Pup for the Course
By Regan M. White
Love
to golf? Hate the geese? Thanks to Abby, a black Lab/Boxer mix, the
geese are no longer a problem for golfers at the Lexington Golf & Country
Club in Lexington, Virginia. Owned by
Golf Course Superintendent Kurt Hellenga, Abby has become invaluable to the
course as a professional patroller of the geese that loiter around the greens
and tee boxes and litter them with droppings.
Kurt
got the idea from his former boss, Craig Thompson, the Golf Course
Superintendent at Chapel Hill Country
Club in North Carolina who had two Border Collies that chased the geese. As Kurt
recalls, “I had just graduated from college and went to the SPCA in Raleigh myself
to get a Border Collie to chase geese. They didn’t have any and I got Abby
instead. She and three of her brothers had been abandoned underneath a new
house that was being built. She was just 3 or 4 months old. When I saw her, our
eyes met and that was it.” As for her name, Kurt says “We didn’t have any kids
at the time and my wife said she’d rather not have any girls, so I’d better
pick a girl’s name for the dog. My favorite name for a girl would have been Abigale
so that’s why we went with Abby.”
Abby
takes her job very seriously, accompanying Kurt to work every day, always by
his side. “When I first got her I tried leaving her home when I went to the
course. That didn’t work out too well. She’s been with me ever since.” As a
young pup, Kurt took her to the pond on the course in Chapel Hill where the
geese hung out and began mimicking the commands the Superintendent used with
his Border Collies. He would say “go get the birdies!” and make a swishing
sound like geese flying. Abby just naturally began to associate going to the
pond with chasing something. The routine began to stick-every time she went to
the pond, she knew to chase the geese and she’s been doing it naturally on her
own for 18 months now.
Once
Kurt took the job in Virginia, he asked if he could bring Abby along to the Country
Club in hopes of getting her “hired” as well. “There were 80 geese when we
first got here. They weren’t exactly tame but they weren’t afraid of people or
equipment,” Kurt recalls, “the geese were tricky, I had to change the time that
Abby and I went out to work because they seemed to know that we were coming in
the early morning and would wait until later to arrive. We would drive around
by the ponds just to keep them from landing. Now they don’t even fly over and
we’re down to only 10 and those are too old or injured to fly away.” (We’re guessing they steer clear of Abby,
though!) With such a visible track record, it looks like Abby has a
hole-in-one when it comes to job security.
Besides
chasing geese, her next favorite thing is to sunbathe on the sand pile by the
golf maintenance building where she hangs out with the crew and enjoys plenty
of hand-outs. When she’s off-duty, Abby prefers to be wherever Kurt, his wife
Meaghan and their 3-month old son, Ryan are. Abby’s devotion is evident both
on and off the course, particularly in her protection of the new baby. If there
are any visitors to the house, she lays right in front of Ryan’s crib and, Kurt
laughs, “when Ryan cries, if we don’t get to the crib quick enough, Abby is
always there first.”
Kurt’s
remarks are glowing when asked how he feels about Labs, considering he
initially went looking for a Border Collie. “I wish I could duplicate her –
she’s perfect. Smart, loyal,
intelligent, easily trained – I’d love to have another dog just like her.”
When
asked about the course, Kurt is quick to give all the kudos directly to Abby. “She
helped me tremendously in my career since this is my first time as a
Superintendent. I was able to bring
something of my own in and the members were able to see an immediate result. She’s
a welcome sight to the members since they no longer have to tread through the
goose droppings on the tee boxes or greens. Basically, she made me look good
real quick. She needs to take a lot of the credit for our success.”
And
with a job description that includes being outside, swimming, chasing geese,
mingling with club members and shadowing your favorite person all day, Abby
couldn’t be happier herself. For Lexington
Golf & Country Club, a pup for the course has proven to be as important as
par for the course.
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