Exclusion
This process usually begins after the nesting period ends in early to mid May. If goslings are present (they shouldn't be if the population stabilization strategy has been implemented), the Border collie handler should wait until the goslings and their parents separate from the remaining flock before introducing the Border collie. This separation can be achieved by walking the goslings and parents to a safe location or encouraging them with rope barriers or blocking techniques with a boat to move them to another part of the property or pond.

Any size water body can be made to unsafe for the geese by using a Border collie with a life jacket to improve its endurance (and safety) and a boat to carry the Border collie from one part of the water body to another as the geese swim or fly hop away from the Border collie. The boat is also used for blocking the escape route of the geese when the Border collie is in the water. For small pond ropes can be used to block the escape route of the geese. Larger ponds may need a kayak or an electric trolling motor. Large ponds or rivers need a boat with a gas engine. GeesePeace partners have used these techniques on seven miles of river, the Chesapeake Bay and 350 acre lakes. Geese cannot defeat this tactic. With persistence the only way for the geese to find safety is leave the lake. If they run on land the Border collie leaves the boat and flushes them back into the water. This exclusion usually takes one to two weeks. Then it's just random maintenance. As the molting time gets closer the geese find another place to be that is outside the exclusion area that had been covered by the Border collie.

Here's how it works. Basically the Border collies chase the geese into the lake. Then the Border collies enter the water either, by swimming or on boats to harass the geese out of the Lake. After about an hour or so of this intense activity the geese leave. For the first 2 days more then one Border collie may have to be used depending on the site size. After that a daily visit by a single Border collie team (one collie, one or two handlers) is all that is needed. Daily visits should continue for two to three weeks to ensure the geese will not include the site’s lake/pond in their daily foraging and lake/pond-hopping itinerary.

GeesePeace recommends any site utilizing the geese exclusion strategy should obtain the permission of lake/pond front property owners to conduct off-lease activity of border collies so the collies would be allowed to enter their property to herd the geese into the lake.

The reason these exclusion techniques are so effective is that geese need a water body for safety. They know that by late June they cannot fly and their only protection from predators is escaping to the water. By denying the water as a safe haven for the geese, they must find another safe spot to molt.
Dakota, a trained Border collie, off-duty with her family.