Auggie does absolutely none of that. He DOES like to play in the water from the hose and he barks while playing but that's about it - unless you count going to get a toy and bringing it to "play" with the vacuum cleaner everytime you get the vacuum out.
Seriously, he will bring a squeaky toy and place it on top of the vacuum and stare expectantly at it.
I don't think he's ever spun in his life. Happy will spin when he's excited, and my sister put a cue word to it, but Happy is the only one I've ever seen do that and he's not right in the head.
I agree that those people apparently find that neurotic behaviour cute and/or funny and so they encourage it. I think I've said it multiple times on here before, LOL - people who just accept that a sheltie is neurotic because "oh that's just what shelties do" are doing serious harm to the breed. The biggest issue is that a lot of people are BREEDING these kinds of dogs and producing more neurotic dogs. And the general public is getting this idea that shelties makes terrible pets.
It's honestly why it gives me a lot of joy to take Auggie out and about. He walks up to people in stores and looks at them expectantly until they pet him, and then his tail just wags and wags, and people go "Oh my gosh, he's so friendly! I thought shelties were supposed to be shy!" I took him to some parties at work and placed him on a chair next to me and he sat nicely in the chair the whole time, just watching everything go by - he's wonderfully obedient and quite calm unless it's go time, but he knows the difference between time to work/play and time to be a nice, quiet, calm boy.
There was a discussion I saw on the BC boards a while back (it was quite a long while back, I don't go there anymore) about if they are doing harm to the breed by "warning" people that a BC can be this, this, this, and that. They want people to be prepared to handle the unique challenges of a BC. But the question was if they are giving BCs a bad name because they're NOT over the top this this this and that, it's just a matter of wanting people to be prepared... but Johnny Q. Public is getting the impression that BCs are nutso and that, oh, that's just how they are, so there's nothing WRONG with my nutso BC acting nutso and by the way why don't we breed her?
I have more to say but I gotta go to work and also I usually end up typing a novel whenever I get going like this, LOL. A sheltie is a unique dog. I think all herding dogs are unique and each breed has their own unique challenges to them. Nothing is WRONG with any of the breeds as a whole... it's just the wrong people getting ahold of them and doing damage to dogs, the breed, and to the public perception.
I do what I can with Auggie to change people's minds.
