Link to a video on Youtube showing how aggressive geese can be - if our dogs behaved like this there would be an absolute outcry!

'evening Gordon We do have one walk around here where it's rare to see anyone, bliss for me was our previous abode in the middle of a huge forrest, in nearly eleven years only saw anyone (when walking the hounds) on two occasions Just as well because our Bariska had similar genes to your Fagin, not so much with humans but definately with other dogs.

I quite like geese use to love seeing them on the rivers Lee and Stort when we lived in Essex and had a boat. They stayed mainly on the river and roosted in fields on the other side to where boats moored.
We saw a pair yesterday at the fishing lakes and they had a youngster Canada geese and they just looked at us suspiciously flapped their wings a bit and moved onto the lake as we walked by.
I am going to have to go up to the footpath and see how they are but I have heard reports one has bitten a labs tail and our neighbours children have been chased and Beth. They terrified their labs but it wasn't one of their dogs that was bitten. Beth now won't walk the footpath.
I haven't either since hearing the stories. Guess I will have to find out for myself.
If I go missing I am in A&E having been seriously assaulted by geese.

The very fact this person is making a joke of what could turn out to be a very nasty situation for someone naive enough to venture along the 'public footpath' he has decided to remodel, shows how stupid he really is.
I love walks where I see no one as well, we are turning into Crusty Old Codgers

Me to we could be the crusty old codgers club.

Video just shows a gander defending his Missus and nesting site. I wouldn't mind if they were equipped to even hurt you - they have only a serated bill which is of a design to facilitate the eating of short grass and water plants.
Even if they give you a nip on bare flesh it is no more than a triangular rash and it would be unusual for it to break the skin. Most attacks can be averted by simply standing still or a bit of bribery with a bread crust or such. Can't blame any animal for protecting it's mate, family or territory. In the case of this footpath dispute the entire fault lies not with the geese but with the person who installed them and also failed to adequately fence the area so they couldn't present either threat, nuisance or hindrance to anyone using the public footpath.

I agree with you totally LG, not the geeses fault at all, and he has specifically put them there as they look very threatening to people, but he can laugh and say what you have said. He's trying to be clever, but sadly he is not clever enough which is shown by his comment about giving lessons on outrunning them. I wouldn't like to have to walk past them with my dogs, say my dogs killed them, where would I stand in law then.

Do hope that our Griff is OK this evening, haven't seen anything of her since her one liner this a.m.
I think it is her chemo day and if so would hope that it hasn't made her feel too lousy.

Absolutely right Gordon - I don't blame the geese one bit, it is just that the point I was making is that if we allowed our dogs to behave like this there would be an outcry!

Griff was on very briefly wasn't she ? Hoping too she is ok.
Its not just about the geese LG its his whole attitude of putting a gate across the original access to the footpath and redirecting people down rickety homemade steps and hand rails and dangerous footings. At one point the gate to the original access was padlocked and it seemed he was doing everything in his power to stop people using the footpath.
The parish council are not very pleased and I have found out today neither are the CC mostly because he hasn't applied for permission to re-route the access. Some have found the introduction of geese as another way to stop people using the footpath he has more or less admitted to me on a village forum he wants his privacy.
So why buy a property with an access next to your house and a footpath next to your orchard ?
He is very anti dog as are his supporters.
I have no issue with having to change route to access the footpath if it is made safe while doing so. Also I would prefer to walk the footpath again without being harassed by geese defending their territory. It is a lovely circular walk and one we enjoyed.
I did make my feelings known to the parish council as have others plus I informed the CC with photos but stated that I had no issue with the re-routing but I did have issue with the dangerous steps and handrail and if someone was physically challenged they would have great difficulty accessing the footpath via the new route.