Canine caddie - Dog repels unwanted geese at golf courses

STREATOR, Ill. -- Bill Jarchow's favorite caddie has never carried his golf clubs and insists on riding shotgun in the cart, but he doesn't mind.

This particular Caddie, a purebred golden retriever, isn't a bit interested in golf, but she does have a hobby that dovetails beautifully with her master's. He's there for the golf; she's there for the birds.

Canada geese cause a health risk and eyesores at many golf courses and public recreation areas. And Caddie, 6 1/2, delights in chasing the big waterfowl, often frightening them enough to make them look for other digs.

"We live on a golf course. I'd take her for walks and discovered she liked to go after the geese," Jarchow, 59, explained after a recent trip with Caddie to chase the big birds at Streator Country Club. "She doesn't do anything to them, but they are really afraid of her."

Jarchow and Caddie have been pestering and expelling the geese near their home, located on Edgebrook Country Club, for four years. Last year, however, the duo hooked up with the Streator golf course through a friend.

"My next-door neighbor owed me a favor," Jarchow explained. "He was playing in the invitational in Streator and asked me to play. One of the members at Streator was complaining about the goose problem and I said, 'I've got this dog and we'd be glad to come down and try to help you out."'

He and Caddie were invited to give it a try.

"We had some success last year," he said.

They've been asked to return this year and have made two or three visits so far, with mixed results.

"Right now it's very difficult because the geese have had their babies and their families are right there in the ponds, so they're not going anywhere," Jarchow said. "But as soon as the babies are able to fly, maybe they'll move off to another place."

Chasing after geese isn't the only thing about a golf course that pleases Caddie, though.

"After she chases the geese off, she comes back and gets on the golf cart," Jarchow said. "I think that's the biggest thrill for her because she loves to ride the golf cart. Sometimes if I drive a golf cart home from the country club she'll hear me and be whining inside the house because she wants to ride the cart."

Jarchow's reward for his dog's prowess is a free round of golf and a cart whenever the two perform their task.

"I wouldn't ask for anything more than that and wouldn't want anything more," Jarchow said. "She's not professionally trained, and I can't guarantee any results."