Afraid to choose a sheltie :/

L

Lexi

Forums Enthusiast
Hi!
So I started a thread last year about changing breed -spitz to herding breed. And I was sure a sheltie is a good match for me. I think next year I will finally be able to bring a second puppy. I found a very good breeder in our country and she is only 2h from me so I could visit the puppies as often I could. Actually I'm planning to visit her in July and she just has a litter of 4 puppies.
And as usual for me I started panicking how will I manage to train a new puppy from the begining and since shelties are a herding breed I expect a lot of heels nipping and tendency to herd things, barking, chewing.. I am not so sure I can do it. :no: I also read a bit in the puppies 101 section and I am convinced even more this would end in a disaster :((

My Lexi was actually a very good and calm puppy, well apart from the difficult housebreaking, and he chased everything that moved. He chewed only some 10 shoe laces and my headphones, we never had a problem with mouthing.
Shelties are a lot more hyper when puppies.

Has any of you had similar thoughts in a similar situation?:hide

I also started with beginners agility training 3 months ago and I love it. We have some difficulties motivating him, but he likes it and we are progressing nicely.. With the sheltie I would also do agility. However I would always pick the calmest puppy in the litter and I don't care about the gender or colour.
In a week I have 2x agility training, 4x a week we do a longer walk 1-2h and one day in a week we don't go anywhere I just play a lot at home, we have a very large yard. And everyday I do some training(agility commands) and we play fetch.
Would this be ok for a sheltie?:confused2:
 
I guess I must have been very lucky over the years to have been blessed with calm puppies. My first sheltie, a female, was sweet and calm. Never did she nip at anyone or anything! We did obedience training and she excelled at it. My second puppy was a male, he is more high activity and would play frisbee until exhaustion! He also loved his obedience training.

So, if you have a great breeder you can rely on to ask all the right questions to... Go for it! Sheltie temperaments are the best! In my humble opinion you can't go wrong with this breed! I know others on this forum can guide you as well... Good luck!
 
Our situation was a bit different because Bailey came out of rescue at 4 months house trained by his foster mom so that was an amazing gift. Never had a problem with nipping but paper shredding was a specialty of his.

The herding thing comes out in different ways. As a pup Bailey would herd his toys collecting them and moving them from place to place. Katy never displayed that interest. They both count people in a room and will check to see where someone goes if they get up to go to kitchen or bathroom when we have guests. This amuses some and kind of freaks out others.
 
I am drawn to twinkle so I have more active shelties than the ones my parents picked over my childhood. Mine also are more barky/ reactive. This improves with maturity and training. I think your exercise plan is ample. Shelties are active not hyper typically. They donbark. We never had a big chewing issue out of our 8 shelties over the years. Nipping they were trained out if easily or not an issue. The exception is my current pup has a more reactive streak eith nipping but not mouthing and hyper sensitivity. BUT his bratty behavior stems from being a singleton not sheltie. He is otherwise delightful and not mentally instable or hyper... But he is active.
 
Shelties, or at least my Honey, definitely need entertaining, lots of walks and mind games, and just general attention, but... that being said, so long as you're consistent with training, and can figure out how to communicate with them, they train easily. They want to please you, if they understand what you want they will work day and night to give it to you. Mango is mouthy, but she's a border collie/Australian Shepard mutt, she's food oriented and has a need to chew and we're making progress. Honey, after a few corrections never nipped or mouthed, she's actually got a very soft mouth even for games like tug of war. She's chewed up underwear, but other than that, has only ever touched one shoe...as a protest of me moving her into my in laws house and leaving her alone all day to clean the old apartment. And she bypassed my $100 sneakers to dig up the pair of sandels I bought on clearance for a last minute night out, wore once and then abandoned in the closet for years.

Even Mango, food crazy as she is, at 8 months is working her heart out to please. She found a chicken bone at a park last week, and all it took was one drop it, for her to spit it out and walk away.
 
Honestly, if you are worried about not being able to handle a Sheltie then stick with what you know. With any breed you are going to get variability, you can get quiet calm Shelties, and Shelties with drive and high herding instinct. Mind you, many of the annoying behaviours Shelties are known for are also found in Spitzes, and of course a puppy of any breed can nip, chew and chase. The problem is though, if you are uncertain you will be looking for those behaviours and will attribute it to him being a Sheltie and not bond as well. I've seen this happen with a friend and it turned the dog into a mess - poor dog just can't do anything right.
 
I would not replace Cooper and the Belles for any other type of dog. That said, I know not all people are sheltie people. I don't want to try to talk someone into a breed they don't want. I will say that your fears are things that can easily be trained out. And a good breeder can lead you into the right temperament. Out of Clara and Tara, from day 1, I could have told anyone that asked Clara is the stubborn one. She is more adventurous, but she is stubborn and you're going to have to be more stubborn. Tara is over sensitive and you need to train her gently.

My shelties have been an adventure. They've also been a life saver. I wouldn't call them hyper, they just very much want to be with me. I'm glad that you've read posts on the puppies forum, but remember, people with the good sheltie puppies, aren't asking for help. Cooper is one. He has chewed up exactly 2 sandals. That's it. And honestly, we've not completely gotten his crate shut a couple of times, and come home to find him on the sofa. Maybe a Kleenex casualty, but I can pick up torn up tissues all day as long as my shoes are safe. Cooper is a lot more vocal than the Belles. Cooper howls. Not just when he's alone either. My husband and I think it's funny. Out of the 11 shelties I've had in my life, Cooper is the only one that will sit on the couch and howl at you. He just sounds so broken hearted that you're eating and not petting him that we laugh.

I would say, spend some time with the puppies before making a decision. If you still have doubts, then save a sheltie from rescue. But it might be love. And when a sheltie loves you, they WILL move heaven and earth to make you happy.
 
It's not that I'm not willing to put an effort to train a puppy when he behaves badly, but I'm afraid I wouldn't know how to adress certain behaviours in time, before they become more serious(like car chasing). The breeder is also a dog trainer and she always helps new puppy owners if they have some problems.
If I know how to do it I'm very patient and stubborn and I'm willing to spend a lot of time training so that in the end I get a good dog. All people who met my spitz tell me how well behaved and trained he is. :smile2:

The breeder has 5 shelties and she has no excesive barking problems, because she trained them from puppyhood not to bark for no reason.
I need to stop thinking about what could go wrong. I will have a lot of help from the breeder and I will go to puppy school with him/her. My agility trainer is a very good person and I know I can always ask her for advice too.
I like shelties, because they have that will to please that my spitz lacks. Would be nice to train a dog more easily. :yes:

We have horses at home and a cat, I had to train my spitz not to chase her. He was a professional chaser already at 3 months(I guess his mommy trained him well:mad1:), so he spent a lot of time in his crate for time out when he didn't listen. He couldn't care less about her now. Other cats don't have that safe status but I don't care because they come to our place and attack our cat or dig holes in our garden and leave a lot of poop everywhere. My dog just loves cat poop. :ick
The first year I was always walking around with my pocked full of treats so all good behaviour was immediately rewarded.
 
Our first two Shelties were puppies. Our first one was a herder but all she did was run in circles around things or people or spin while doing her business. Of all the Shelties I've fostered or adopted, only one or two were nippers. A big yard with a tennis ball or Frisbee or similar toys would be fine for exercise. We haven't had any problems with chewing, as puppies we gave them things to chew on and that took care of the baby teeth chewing. Some can be very vocal, I just finished with a trainer helping us with our latest adoption and we are making good progress. You're going to have issues of one sort or another with any breed, if you're not sure if a Sheltie is right for you go to a rescue and see if you can spend some time with some of them.
 
So last weekend I was at the breeders and I met 5 adult shelties and the puppies. They really are a wonderful breed. I know they are a reserved breed but when I sat down everyone licked my face and they were pushing others around and everyone wanted to be petted. Especially one male was very cuddly and he just sat in my lap and wanted to be petted. I didn't expected that, he was really sweet.:hugs The puppies are also very cool, they are used to brushing, to being held in hand a lot and the have a few tunnels and a dozen other toys and they are not afraid of anything. So I think she is the best breeder I could find, the only problem is that she has a really long waiting list.
 
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