Shetland sheepdogs

I grew up with a Shetland sheepdog but she was not well bred. She came from a puppymill type situation. Educate me on what this breed is actually supposed to be so I can see if this breed is a good fit for me or not.

I've never owned a Sheltie but have been around lots and lots and lots of them. There is a really wide range of temperaments seen in Shelties. It is pretty hard to make generalizations about what they are like because they can vary so much. They are definitely a breed which requires a lo of early socialization and early training though.

I'm just gonna link to some of the other good discussions we've had...

http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142740
http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122480
http://chazhound.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103704&page=4

I think Laur and I have bantered back and forth on shelties so many times in the past LOL, you should find what you need in those threads...

Yeah a lot of variability has been my experience too. Definitely ask if you have any specific questions! They're fantastic dogs.

Trey in the Fall by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

I've honestly been wanting to post that pic a lot recently. He was so pretty.

Thanks for the links. I will go check them out.

My childhood dog was incredibly lazy and hated other dogs but she was sweet and loyal to her people (didn't acknowledge strangers). I generally like a dog with a bit more OOMF to them but she was a great dog and would've been even more wonderful with training. Everything about her was great except her laziness.

I've known lots of non-lazy shelties. The ones I trained agility with were quite spunky and all of mine were as youngsters as well.

I just wanted to say I have serious sheltie withdrawals today. The classes I took were full of Aussies and shelties and there was this one dear sheltie. So beautiful and also oversized. But he and his owner were playing and he turned and did the needle nose punch and then honked. It sounded just like Trey. I miss that honking noise. I've never really noticed another breed other than shelties and collies that do that.

I've heard people talk about the honking before, I've never heard it and I'm really interested! lol

All the shelties I know now are eery, characterless, robots. Quiet, careful, and well... weirdly boring.

I used to train with a sheltie that was pushy, fast, drivey, and a real go-getter in agility when I first started years ago.

Somewhere I have a video of Trey honking. I have no idea where it is though. Maybe Beanie has a dog that honks lol.

Here's the dog from today: http://www.citydogsagility.com/asher.html

He's pretty awesome and so are her other two. She said his breeder doesn't breed anymore and that they didn't place dogs except for to very experienced handlers. If I could find a sheltie like hers I'd jump on that opportunity, they are all so confident, drivey, and eager.

We used to call Trey the robot dog, actually. He was just so quiet about showing his emotions. But I always attributed it to a 'Trey is not mentally all there' thing and not a breed thing.

Nikki was CERTAINLY not characterless by any means of the word, although her character was not always pleasant or good. She had a tendency to backtalk a lot. She was a bitch. She and Mia are two peas in a pod (although Mia is much more hyper). Mia and Nikki would have HATED each other. They were too much alike. Rosie was also a complete mess.

I love this picture of Nik.

DSC_0247 by Summer_Papillon, on Flickr

Quite a few of the agility Shelties I know are bold as brass and highly entertaining dogs, tbh.

If only we could rewind them about a century I would be all over having a Sheltie. Blame that on Laurelin and her various postings of the old style Shelties

Asher is neat looking. He's very leggy and his coat is pretty short and close fitting for a sheltie.

This dog is doing some of the sounds I love. The paps just scream or whine. I love shelties talking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rURtVmQFRzs&feature=related

I don't think any of mine honk... though they all make very unusual noises. Lots of wookie sounds from both the boys. Payton sings of course in a very lovely manner. I need to put it on a cue or something. We are extinguishing the singing in his crate but I just think it's so hilarious, I'd hate for him to never sing again, haha. Pepper clacks when she is excited. She also makes chipmunk-like sounds. I say she talks like Blue from Blue's Clues. Georgie makes HILARIOUS sounds. She has this really girly voice and she growls and OMG. I hope her voice never changes because it makes me want to pee myself.
And Happy had these really hysterical pathetic moan-sighs. I wish I had gotten video of it now. =<


ETA: YES OMG the sounds that first dog makes is what Auggie does all the time hahaha. It's so frickin' funny.

Here's Payton's singing video again just for fun. I started playing it and he's making hilarious sounds behind me now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsuvp39U0fo


God they really are just FUNNY dogs.

Okay maybe this is weird but both Kim and Webster make most of those sounds, plus a couple others for entertainment value lolol. Mira...not so much. She sticks to Normal Dog sounds. Except for the occasional excitement scream.

My brother has a sheltie. She's a yap stick. Barks when she's happy, barks when she's sad, barks within her barks, did I mention she barks?

That said I wouldn't describe her as robotic. Just focused. She also has her own things that she does for entertainment. Herding rocks is always a fun past time for her.

Frodo does too!
And he has the best Chewbacca impression on the face of this earth.

One sad thing about the paps is that I have never heard them howl. (Except for Nard's baying, he doesn't bark just goes 'woowoowoowooooo') The shelties you could get to do a chorus with you easily. And Nikki had songs she'd howl to as well and words she'd mimic. She didn't honk though. Trey honked all the time. It kind of sounded like 'Ow. Ow. Ow.' :lol-sign:

Payton is adorable.

Shai I would definitely not be surprised if Kim wasn't part sheltie or collie. GSDs are also talkers as well.

I will say that the paps make monkey-bird sounds very well.

I ADORE dogs that howl.

Megan's Bailey howls and it is so adorable. Frodo doesn't howl, but he roos, which is a corgi trait.