FAQ The Bird Chasers, Birds, and Highly Trained Dogs

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Some of the main reasons for harassing birds is that they can cause damage to crops, homes, businesses, and aircraft, and there is the possibility of disease transmission from birds to humans or livestock. But birds are part of our daily lives and that is why our dogs are trained not to catch or harm birds in any way. 

Birds rely primarily on their vision and hearing to find food, avoid predators, and locate mates. Bird vision is quite different from human vision; birds can see colors that humans cannot perceive (including the ultraviolet range), and they detect and use polarized light.  Bird response to

scare techniques that rely on vision depend largely upon the visibility of the object to the bird. With regard to hearing, birds generally are capable of narrow hearing frequencies and this range does not include the ultrasonic range, so ultrasonic devices will not scare birds. Birds also use touch and smell senses, but to a lesser degree. Devices based on these senses are not generally used for dispersal.  That is why we rely on dogs because they are highly visible and birds perceive them as predators. (Seamans, Thomas W. and Gosser, Allen L., "Bird Dispersal Techniques" (2016).Wildlife Damage Management Technical Series 2)

There is no silver bullet when it comes to chasing birds since no single technique or tool will deter birds in every instance or situation.  Successful bird dispersal involves a combination of tools and timing of use, as well as the skills and persistence of wildlife management personnel.  Some of the techniques that have been used to mitigate bird problems in various situations include habitat modification.  All birds need some combination of food, water, cover, and space to survive. Modify one or more of these features, and birds will often move to an area that better suits their needs. Visual and acoustic tools have also been used to frighten birds, like pyrotechnics, alarms and distress calls, and sadly, chemical repellents that are harmful to birds if ingested have been used.  We do not employ any of these techniques other than relying solely upon the birds perceiving our dogs as predators and therefore, a threat to their existence.

The use of dogs to deter and haze birds is promising and generally appears effective, but more experimental research is needed. This is one of the reasons that The Bird Chasers was started, to hopefully provide more research as to the efficacy of dogs at dispersing birds, particularly at airports. Recently, the use of dogs has received more attention and research as a tool to deter birds from airports (Carter 2000a,b; Castelli and Sleggs 2000; Patterson 2000). Castelli and Sleggs (2000) reported a retrospective analysis of the efficacy of a dog program to repel and haze birds, which at scale of the airport, was effective at reducing bird overabundance. Carter (2000b) reported several case studies on the use of dogs, most strikingly, in Delaware where the use of dogs reduced bird numbers by 99.9%, and damage was reduced from $600,000/year to $24,000/year.  This is an important factor in our decision to use dogs to safely and humanely harass birds.

 We require a 24-hour notice for cancellations. If you cancel within 24 hours of your scheduled appointment, you may be charged a cancellation fee.  This is important to us since we cannot schedule overlapping appointments, and short cancellations hinder our ability to work efficiently.