when several hundred geese land there instead of in areas where there's not much public foot traffic. In fact, the San Francisco Bay area has also a goose control company using border collies, called Losee's Goose Control.

The Auburn Valley Golf Course lets the two border collies, Rose and Slip wear bright orange Dog & Whistle vests as the dogs scout for geese. Only if ordered to chase away ducks for a demonstration of the dog's obedience and understanding, will the dogs give the ducks that certain look, upon which the ducks fly away.

As an outgrowth of their ongoing border collie rescue work, two years ago, the couple developed Dog & Whistle as a way to begin a gradual familiarity with retirement. When you look at what Sacramento and Auburn has in the way of goose control, most other companies are in the Bay Area. But Dog & Whistle is unique to Sacramento Valley, and is doing excellent business here. The dogs' handlers are paid between $50 and $150 a day for the dogs' work.

So how can you organize dogs coming from dog rescue living situations and train the dogs to serve a very useful purpose in Sacramento and surrounding areas? Just think of what you can do with all those dogs living in dog rescue foster homes. You can give dogs a purpose, a job, and a chance to do what comes naturally to each specific breed or mixture.

The dogs haze but do not harm Canada geese, a federally protected species. Border collies for centuries have been used to herd sheep. They also can herd geese or simply run up silently to the geese using the dog's wolf insticts, but without harming the geese, give them that fly away look, and the geese do just that. The dogs don't bark at the geese.

They are trained to silently chase away the geese, and that doesn't annoy the golfers with loud barking. That's why border collies are suited for this type of work, because of the border collie's intelligence and ability to be trained to chase away birds without harming or barking at them.

Because of an Alaskan high school student's award-winning idea to use border collies to chase away Canada geese, gulls, and cranes from airports, especially the small Kenai, Alaska airport, the student raised funds and two months ago called Dog & Whistle to come and visit Alaska with the dog, Rose.

So dog and handler will spend a week teaching the high school student there about goose control techniques, and Rose, the border collie, will spend the summer in Alaska working to keep the birds away from the airport.

For the dogs it's fun because their job is to do what they enjoy doing most when they want to do it, instead of sitting around for years in some dog rescue shelter waiting for adoption. That's why you, too can organize dogs from rescue homes and shelters and train the dogs to do what comes naturally for each dog's instincts. Should every dog have a fun job and a purpose as well as a place to come home to where the dog bonds with a family? After all, dogs are our most loyal friends for life.

Looking for any summer reading about funny dogs with happy endings? Browse my novel and collection of short stories under one cover, Dogs with Careers, (2007)

How to Bake Your Own Healthy Grain-Free Dog Biscuits

Here's how to bake from scratch your own healthier beef liver and flour or meal dog biscuits (without sugar or salt) that even may help to clean your dog's teeth when the sponge-like cakes get slightly stale overnight in the refrigerator and just a bit hardened. You can make dog biscuits that are grain-free by using sweet potato flour.

Keep your dog's diet low in grains or grain-free as much as possible. Use sweet potato flour mixed with eggs and pureed liver or baby food (turkey, lamb, veal, or chicken).

This recipe gives you a fresh cake with a sponge-like texture for dogs. The cake is made of liver and whole grain flour or meal and eggs, and has no sugar, salt, or other seasonings.

If you mix just flour, pureed liver, and water and bake as a cracker, without the eggs, you'll get a cracker texture. Don't use chicken livers. Use beef livers.

You can add an optional 1/4 teaspoon of cod liver oil and/or 1/4 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil to the batter, if desired, whether or not you use the recipe version with or without eggs. The eggs give the dog treat a sponge-cake texture. Without the eggs, you basically get a brittle cracker texture that easily breaks into crumbs.

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup sweet potato flour, buckwheat flour, or garbanzo bean flour. (Some dogs are allergic to wheat flour.) Note that buckwheat is not a grain. It's a fruit.
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 pounds beef liver, cut into pieces or two jars of human baby food (turkey, lamb, veal, or chicken).

Variations: Add two tablespoons of wheat germ or rice bran to the sweet potato flour or garbanzo flour mix. Optional: Add 1/4 teaspoon of cod liver oil and/or 1/4 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil to the batter. Some health food stores carry pea flour, but generally sweet potato flour will keep your dog on a grain-free diet as much as possible.

If your dog is diabetic or overweight, ask your veterinarian whether the oil should be added to the treat. Otherwise, the dog will get the required fats from the beef liver. You can substitute two jars of human baby food (meat only) instead of beef liver.

If your dog is not diabetic, you could add 1/4 cup of pureed carrots or blueberries to the batter. Dogs can't digest vegetables that aren't pureed. Never feed grapes to your dog as it's toxic to dogs.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch shallow pan with parchment paper.

2. Place the liver into your blender or food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. Slowly spoon in the flour and eggs, stir out the lumps, and process until you see a smooth liver and grain paste. Or put the pureed liver into a bowl and slowly add the flour and eggs. Stir the batter gently. Spread evenly in the pan that you first have lined with parchment paper.

3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. If it's not done, bake until the center is firm when you stick a fork in it. Cool, and cut into squares. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed jar. The treats will have a consistency similar to a sponge cake.

There's even dog biscuit mix for those that don't want to make dog biscuits or treats from scratch. Or if you're making your own dog treats, you have a choice of flour. Try to avoid wheat flours to which so many dogs are allergic. Instead use buckwheat flour. Buckwheat is not wheat.

Or use oats or sweet potato flour. Look at various potato flours in your health food store. Dogs shouldn't be on a high grain-based diet. Minimize the grains in your dog treats and maximize the meat and eggs along with vegetables such as pureed carrots and peas.

See the video below on how to make your own dog biscuits. Also check out the site (Green-HouseTV) mentioned in the video to see more recipes on how to make your own dog biscuits and treats. The recipe in the video uses peanut butter. If you do decide to use a tiny amount of peanut butter in a dog treat, don't use the type that contains trans-fats such as hydrogenated oils. Instead use organic roasted peanut butter that has no other added fats in it, or puree your own roasted peanuts in a blender.

For more info: browse my books, Dogs with Careers, (2007) or How Nutrigenomics Fights Childhood Type 2 Diabetes & Weight Issues (2009) or Predictive Medicine for Rookies (2005). Or see my books, How to Safely Tailor Your Foods, Medicines, & Cosmetics to Your Genes (2003) or How to Interpret Family History & Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners (2004) or How to Open DNA-driven Genealogy Reporting & Interpreting Businesses. (2007). Check out my free audio lecture on Internet Archive, How nutrigenomics fights childhood type 2 diabetes. Photo Credits: Dogs with Careers.