GOOSE CONTROL DOGS VERSUS THE GOOSINATOR
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| Cosmo, one of our goose dogs, looking over 20 acres of goose free lake that he works. |
If you are in the market and have a need for goose control you are probably doing what many informed consumers do and that is search the internet for different methods and ideas. You probably have come across many different goose control companies and many different gimmicks to control geese. What we feel is the most long lasting and effective method is putting predatory pressure on geese with our professional goose dogs. Geese feel unsafe, fear for their lives and leave.
We have had customers ask us about a product called the goosinator. It is a big orange airplane that runs on the ground, water and ice to haze geese off of properties. After asking the question and before we answer they usually say that it is very expensive vs. our service. I have never seen one in person but I have looked at the product videos on it's webpage.
It is on that webpage we found some misguiding information when comparing the goosinator to a goose dog.
The first incorrect comparison is the price point the site presents. The website quotes a price range of $300 to $500 per week for goose dog services! WOW! That is not realistic, average or even representative of typical costs. I am not sure if anyone is charging that much for their goose dog services, but if they are it would have to be for very very large areas and areas that require a lot of time to service. Not typical. Perhaps that is the target consumer though. I could tell you that we charge as little as $35 per week for our service.
One very important comparison that is left out is that the goosinator does not have the predatory advantage a dog has. It is big,it is loud and it is orange with a big grin on its effigy. However, the geese see it as a nuisance and not a threat to their survival. Much like mylar balloons, dog effigies and blinking yellow lights the goosinator is a nuisance.
The second item that is left out is who is operating the remote control behind it in the early morning, in the blowing snow, in the cold, in the driving rain, at night and whenever geese are present. Some one has to be out there in all types of weather when geese are around. The facility managers I know are paying their staff good money to take care of more important things than the geese. Who on the Facilities Staff is going to be charged with dropping what they are doing, getting the plane out of storage and walking it out to chase the geese? How much is the company going to pay that facility guy on their payroll to do that? We love spending time outdoors with our dogs. Our dogs love spending time outdoors doing a job. We have a passion for what we do and it is another one of the reasons our service is so successful. We are relentless.
It happens on occasion in the spring where we work in areas densely populated with geese, that a family with goslings will wander onto a property from a neighbor's. We use our highly trained dogs to gently herd the growing goose family back to where they came from. We do not see being able to do this gentle work with this blaze orange device that has a motor and propeller on the end of it. We can do this work efficiently and quietly in the morning without waking neighbors that are sleeping. Our dogs herd them slowly and gently, encouraging the goslings and parents to retreat to where they nested.
The biggest advantage I see with the goosinator is that it can go on ice. The only issue with this is that migrating and resident geese look for open unfrozen water in the winter to roost on. They are not looking sit on ice. Maybe this is a bigger issue in Denver. In any event, this is where we have used the predatory pressure of our dogs and a proprietary technique. Geese if they are on the land will go to water/ice for safety. The presence of a dog on the surrounding land is strong enough of a predatory influence to force the geese to look for somewhere else to go.
In summary, Goose Control dog services, like RMGC, are relatively inexpensive. Goose Dogs can and do go in water, on grass, on sand, on snow and ice. They also provide a real life predator on your property that threatens the safety of geese. Predatory pressure is something the blaze orange, goosinator airplanes cannot and do not replace. The goosinator does need a full time operator to haze geese. What you will need to decide is if hiring a service is better, cheaper and more effective than spending thousands on the goosinator and hours of your own time or your employee's time in all kinds of weather operating the device until geese leave.
Rescue Me Goose Chasing.... We Get Rid of Geese Fast!
Our dogs work on:
WATER
GRASS:
Snow and Ice:
and even the sandy beaches!
