ABOUT US   Our dog handler, Gail Perrin, has a lifetime of animal training experience having lived her entire life with dogs and trained several over the years, as well as being a horse owner since 1986. She is actively involved in riding, showing and training of horses and giving riding instruction. Gail is a graduate of Sir Sandford Fleming College (School of Natural Resources) Fish and Wildlife Technician program (1992), and received the Canadian Arabian Horse Registry's Certificate of Achievement upon completion of their Arabian Fulfillment Program (2002). Gail has been employed in a variety of different fields including Natural Resources, retail sales, road construction crews, trail development and even waitressing, before opening her own stable offering English riding instruction.   Gail's love for dogs and growing passion for dog sports has led her to become involved in the sport of disc dog, agility and dog sledding. She has adopted several rescued puppies to add to her dogsled team, raising them from a young age, training and adding them to the team when they are ready.  Instead of the usual northern breeds often used for dog sledding, Gail chose herding breeds which are also very high energy, high drive dogs. A choice of breeds which, as it turned out, led to branching out in another direction - goose control.   The dogs we use for goose control here at Silhouette Goose Dogs are Border Collies, the breed of choice for this line of work. Border Collies have a way of working that mimics wild predators, making them very effective at scaring away the geese. They are a breed with a naturally strong herding instinct, which is refined through training on livestock. Before beginning goose work our dogs receive training with sheep, and from the time they are puppies they participate in daily farm chores, learning what is acceptable behaviour around the stock. This is especially helpful in ensuring that our dogs will never harm the geese when working them. They have learned from day one that while they may move the stock, they may never harm the stock. They are quite safe and are allowed free access go to right in with our poultry and other small animals while we are doing chores.   We currently have 8 dogs, four of which are Border Collies and two of which are Border Collie mixes. Our two adult Border Collies, Rain and Storm, are the dogs we use for goose control at present. In the future, our younger Border Collies Flurry and Dru will also be available for goose work.

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