Problem solving has always been a big part of a golf course superintendents’ job. At Fairview Country Club in Connecticut solving a “Goose Poop” problem developed into a business opportunity that ended up as a franchise.

“It was like playing golf in a litter box,” said David Marack, assistant superintendent. “Golfers hate that greenish-purple goose poop. The maintenance staff hates it even more. Every piece of equipment must be cleaned every day.” 

Our fairytale business story starts when David Marack, was trying to rid his Fairview of over 600 Canadian geese. His brother, Richard, head superintendent, told David to find a way to rid the exclusive private club of these 600 problems that produced almost 1,000 pounds of goose poop per day. The brothers had tried all the standard remedies. Nothing worked!

On his day off David was browsing in a bookstore and saw a picture of a pretty little pup with beautiful black and white markings. He could not identify the breed but remembered seeing these dogs when he was a kid. The Marack brothers had worked on a farm during the summer months. David remembered that the farm used these beautiful dogs to round up cattle. 

An idea popped into his mind. David learned that these dogs were Border Collies, a breed that traces their ancestry to Scotland. If these Scottish cattle dogs could be trained to round up cattle, could they be used to chase geese from the Fairview fairways. 

The brothers contacted over a dozen breeders, before finding Barbara Ray, a Border Collie breeder in Virginia. Ray believed that one of her dogs, a two-year-old male named Tac, could do the job. It took only a few days for Richard to get approval to spend $2,000 of the club’s money to purchase Tac. The membership was sick of goose poop.

In a matter of weeks, the geese at Fairview Country Club were gone. In two more weeks, there were only traces of the problem poop. Another problem developed. With no geese to chase, Tac was bored. David contacted a friend at a nearby golf course and volunteered Tac’s services to solve their goose poop problem. Word of Tac’s success spread quickly through the local golf community. Soon David was taking Tac to courses on his days off. It was easy money, just turning Tac loose on a golf course filled with geese and David’s pockets filled with cash. 

David soon purchased a second Border Collie from Barbara. “I suddenly realized that these dogs were making more money than I do.” In less than a year David had quit his job at Fairview and went into the goose poop business. The very clever name “Geese Police” was the name of his new business. The goose poop snowball began rolling down hills at golf courses near and far.

With no real predators in urban settings and perfect conditions to raise the numerous goslings, Canada geese numbers increase rapidly. The Geese Police business has exploded into a multi-million-dollar business.

Border Collies are a special kind of dog, they were bread in Scotland in a region on the English border, thus their name. They are smart and very agile. They are herding dogs. Their instincts are much like a predator, like a wolf or coyote. The Border Collies are trained not to harm the geese just to chase them from the property. The geese are also very smart and are not fooled for long by cardboard cutouts of coyotes or foxes. The Border Collies need to return on a regular basis.

The Marack brothers have done well with the Border Collie business. They now have a franchise business that provides the Border Collies to golf courses and other properties like airports and other well kept open areas where geese prosper. The Geese Police franchise operation now operates in 13 states with 17 locations. The franchise fee runs $35,000+. The Marack brothers’ business Geese Police receives a 6% franchise fee.

The Marack brothers Geese Police is not the only business that has taken advantage of the Fairview Canadian geese problem. One of Barbara Ray’s trainers, Rebecca Gibson has a company Fly Away Geese that sells trained Border Collies for $3,500 – $8,000. Fly Away Geese has a worldwide reputation for selling the best trained Border Collies. Military bases are a big customer for Fly Away Geese. 

Who knew that a simple problem like “GOOSE POOP” on a golf course would create a thriving new business opportunity.