When geese attack: Edmonton man needs shovel-wielding employee to rescue him from angry goose

Goose attacks man and his dogs Video shows a man and his dogs being attacked by a goose on their way to work when an employee rescues him with a very Canadian item.

EDMONTON — An Edmonton man and his dogs were minding their own business when they found out the hard way how territorial and aggressive geese can be.

Robert Bray parked in front of his portrait studio Tuesday morning with his dogs, four-year-old Paisley and 17-year-old Murphy. As they were preparing to go inside his store, something caught Paisley's attention.

"There was a goose that came flying out of nowhere, and I didn't see it right away, and it was hissing and kind of semi-attacked my dog… which went nuts," said Bray.

"I’m trying to get the goose away and it won't go and I'm running around the car with two dogs and other things and trying to get away from this goose."

Clutching onto Murphy, Bray tried to create some distance between him, his dogs and the goose to buy time to unlock his front door. But the goose kept coming.

"The next door neighbours had their door open and saw what was going on and told me to run in there, so I brought my barking dogs in there and the goose comes up to the window and is tapping the window trying to get in," said Bray.

Bray's employee Railene Hooper arrived at work and saw Bray trapped in the neighbour's shop. At first she tried to shoo the bird away "in a nice way." The goose hissed at her and she retreated to her car. That's when Hooper came up with a more Canadian plan.

"The shovel was something that I think as Canadians in April [we] obviously just have on hand," said Hooper. "I didn't want to hurt it or do anything so that's when I just waved the shovel knowing that I would freak it out enough to scare it off so Robert could get out of the neighbours and come to work."

"It was kind of intense and bit scary," said Bray. "I've never had an encounter with a goose and I really didn't care to find out."

"I think it's extra funny because I can just picture Robert like in a panic, and you can see the panic on his face in the video," laughed Hooper.

Bray isn't sure what prompted the attack, but he thinks there is a nest nearby because two geese were spotted in a ditch across the road. Either way, people working in the south side building are now much more aware of their neighbours.

"I think next time I get out of my car I'm going to have a look around," laughed Hooper.

"It's not my territory anymore," laughed Bray. "We'll just make sure we're smart when we get out of the car, know where they are, maybe take one dog at a time into the office."

Bray says despite the events of Tuesday, he's happy to coexist with the geese.

"I love nature so I don't want to drive them away. It was funny."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Dan Grummett