Zekie was a good boy yesterday. Here he is, resting up.

Zekie has a new job. He chases geese off of our neighbor’s pond! Our neighbor called on Thursday to ask if I could come over with a dog and try chasing the Canada Geese from her pond. My husband had spoken with her previously and suggested it. He knew I would be happy to give it a try. So, I took Baxter and Zekie over to see what we could do.

I knew that Baxter was the most obedient of the two, but Zekie had the intensity that I thought might be needed for the job. Both dogs enjoyed running the perimeter of the pond. I kept instructing them to “get those geese” and pointing at the birds.

Walking around, I could see why our neighbor wanted to be rid of the birds. That was a lot of poop! She had already tried a pair of swan decoys, to no avail.

The dogs seemed to catch on to the idea, but the geese swam into the water and kept away from us. The dogs both went in the water up to their ankles, but that was it. We finally gave up and went home. We reported to our neighbor that we didn’t have much luck and she thanked us for trying.

On Monday, our neighbor called and asked if I could bring the dogs back. Turns out that the geese left later on the day we had been there and the pond was goose-free for a few days. We thought maybe just the scent of the dogs had keep the birds away. So after lunch, I leashed up Zekie, and took him and Baxter for our second attempt at goose removal. Baxter doesn’t need a leash. He responds to voice commands.

Baxter didn’t have much interest in the geese this time, but he did enjoy running around the pond. When I let Zekie loose and told him “get those geese” and pointed, he began frantically circling the bank and jumped in the water up to his knees. I keep praising and encouraging him to get the geese. I could tell after a few repetitions that he had figured out what we were doing. Zekie kept running the shore to where the geese were and jumping in the water towards the birds!

Finally Zekie jumped in the water up to his shoulders and the geese took flight! Our neighbor was on her deck near the house and began clapping. The geese flew away toward the tree line and Zekie chased them the entire way. They crossed the tree line and flew out of sight. Zekie was still chasing them at a full sprint. Finally, he reached the trees, and realized I was calling him and turned to start back. He had the biggest smile of joy on his face.

I knew Zekie’s intensity would have a use. We only had to find it.