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Meet our geese!
When we leased our training yard, we knew it had – for many years – been known as Hee Haw Valley. Hee Haw Valley was a petting zoo for children and had an assortment of barn yard animals – from chickens and geese to pigs and donkeys. Numerous North County kids grew up knowing Hee Haw Valley and looking forward to visits there on birthdays and special occasions. When the owner of Hee Haw Valley grew older and gave up the petting zoo, a pair of old geese remained and we took them on – after all, they were the original residents. Some neighbors thought the geese were in their 20s.
 In the summer of 2005, the gander was killed by a coyote while trying to defend his mate. We were devastated and worried that we might lose the goose, too, as she might grieve for her mate. So we got three goslings to keep her company. We hand raised them so they would be friendly and tame (Grandma is not tame!). We named them Fred (the gander), Ethel and Lucy. When they were about three months old, when we arrived at the training yard one day, we found someone had tossed two more geese over our fence. We now had a flock of six!
The introductions were iffy at first. Grandma (the white goose in the photo) hissed at the younger geese, perhaps establishing herself as the leader. And the young gander would posture back. After all, he was the only gander! But within a few weeks, we had one happy flock of six.
We did find that the geese have imprinted on the color red. Our Kindred Spirits shirts and jackets are red, so to the geese, anyone wearing red must be okay!
If we are sitting out in the training yard, relaxing, the geese will come and relax with us, chuckling and talking, and grazing on the grass. It really must be a comical sight to see several people in lawn chairs, relaxing, with several dogs and six huge geese, all mingled together!
 The geese also provide us with training opportunities as the dogs are needed to herd the geese back in their pen at night. The geese ignore most of the dogs but Gina, a Rottie, and Riker and Bashir, Aussies, are all effective at herding the geese.
If you are at the training yard and want to say “Hi!” to the geese, feel free. However, if they are penned, do not stick your fingers through the fence as geese can peck quite hard.
Photo below: Buddy Wachtstetter and our gander indulge in some male bonding  
Gina, a Rottweiler, herding the geese
Web site design by Terry Albert,
Tiger Mountain Graphics
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