Our Sheltie Doesn't Look Like a Sheltie!

[OntarioSheltie]

I wouldn't jump to conclusions, that can definitely be normal in a young sheltie.

I don't have photos, but my parent's male sheltie didn't get his full coat till he was 3 years old. Its gorgeous now. He had very short fur as a pup and when his coat did start coming in, it was very flat because he had little to no undercoat. I was disappointed but accepted it (no sheltie forums for questions back then.), so I was delighted when I realized it was slowly coming in.

It would be nice if you could post a photo though. You can either sign up to be a Premium Member, which would give you an online album, or you can post a link to a photo on a photo sharing web site like Picasa or Flickr.

[Jaynie]

As with the others, I wouldn't worry. Dog loves you, you love dog. That's all that's necessary.

That being said, my first Sheltie, Neechee, had a beautifully fuzzy typical Sheltie baby coat when I got him at 6 weeks old (I know, I know-too young!)

At 10 weeks, the fuzzies all vanished, and he had what I call the "seven month uglies" for about 2 years. Ears too big for his head, feet too big for his legs, clumsy, goofy, and testing his limits. He was in training from the age of about 12 weeks on, and we had the same trainer all the way through, a wonderful lady named MaryAnn McBride. When Neechee was a little over two, we were in class, and suddenly MaryAnn said, "Neechee finally looks like a Sheltie! It's about time!" (She was showing Corgis and a Golden at the time.)

So it took a while. At about age 6 years, his coat finally started getting a decent undercoat, and for the rest of his long, long, long (almost 18 years) life, he had undercoat and topcoat, but was only really luxurious around his neck and tail.

I found out when I got Bela that all that I'd learned about grooming Neechee was useless! She's got a terribly profuse coat, and I sometimes catch myself thinking wistfully of tiny Neechee's easy to groom size and coat!