Sarah De Filippe Asst. Features Editor

There are dogs, and then there are dogs: the kind of animals that deserve praise, admiration, and lots of doggie biscuits for the amazing feats that they accomplish in their daily routines. At Vassar, we have one such dog here. Meet Ben, the official Director of Geese and oh-so-loveable border collie of Buildings and Grounds Director Jeff Horst.

If you ask Horst about Ben, his face immediately lights up. The relationship Horst has with Ben is a truly wonderful thing to see; they spend most of the day together and are rarely seen apart, even making trips to the post office and bank whenever necessary.

Ben is a Virginia native, and came to New York about four years ago as a fully-trained geese-chasing border collie. At that time, Vassar had a serious problem with the hordes of geese flocking around Sunset Lake. The birds eventually invaded the golf course and Prentiss Athletic Field, making the players slip on their droppings and scaring the audience members and passersby by hissing and chasing them.

Something needed to be done, but what? After conversations with President of the College Fran Fergusson, Horst looked into different options, ranging from chemical control (decided against because chemicals could only be sprayed on certain sections of the grass and were not able to encompass all of the problem areas) to buying a certain kind of swan to scare the geese away (decided against because the beating of only one of their monstrous wings could take off a persons leg if one was unlucky enough to mess with it).

Although admittedly expensive, a geese-chasing dog seemed like the best way to go. Horst found Ben on an Internet search for border collies who were trained to control geese in Canada. At the time, Ben was just finishing training at the Seclusival Farm in Virginia. When the director of the farm came to bring Ben to Vassar, Horst knew hed found his new home.

When Horst first met Ben, he had his doubts. First time I saw him, he came in a truck with four other dogs on a visit to Vassar. All of the dogs were barking, but not Ben. I see this skinny, scruffy-looking dog, and I was unsure. Then, when he was let out of the truck and ran into the woods, I thought, there goes $45,000!

Bens daily routine usually follows Horsts. He sleeps under Horsts kitchen counter in a cushy doggie bed, then he gets up early for a walk. Horst and Ben are in the car by 7 a.m. to head to work. Ben then chases geese off of the Hyde Park Soccer Fields at 7:15 a.m. Both man and dog get into the office by 7:30 a.m., then Ben follows Horst throughout the day and, on the now rare occasion that geese land on Sunset Lake, he puts on his neon yellow life vest and does a flying leap into the water, which is enough to send the geese flying in the opposite direction. When Ben was first hired, there were days in which he had to swim a total of 12 times, back and forth, to frighten the resilient geese. Thankfully, Ben has alleviated the geese problem with much success, and nowadays, he usually goes in three times or so a week.

Suprisingly, Ben is actually hired by the College as a full-time employee. His title is Director of Geese, and he has an employee ID card, with a picture. And on the chance he wants to kick back and relax, Horst jokes that Ben can charge dog biscuits in the Bookstore and might check out some animal storybooks from the Library.

As Bens reputation as a mascot of the College is growing, Horst has been invited to take him to numerous events so that the Vassar community can have a chance to meet Ben face-to-face. Ben has been introduced to the children at the local nursury school, has been visited by numerous students and parents on Parents Weekends, and has even attended Noyes Study Breaks! With both Ben and Horst working for Building and Ground, Vassar has many good semesters to look ahead.