There's only one dog allowed within Shoreline at Mountain View, and his name is Graeme. He's a Border Collie that is specially trained to chase the geese off the golf course. We all like geese; they're pretty and peaceful, but Mountain View happens to have quite an abundance of them and they poop on the greens. Some of the birds used to actually eat the greens leaving large holes that had to be filled in every morning. Graeme came to Shoreline Golf Links in March. He can clear the entire golf course of geese within 30 or 40 minutes. He's really fast at his job. It might take the geese an hour or two to come back. He even chases them out of the ponds if they try to avoid actually leaving.
He basically makes life uncomfortable for them, but he never touches them or hurts them in any way. He just manages the geese. In the spring, when the geese are busy raising their goslings, Graeme isn't allowed to chase them. He still comes to work everyday, but he chases Frisbees instead of geese. That's why he isn't chasing geese in the video...
Touchstone Golf runs Shoreline Golf Links. Shoreline Golf Links is owned by the city of Mountain View. Touchstone took over operation of the course in January 2012. Touchstone operates about 25 golf courses around the country and they're good at what they do. They've made some really nice improvements to the course and we've been hearing lots of compliments from the golf community.
For example there is a new driving range/golf tee area. The old one was kind of sinking due to the landfill under it. Three of the fresh-water ponds have been drained and converted to Burrowing Owl foraging habitat. Apparently there was so much fresh water area before that we were encouraging the geese to migrate to the golf course. With migration comes breeding. By limiting the amount of fresh water ponds and converting them to foraging area for the owls we would be helping the owls and we would have less geese. These ponds were filled in with dirt, rocks, brush piles and native plants and those areas are now attracting reptiles and rodents that Burrowing Owls like to feast on. We want to take good care of these tiny little owls and help them stay in this area. It's really a tremendous improvement. It's a perfect blending of nature and golf.
I'm not a golfer, but I love that a really friendly dog is employed at our golf course and that we're doing all that we can to encourage more Burrowing Owls to live in Mountain View. Everyone love dogs and you would have to be crazy to not love those adorable little owls... Next time you're in that area you should stop by Shoreline Golf Links and say "hello" to Graeme. He's at work almost everyday. I love Mountain View.
Graeme came from a company called Dog & Whistle Goose Control in Auburn California.