Greyhound or Sighthound owners.

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
I've heard them early morning by us as well the last couple of days. Don't know if it's the local farmers fields , or the noise travelling with the wind direction . But sounded like a war zone at one point yesterday ! No wonder he's scared.

Well, they're doing target practice at the MOD base as well it seems.

But the bird scarers are louder than usual. Normally they're just a bassy thud sound in the distance, but they're more like a firework going off at the moment.

The farming unions have been advising members about following the rules or face a ban. I can understand they need to protect their crops, but it sounds to me like they're not following the rules. They're not supposed to put them within 200 metres of houses and that's definitely not being followed as the fields between Stockton Lane, Bluebell Hollow are right next to the fields.

At the moment I've had to resort to walking over the chase. I was making huge progress with Alvin too, but we're back to square one. With people panic buying fuel I couldn't fill up yesterday.
 
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staffordjas

Well-Known Forumite
Well, they're doing target practice at the MOD base as well it seems.

But the bird scarers are louder than usual. Normally they're just a bassy thud sound in the distance, but they're more like a firework going off at the moment.

The farming unions have been advising members about following the rules or face a ban. I can understand they need to protect their crops, but it sounds to me like they're not following the rules. They're not supposed to put them within 200 metres of houses and that's definitely not being followed as the fields between Stockton Lane, Bluebell Hollow are right next to the fields.

At the moment I've had to resort to walking over the chase. I was making huge progress with Alvin too, but we're back to square one. With people panic buying fuel I couldn't fill up yesterday and so if I can't get any this morning then all walks are off.
That's such a shame after such good progress.
( Glad I filled up on the motorway way now on the way back rather than waiting til back home. Didn't realise Stafford was so bad with the fuel situation.No queues panic buying in Worcester at all , but thought we'd get nearer to home to start the week with a fuller tank and Frankley was advertising not too extortionate compared.)

Hope you manage to get out for walks today without too many scary sounds.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
I got some fuel this morning and did a chase walk. Seems as it if was just ASDA and Tesco short of diesel. I guess it's not a good idea to let your fuel level get too low while people are being this stupid.

I know he absolutely loves his walks. I can tell because we will get near the car and he will try to avoid getting in and going home :D
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Anyway. I had a call from the council after I reported the bird scarers for being too loud. They'd had a dozen complaints about them and visited all the farms. The farmers were not following the guidelines about distances, direction of the unit (they're like a sort of cannon shape) and weren't placing hay bales behind them to muffle the sound.

All but one farmer has cooperated, but the important thing is it is very quiet here now. Getting him out for walks again, there's a about a 5 or so metre area around the house he makes slow progress on and requires treats to get him to move, but once past that he's great.
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
I thought this would be an appropriate thread to share that I'm doing the Stafford walk of the Great Global Greyhound walk. I asked for permission for Cannock Chase but they never responded. So I decided to do the walk to the Castle and back. Largely public land so no need for approval.

 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Oh and forestry commission came back today after I'd registered the walk yesterday doh. It was the council I was supposed to approach, not them. Still, the castle is a nice backdrop for photos.

I will be trying out the route on a not too hot weekend before September to determine the length in miles and time.

UPDATE: I did the walk a few weeks ago. Just under 3 miles. 50 mins approx if you are walking solo. So I think 2 hours is likely on the day.
 
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gilesjuk

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So I decided to try again with a second dog and this time they get along and there's no problems. Seems to be giving my grey some confidence, she isn't phased by loud sounds as much. She's 1.5 year old Galgo who started life in Spain but was given up by her owner (instead of being dumped on the streets like many of them so sadly are).
 

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kyoto49

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So I decided to try again with a second dog and this time they get along and there's no problems. Seems to be giving my grey some confidence, she isn't phased by loud sounds as much. She's 1.5 year old Galgo who started life in Spain but was given up by her owner (instead of being dumped on the streets like many of them so sadly are).
Amazing!

One of my dogs is half Galgo, came over when I rescued him from Spain. Great dogs, very different to Greyhounds. You'll have fun!
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Amazing!

One of my dogs is half Galgo, came over when I rescued him from Spain. Great dogs, very different to Greyhounds. You'll have fun!

Oh she's settled in pretty well. Very feisty, at the moment she's a bit unpredictable around non-sighthounds and has quite a bark on her. Being very cute, has about three cuddly toys on her chair that she's grabbed out of the garden. I got her thursday 4th and she went to her first greyhound walk on the saturday and was well behaved. On sunday I'm doing another short walk at 8am with one or two sighthound owners over the chase. Moved the time back as it's going to be too hot at the usual time of 11am.

It didn't take her long to prefer my greyhound's food. She keeps pinching it and he gets raw dog food, always chicken as he didn't like much else. I'll move her across to raw once I've got a freezer to put it in.
 

gilesjuk

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Somehow managed to miss the good news about your new addition to the family earlier in the month. So glad it's all working out well :love:

She's quite shy but seems really at home. I love watching her play in the garden, she's very bouncy. Alvin is pleased to have someone to play with, they don't half move. I may need to put some more grippy mats down in the kitchen and I can see some mishaps when the grass gets wet (although she hates the rain).
 

gilesjuk

Well-Known Forumite
Lovely to see them both getting on so well together and having great fun 😍

I think it's better in a bigger space like that. In the back garden it gets a bit much, Alvin is a bit rough. No damage done but she does come over to me to get out of the way. Plus Alvin tends to get to the thrown toys first.
 
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