Conover, NC

North Carolina dogs train to become Marines in Hawaii

Lava and Flare aren't your ordinary Border Collies. These dog are training to become future "devil dogs" at the Marine base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii to do wildlife control on the airfield.

Owner of Flyaway Geese Rebecca Gibson has been training dogs for 20 years to humanely get rid of birds from airports and fish farms.

"I always tell people that it's super easy to teach these dogs to chase birds but my job is to teach them to stop and come back when i call them, so that's the hard part," Gibson said.

Lava and Flare will be spending the next four months in "boot camp." They will be honing their natural herding skills and learning specific commands to get them ready to serve and protect.

"Once these girls get to the Marine base in Hawaii, they'll see how effective the program is and we'll find more of these dogs going to airfields," Gibson said.

Gibson says this is the most humane way to deal with wildlife. Other methods, like fireworks and distress calls, while they work, they don't stick around for long.

"The birds will habituate to that type of thing; they'll realize that there is no danger. They can't habituate to the dogs because the dogs in their mind are actually a threat," Gibson said.

Gibson does this because she knows Border Collies need jobs. They're a breed that was trained to heard sheep. With less sheep farms, these dogs without a purpose can become destructive

"The day that they do 'oh yea, this is what I was born to do' and this is a fun job, I mean you can see they love it. For me this is the perfect outlet. I'm taking dogs that need a job to do and I'm giving them a job to do that's not only great for them, it's great for the environment, it's great for the birds, it helps people's safety on these airfields. So, it's a win, win, win for everybody," Gibson said.

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