The Holderreads' catalog describes Shetland geese as friendly. So far, mine have been absolutely adorable.  I spent literally hours each day with them for the first 6 weeks.  I'm hoping this early foundation will help keep me in their minds as a member of their flock so that we will remain fast friends.  Each morning now begins with a run to the big field and then a personal greeting by the geese and their ever-present runner buddy, Patrick, at close range.  (Sometimes they are just inches from nose and Patrick even walked up and gave me a kiss!)  My days just aren't complete now without being chewed on by three geese.  I squat down in their yard and they come over saying "hey, hey, hey, hey, hey".  Then they wind up behind me yanking on my belt loops!  They are wonderfully friendly, but they are still geese.  They investigate everything.  And anything that feels like good chewing material, will invariably wind up being yanked on as well.  When it's your belt loop or your shoe laces, another favorite, that's no big deal.  But they are just as likely to grab a fold of jeans or t-shirt and have no concern about whether or not there's also a fold of human inside there as well.  So they do bear watching.  Usually, I just gently usher them away.  Once they focus on something else, they move on.  They are not in the least bit mean.  They are simply geese using the only means they have for touching the world - their bills.  They are like toddlers in that everything goes in their mouth if you don't watch them.  Often I will encircle George's bill with my fingers or stroke his chest as he is talking to me.  He is very sweet and gentle and nibbles my finger without ever biting down.  Feeding him by hand has proved safe so far.  He grabs just the food.  But feeding geese by hand is not recommended as I can attest to with Martha and Dolly.  They grab quick and it may be your hand as likely as the food.  Again, I don't believe they are being agressive - just greedy.  But feeding from the hand is supposed to potentially lead to aggressive behavoir.  So we do it with rarity and caution.  As long as they know there isn't any food, even the girls have nibbled gently on my fingers.  George, I think, will remain a sweetie. 

But even the sweetest geese can be turned mean towards humans if treated improperly.  I speak from experience.  I had a pair of Pilgrims several years ago.  They are a breed reknowned for their sweet disposition.  The female was the sweetest bird, even while nesting.  The male grew to hate me with a passion.  That was my fault.  I didn't understand at the time what I was doing when I returned his threats.  (With dogs, I have always stood my ground and was trying to do the equivalent with the goose.)  He was only guarding his territory as he should have been.  But by standing my ground and making equally threatening gestures back at him, I made him my enemy.  If I had calmly, quietly and patiently stood still or ignored him until he grew bored and moved off, I suspect we would have had as fine a relationship as I did with the female.  The people I ultimately sold him to said he was no problem for them.  So it really is up to you to behave properly if you want to keep geese.  I would like to point out that I never physically assaulted this animal, but simply did my best to imitate his feather ruffling.  If I had laid out my goose housing so that they had as much privacy as possible, he and I would not have had occassion to be in each other's faces and I'm sure things would have been different.  So I am hopeful that I have learned something from that experience and from reading books since then.  Only time will tell. 

UPDATE!!

Well, I had to sell my darling little trio for lack of space because I just can't part with the runners I've been collecting for the last several years.  But I did keep them into breeding season this year.  And their personalities remained the same.  Sure, George got a little possessive of his swimming water and night house that contained their nest.  But none of them turned mean.  It was interesting to watch them grow up and test their limits - especially George.  I can't remember either Martha or Dolly ever doing anything remotely aggressive.  George tried a few things.  I remember one day when he was about 9 months old, I walked across the yard somewhere that he didn't expect to see me.  He rushed over in an aggressive posture, honking.  I just stood still and faced him (laughing to myself at the absurdity of his antics).  It was amazing to watch.  When I didn't do anything aggressive in response, you could literally watch the aggression melt away.  That moment proved to me both where I went wrong with that Pilgrim gander years ago and how to proceed with little George here and now.  From then on, whenever he would rush at me scolding me for being out of place or too close to his turf, I would just laugh it off and agree with him that "I was a terrible person".  Walking through his yard was fine, but pushing a wheelbarrow was cause for great scolding!  We got along great once I figured out that new or strange things needed to be rushed at and scolded but not attacked.  In fact, if I squatted down to discuss it with him, he would tell me all about what was wrong and then get bored and wander back to his women.  Sure, he did nip me once when I was standing behind the knee-high plywood just outside his night house door.  But if I stood on his side of the fence, I was perfectly safe.  I guess I didn't look right with my legs blocked from view.  At the peak of breeding season, he would rush at me hissing when I went in his yard to give them their twice weekly bread treat.  But I would squat down to his level anyway because I knew he didn't mean it and he would nibble the bread gently from my hand.  I could still feed him bread by hand on the day he left.  (something that endeared him to the experienced goose man who bought him)

As for Martha and Dolly, they were usually just demure little women and let George do all the scolding.  They would often follow him over to scold at me.  But they stayed just behind him and let him handle things.  Then they would wander off to graze together.  At bread time, it was often painful to try to hand the girls bread directly.  I suppose they thought the others would take it if they didn't act fast and so would snatch it as quickly as possible.  But their aim was terrible and they often got my finger instead of the bread.  Not wanting to loose their prize, they would try to draw back just as quickly.  Ouch!  Those serrated bills hurt as they slide off my fingers.  They never yanked and twisted so I believe they were just being greedy, not mean in any way.  It was safer to toss the bread to the women while handing George his share up close. 

For all his boisterousness, George was, by far, my favorite.  He had the prettiest blue eyes.  When he swam, he lifted his folded wings just a hint at the tail end.  That tilt of his wings parralelled the graceful curve of his neck and gave him an almost swan-like appearance.  And when he stood and talked to me for no particular reason, he made the faintest hint of a honk sound.  A noise you probably wouldn't have been able to hear more than a few feet away.  

He acted big and bad at times, but he was a sweetheart.

Following is a series of pictures I took just a couple of weeks before my little trio went to live at Garrett's house.  (You may have to use your Refresh button several times to get all the pictures to load, but they will - even on a slow dial-up connection like mine!)  This series is typical of his act.  In the span of less than 5 minutes, he scolded me for being near his pool, wandered off to tell his buddy Patrick what an awful thing I had done and then came back to talk to me about nothing in particular.  I wish you could hear that faint little honk that went with the last picture - I hear it still.