Watch this video about a special dog protecting planes.
Video Transcript
When he goes out and actually deploys to chase something it looks like a missile launch. I just open up the back door and he jumps out. It's a lot of fun. Piper is the only dog working at this airport and there's actually only a handful of dogs working at airports around the country. It's a pretty rare thing.
I'm Brian Edwards. Piper and I work at the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. Piper is a border collie. Piper's prime function here is wildlife control. Primarily a piper is going to be chasing away large waterfowl like ducks and geese. In the wintertime it actually chases away the snowy owl and then in the summertime it's basically seagulls and crows.
Birds can cause a lot of different types of damage. Most bird strikes are with smaller types of birds that might just cause dents. But if the bird is large enough and is ingested into an engine that can cause a serious failure failure like the miracle on the Hudson.
Training specifically for us took about a year, year and a half. So the way that we've trained is that any time I deploy Piper out of the truck, he doesn't just run away from the truck. He always runs the direction we were traveling. A lot of times I deploy him when the vehicle is moving. So that's just the way that we trained that a lot of times I try to get him to see what it is he's going to chase first.
The goggles or the rec specs serve two purposes for him. One, they're UV protectants, so they protect his eyes. And number two, they're safety goggles, basically. It's one of those things that if he wants to go out and work or have fun, then he's got to wear it.
Dogs are really useful for wildlife control because, specifically border collies, it's in their blood. Eventually the goal is to train the birds and other animals that they don't want to be here want to be here because there's a predator in town something that's going to keep harassing them all the time. Piper's been with me at the airport for almost three years. He's pretty much with me all the time. I don't think Piper sees it as work. I think it's all play to him, which is what we want, right? The best thing personally with Piper, and it's been this way before we started working,
he's got a mind of his own. I talk to him like I would talk to anybody else. He's my bro. It doesn't get any better than that. I get to work with my best friend every day. I'm extremely proud of him. I couldn't ask for anything more.