Wish-hounds also have other many other names, such as Yeth. It seems the word wish is from a Sussex word meaning marsh. Ghostly black dogs, usually with glowing red eyes, have been reported for hundreds of years, and probably date back to the mists of time. It is generally reckoned not to be a good thing to meet one. When this sculpture was first mooted, there were protests from some local Christians who objected to what they felt was pagan imagery and therefore, in their view, undesirable. The sculptor herself has written a poem, the last two lines of which read: They are the Guardians of the Earth's secret; Wish-hounds of the Old Land.

The sculpture itself has been constructed from powder coated scrap metal, concrete lettering and earthworks.