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Border collie Jo looks for Canada geese in one of the 12 lakes at Red Hawk Golf Club in Reno. Photo by Associated Press Border collies Baxter, front, and Jo run in front of the golf cart driven by Red Hawk Golf Club superintendent Tim Schobert in their morning search for Canada geese. Photo by Associated Press

Friday, September 08, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Golf course employs collies to shoo wayward Canada geese

By FAITH BREMNER

     By FAITH BREMNER

     THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

      RENO -- If only all employees could be as smart and hardworking as Baxter and Jo.

      For the past three years, these two loyal border collies have earned their living chasing Canada geese away from the Red Hawk Golf Club in Spanish Springs Valley.

      Jo and Baxter are so good at their jobs that most days they can't find a single wild goose to chase. Every morning, accompanied by golf course superintendent Tim Schobert, the two make their rounds at the 155-acre golf course looking for wayward geese.

      Sometimes they ride with Schobert in his golf cart, but mostly they run happily alongside. They're strong swimmers, and even in the coldest weather, they don't hesitate to jump in water. The dogs have been trained to ignore the hundreds of ducks and other birds that live and nest in the golf course's 12 ponds and 50 acres of wetlands.

      "Before we got Jo, we had nothing but geese," Schobert said. "With both of them here, the geese don't even bother coming anymore."

      When it was just Jo -- she arrived at Red Hawk first -- the geese had the upper hand. The birds were smart enough to know they could avoid her by flying to the far end of the course's large ponds. One year later, Baxter was hired. Now they work as a team going after the geese from both sides.

      Red Hawk purchased Jo from a dog trainer in Hemmett, Idaho. Jo in turn showed Baxter the ropes. Schobert tied the two dogs together with a 3-foot-long leader for a few days until Baxter got the hang of his new job.401