Preston — The Canada geese already have started moving into Preston Community Park — earlier than expected and before town officials have reached a decision on how best to rid the park of the nuisance summer residents.

The Parks and Recreation Commission wants a permanent solution to the problem that has led to unsanitary conditions and canceled and moved games and practices. The commission is leaning toward the original plan to contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to capture and euthanize the geese as the best solution.

The meat would be donated to local soup kitchens and food pantries, and Parks and Recreation Department staff then could work on permanent deterrents, including lowering the water level in the pond and erecting barriers to make it more difficult for the geese to access the water.

The commission on Tuesday expressed skepticism and concern about an alternative plan presented to the Board of Selectmen earlier this month to hire a professional dog handler with border collies to scare the geese with frequent visits to the park over several weeks.

“There’s no guarantee the dogs will work,” Chairman Antonio Farinha said. “With the USDA, there is a guarantee that these geese won’t come back.”

Recreation Director Amy Brosnan said if the town hires trained dogs, members of the public will think dogs are allowed at the park. Parks and Recreation staff members have a difficult time enforcing the no-dogs rule.

The border collies and handler Cynthia Shanley, owner of Border Patrol Goose Control of Mystic, were at the park recently, Brosnan said, with an unmarked car and no identifying dog vests. Brosnan said people will see the dogs there and think they, too, can bring their dogs to the park.

Shanley said she will submit a price proposal to the Board of Selectmen for at least six weeks of regular visits to the park to scare the geese. The plan is that, over time, the geese will come to realize the park is inhabited by predators and will leave. The town has not yet received a price proposal.

At $50 per visit, the dogs would be “a pricey solution,” First Selectman Robert Congdon said, but two residents already complained about the prospect of killing the geese.

The commission already has tried spraying the grass, installing lights and fake coyotes, to no avail.

Commission member Daniel Coley said he has been researching other deterrents, including erecting barriers around the pond to make it more difficult for geese to access the water. Brosnan said department staff already has started draining the pond to discourage geese.

Yet some 30 geese have been spotted on the grass at the park this spring — earlier than their usual July to August invasion.

The commission had placed the $5,275 needed to hire the USDA Wildlife Service to capture and euthanize geese in its requested 2015-16 budget, but the Board of Finance removed the funding to consider a more townwide solution that could include the school grounds.

Parks and Recreation Commission members plan to make their case for the USDA proposal at the June 15 Board of Finance meeting.

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