FOXBORO, MASS. (WHDH) – A furry member of the Gillette Stadium groundskeeping team has a very important job to do during the Patriots’ playoff run this winter.
Gillette Stadium Field Superintendent Ryan Bjorn and his wife adopted Boyd and trained him to be a goose-chasing dog. The 11-year-old Border Collie, Husky mix is now responsible for keeping geese away from the stadium’s fields.
While geese don’t tend to land on Gillette’s main field due to the artificial turf, Bjorn said the birds can cause trouble on the team’s practice fields.
“We have six natural grass practice fields here at the stadium, we have three for the football team and three for the soccer team,” Bjorn said. “And the geese love to go land on those and they make a huge mess out there if they land, and eat, and do their business on the field, so it’s huge for us to be able to have him to chase the geese off so they’re making a mess for the players.”
Boyd doesn’t only work for the Patriots, he helps out other teams to help keep the fields clean.
“If one of our assistants, Chris on the Revs [New England Revolution], or Drew on the football team — if they give me a shout and say, ‘hey, we’ve got some geese out here,’ you know, we hop in the cart and go, and just let him go for it,” said Bjorn.
Boyd’s job is to scare the geese off, not hurt them. Bjorn said he has been a valuable part of helping the team stay ready for the playoffs, and even gets to sit on the sideline during the games.
“He’s fine with fireworks and stuff, so I’ll have him at the field on leash and there will be 60,000 people going crazy, and the muskets going off, and the foghorn, and he’ll just be asleep,” said Bjorn.
Patriots players said they enjoy having him around, too.
“I don’t know if they know exactly what he does,” said Bjorn. “But they love having him around and he’s a good friend to all of them.”
Bjorn said Boyd isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and is in good health. He said he hopes Boyd can keep chasing geese for years to come.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
