Moving to Shetland

[Windwalker]

 

Why should anyone need to keep five dogs in the first place? that question has to be asked.

 

I know people who have been here with dogs and have gone back to Perthshire. There are loads of walks through the woods, and dogs are very well catered for.

 

I'm afraid that isnt the case here, you might find serious problems exercising five dogs.

 

However, the best of luck!

Wow! Who's rattled your cage?. I doubt I'd better head to woods in Perthshire with my dogs then, as I've mistakingly thought I was catering for them up here. Never had a problem with any land owner and like all responsible owners I'm very respectful of land and other animals.

 

As a Shetlander I'm astonished by the negativity of some of the replies on here. People have immediately assumed the OP cannot or does not control her dogs and they will be running riot all over the hillside. Could we please give the OP some credit and bother to read her responses.

 

Of course we could be speaking about 5 Yorkies and not 5 Great Danes as no one has cared to ask.

[paulb]

5 english mastiffs would be fun to walk. 

[trout]

 

ive had to deal with a late abortion [...]

 

The abortion is this thread   OP asked a reasonable question and it's degenerated into goodness knows what!? Seriously!

 

Shetland. Dog. Open space. Walk. Yay! Difficult? No. Country code. Sense.

 

And don`t take any notice of unwelcoming remarks on here, you will find that people in the real Shetland are the nicest most welcoming people you could wish to meet. ( When not hiding behind an avatar)

[Seaflech]

This thread sums up beautifully why I rarely go on Shetlink any more.  Honestly, it should be called The Electron, as there is never anything positive about it.  The OP - soon to be a resident here - asks a simple question in an upbeat post, (you'll find it in the dictionary), and instead of getting a wave of interesting and helpful advice, ('are you going to be living in town or the country?' 'make sure you go to xxxxxx, it's a great place.' 'Check out this website for some great dog-friendly walks...')  she gets post after post of negative, irrelevant crap.  ('Why does one person need 5 dogs?' 'Stay off the land!  All of it!' 'Have you even read the 1564 Land Reform Act?' 'Groan.....')  Yes groan indeed.

 

Shetland is known the world over for being a forward thinking, friendly, happy to be place.  Shetlink, for the best part, aint....

[Windwalker]

Never a truer word said Seaflech. I'm all of everyone being free to express thier opinions, but it seems it's mainly those of the negative persuasion who do so. It's very rare that any thread remains positive for long.

 

This does not show, what I believe to be, a true representation of Shetland and it's residents.

 

Shetlink is a fantastic facility and it needs more people with positive helpful attitudes to outweigh the negativity which often takes over threads.

[Claadehol]

I have to say I was trying to be realistic rather than negative. And the fact is, Shetland isnt a great place for dog walkers.

You wont be welcome on crofters land when ewes are heavy in lamb, or when the small lambs are running aroung either.  Five small dogs or five large dogs will not be easy to control where sheep are present, and the sheep will panic whatever, and possibly abort their lambs. So really you should keep off this land for a chunk of the year surely.

And I really dont think spending my time reading the 1564 land reform act is going to help in this matter. Access to someone elses land for recreational purposes is one thing, taking your entire menagerie of pets with you is quite another.

And yes, most dog owners are responsible, but a good percentage of them are unable to control their animals where other are concerned. That's why when the dogs have run off you see so many whistling and calling their pets to little or no effect.

I'm not trying to be unwelcoming, just being realistic as I said.

[Windwalker]

Brochbuilder, I can understand your concern regarding lambing times etc, but I just can't agree that Shetland isn't a great place for dog walkers. I have had dogs all my life and love walking them all over the isles. There are places I can have them off the lead and places I would keep them under tight control it's all about managing them according to your surroundings.

 

Someone once told me that there are roughly one dog to every five houses, if this is correct I would imagine there has to be thousands of dogs in Shetland. I wonder how they all manage if Shetland is such a poor place for dog walkers.

[Davie P]

I take it some folk don't read the comments section on the Shetland Times and Shetland News websites, or don't use Facebook for that matter, if they're singling Shetlink out for criticism about negativity. There's stuff on those sites, particularly the personal attacks, I don't think would be allowed here.

 

It's somewhat ironic that the people complaining about negativity have spent more words doing so than actually posting anything positive themselves.

 

Anyway, in an effort to redress the balance...

 

 

Scootersprocket, I hope the move goes well and here's a few suggestions.

 

Get involved with your local community hall - it's where many of the community events are based. You'll find all the contacts here - http://www.communitydirectory.shetland.gov.uk/community-halls-community-centres-other-facilities-c97.html

 

The 'move' section of the shetland.org has a load of valuable advice - http://move.shetland.org

 

The Walk Shetland website is an excellent resource for walkers (including some advice for dog owners taken from the Scottish Outdoor Access Code) - http://www.walkshetland.com

[paulb]

did not think i was being negative strange.

[Scootersprocket]

Thank you all for your interesting and varied responses!

[Windwalker]

did not think i was being negative strange.

Did anyone suggest you were?

[Claadehol]

Windwalker, you have offered a reasoned response to my posts, and good to hear you have had no problems with your dogs.

And yes, there must be thousands of dogs in Shetland., but that doesnt mean they are all adequately exercised. Having worked in or on thousands of houses in Shetland, I can assure you a high percentage of the dogs are walked on a lead or rarely walked at all.

Some dogs I have seen incarcerated in houses while the owner works, have chewed holes in the plasterboard, and many a back garden is a minefield to walk through because that is the only exercise area.

For these dogs it matters little where they live I guess.

[Scorrie]

Ok, just to add a little balance to my input:

 

I've every sympathy for any livestock owner who suffers with idiots letting their dogs hammer around amongst livestock - completely unacceptable. And the comments regarding staying off during lambing are absolutely spot on.

 

However, if we're going to offer advice on access to land, then we need to ensure that the correct info is given out. For example, just painting a 'no dogs' sign and nailing it to a fence is not enforcable in any way, shape or form....but....you may then find yourselves at odds with a very irate crofter who has been plagued with problem dogs in the past.

 

I would hope that common sense and reason would prevail when it comes to using a working landscape as a recreational amenity, folks livelihoods and their animals welfare should always be paramount, but I've no time for the miserable 'get off moi land' types. Luckily, they are few and far between.

[Ghostrider]

Speaking for personal experience, as with most things, livestock owners remember best the last irresponsible steaming idiots actions, and the fall out from them, and have that worst case scenario in mind when they next see a stranger with dog(s) approaching their animals.

 

It's unfair, but its human nature. Thankfully as Scorrie points out such irresponsible steaming idiots are the exception rather than the norm, and the overwhelming vast majority of dog owners are aware, respectful of their surroundings and responsible.

 

As Scorrie also notes, there will always be the "gerrof ma laaand" type here and there, but they're no more prevalent than the irresponsible steaming idiot dog owner type (now if someone can figure out how to make the two types always meet up, it would let all of the sensible people get on with their business in peace....) .

 

Its all about establishing a mutual respect for each other, of course any stockowner is going to react at their worst if some stranger just appears with dog(s) near their stock. Take it easy, err well on the side of caution until stockowners have had a chance to get used to seeing you around and demonstrate to them that you are aware of the risks and responsibilites that go with dog ownership, and that you respect the right of their livestock to be there and exist in peace and safety, and in 99.9% of cases folk will be fine.

[Sukibind]

Its not just stock that might be worried by dogs running free, I hate when even one dog comes bounding up to me when I am out walking- no matter how much the owner assures me 'its very friendly'  it has ignored their frantic shouts for it to 'come' to them and I have felt very nervous about some of them especialy the larger dogs.