Preston — Instead of hiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture to harass and euthanize nuisance Canada geese at Preston Community Park, the Board of Selectmen is considering hiring Finch.

Finch, a 3-year-old border collie, made his way around the Town Hall conference room, greeting selectmen and several others in attendance at Thursday’s meeting following a presentation by his owner, Cynthia Shanley, owner of Border Patrol Goose Control of Mystic.

Shanley, a nuisance wildlife control officer registered with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said Preston Community Park — like many other manicured green spaces in Connecticut — provides the perfect habitat for nonmigrating Canada geese. The land is mowed regularly, has gentle slopes and clear sight lines to the pond. And it has no predators.

That’s where Finch, and a second border collie Shanley has trained, would come in. Shanley would bring the dogs to the park three times a day at differing hours for two weeks, and would decrease the daily visits gradually over six weeks or longer to rid the park of the geese that have rendered the softball and soccer fields unplayable at times and threaten the water quality in the pond.

“I want them (the geese) to think these predators live there, and they are there day and night,” Shanley told selectmen.

Shanley will take the dogs to the park and to the town’s two school grounds and will submit a price proposal to the Board of Selectmen afterward. She said she usually charges $50 per visit, but the price depends on the site.

The trained herding dogs would work off leash at Shanley’s voice commands. She would direct them to turn left or right, to slow down or to lie down immediately if a safety hazard arose, if the dogs were getting too near the road, for example. The park would not have to be closed during the dog visits, she said.

Shanley said the border collies’ trademark stare — “the eye,” she called it — would make the geese nervous. The geese would then take to the water, and the dogs would follow them.

“The geese say ‘Let’s move along, there are predators here,’” Shanley said.

“I’d rather aggravate them than kill them,” Selectman Michael Sinko said following the presentation.

The Parks and Recreation Department had requested $5,275 in its 2015-16 budget to contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to harass the geese, as well as capture and euthanize some of the birds. Town officials removed the funding from the parks department to consider alternative methods and a broader scope of geese control if needed on other town properties.

First Selectman Robert Congdon said a resident who opposed killing the geese suggested hiring Border Patrol Goose Control.

Shanley said the town also could make changes to the park to discourage geese from returning. Geese prefer open sight lines, so planting hedges or bushes at least 36 inches tall and 36 inches wide would provide some barriers. Allowing grass to grow tall at the pond’s edge would help. She also suggested creating a rocky shoreline around the pond.

“I think step one is to get use of the park back,” Sinko said.

c.bessette@theday.com

Twitter: @Bessettetheday