OK gang - post a funny story about your very FIRST Sheltie! Keep our community going.

[Sharon7]

We're very quiet lately on the Forums; I know life happens and a lot of us are in the *ahem* older category but we need to keep this community vibrant! So post a story about your very first Sheltie.

Skye was a beautiful mahogany Sable with naturally tipped ears. She was an amazing dog and sealed the deal on Shelties for us. I trained her myself on basic obedience, and we did a bit of agility which she loved and was good at. She and our kitty loved each other. Skye was the first in a long line of tomato stealers. She would wait until that first fruit was just perfect, right when I was going to pick it, and get there first. I would go into the yard and find her with tomato seeds on her bib. She loved shallow water, either creeks or the beach. A really smart girl who observed everything. If she saw me pick up my sunglasses she would head to the back door because she knew I was going to be gardening.

Her life was a bit different since we were both working, but we included her in a lot of things. Her specialty was unwrapping Christmas gifts. We took her to a White Elephant gift exchange once and let her open our gift. The party came to a
halt when she started gently tearing long strips off the package until she had it undone. Everyone laughed and laughed. She was a special girl and healthy up until the last few months. Was just 6 weeks shy of 15 when she passed.
Miss her to this day.

 

[SheepOfBlue]

I could not find it and odds are it is lost to history. But I had an entire thread on how I was going to train Sca to only come up on furniture if invited like Dow the pre-Sheltie did. Not only did I lose he had a chair that was HIS. I had pictures of him on top of boxes and other barricades as I was losing. We both had a grand time though. Funny thing is Ian hardly ever gets up on furniture and never unless I am setting there.

 

[Piper's mom]

I’d never owned a Sheltie until Riley and even the thought of having a Sheltie wasn’t a consideration. I’d met Riley initially when I was working for Homecare, our provincial (like your State) program that provides services to people to aid them in staying in their homes rather than going into nursing homes.
My client’s daughter owned him and she would often be over visiting when I’d arrive. I can’t count how many times he stole a glove or my shoe (we had indoor shoes we brought with us) and he’d often run circles around the furniture he’d be so happy to see me.
When Riley was 5 his owned passed away very suddenly and the neighbour was keeping him. Unfortunately no one in the family wanted him because he reminded them too much of their sister who’d died (she was only 50). I wasn’t seeing my client at that time (our system was restructured and I was working in a different area) but I still made a point of visiting my now former client and I’d asked her at that point what were the plans with Riley to which she told me they had a friend who was thinking of taking him.
A few weeks passed and I had gone to visit my former client again and asked about Riley…turned out he was still with the neighbour (who was elderly) and hadn’t even had any visits from any of the family members for almost 2 months. At that point I asked her if it was ok if I visited him, the neighbour and my client were happy to oblige.
Riley was always a sweet and happy friendly dog prior so I was shocked at how incredibly sad he had become. He had such a profound look of sadness just in how he carried his ears and his eyes showed such pain it truly broke my heart. He was very happy to see me but you could just sense the underlying current of sadness.
I returned to see my client after that visit with Riley and I told her that if they didn’t have anyone to take him I’d be willing to give him a home (at the time I only had an elderly Cocker Spaniel named Daisy). Unfortunately she again told me about these ‘friends’ who were going to take him…I was heartbroken but what can you do?
Then that evening she called me and said she would be happy if I would still be willing to take him and the rest was history.
Riley would end up being with my mom and I for 7 years after that and we returned to visit with my client over the following 2 years until she passed away, she saw how happy he’d become.
It always angered me though how her adult children couldn’t see past their own grief and see the pain the dog was suffering by their abandonment of him. Oh well…at least it gave me a chance to own him and experience all the quirky Sheltie behaviours! And there were many!
Riley used to love laying outside in the snow…it could be -20 outside and he wouldn’t want to come back in! He also had a strong herding drive…one time I was leaving for work and he came running down the stairs to stop me by jumping on my back and biting me on my butt!! It didn’t so much hurt as shocked the heck out of me!
He had a good life with us (absolutely loved Piper) and taught me so much…I think of him often.
The irony of all of this was that when I was looking for a Sheltie puppy (Piper) I had no idea how or where to look when I found WASSA (Winnipeg Area Shetland Sheepdog Association) online. The only breeder who had pups soon to be available was the same breeder that sold Riley to my client’s daughter (out of about 8 breeders) of which Riley’s litter was her last for 7 years until Piper’s litter due to illness. She actually ‘rented’ the dam (a common practice amongst the dog breeding community) because she didn’t have a female of breeding age and the sire she had to fly in from Quebec (all very costly). What are the odds…but for Riley I’d probably never have owned Piper or Finnie or Blueberry….
Things have a funny way of working out!!
Thanks for starting this thread Sharon…it was nice reading about your first and remembering Riley. gone but never forgotten…

 

[Sharon7]

What a great story, Lisa, and how glad I am that you were persistent. Riley went where he was supposed to go and had a great life. I'd have done the same as you.

 

[Darren]

Such a good thread Sharon and I've really enjoyed reading these posts. Skye the tomato stealer gave me a chuckle and I can 100% relate to Sheeps plan to train Sca, I had all the same plans with Monty and failed
Lisa your post on Riley is so heart warming, it was like it was meant to be and Riley ended up getting his best life

I was spoiled by my first Sheltie Harley, due to a few health and look issues no-one wanted him. I like the ones that don't really fit in so I had to take him and he ended up being the most perfect dog ever. He never did anything wrong, didn't bark much, looked after the family. I was working a mix of day and night shifts and he would work around my schedule and rest when I wanted to rest and play when I was up. I could not have had a more perfect dog BUTTTTT that kind of made me assume that is what Shelties are like..........and then along came Monty........

 

[RikyR]

Not long after we adopted Cody, we took him a groomer to get a bath and trim. The groomer suggested that we get a summer cut. Not knowing any better, and trusting the groomer, we said OK. When we picked him up, we were horrified to see that she shaved him! All he had was fur on his head and tail. Needless to say, we never went back and found a groomer who know what to do with Shelties. A few days later, a police detective came to the house asking questions about an incident in the neighborhood. Cody followed me out and was sniffing around us as we spoke. The detective asked, "what kind of dog is that??" When I told him he was a Sheltie, he couldn't stop laughing. It took all summer before his coat got back to looking normal.

 

[Piper's mom]

Such a good thread Sharon and I've really enjoyed reading these posts. Skye the tomato stealer gave me a chuckle and I can 100% relate to Sheeps plan to train Sca, I had all the same plans with Monty and failed
Lisa your post on Riley is so heart warming, it was like it was meant to be and Riley ended up getting his best life

I was spoiled by my first Sheltie Harley, due to a few health and look issues no-one wanted him. I like the ones that don't really fit in so I had to take him and he ended up being the most perfect dog ever. He never did anything wrong, didn't bark much, looked after the family. I was working a mix of day and night shifts and he would work around my schedule and rest when I wanted to rest and play when I was up. I could not have had a more perfect dog BUTTTTT that kind of made me assume that is what Shelties are like..........and then along came Monty........

Seems like Harley being so perfect set you up for Monty! Buttt…you’re keeping true to taking the ones that no one else wants and for that Monty has much to be thankful for!

 

[Piper's mom]

Not long after we adopted Cody, we took him a groomer to get a bath and trim. The groomer suggested that we get a summer cut. Not knowing any better, and trusting the groomer, we said OK. When we picked him up, we were horrified to see that she shaved him! All he had was fur on his head and tail. Needless to say, we never went back and found a groomer who know what to do with Shelties. A few days later, a police detective came to the house asking questions about an incident in the neighborhood. Cody followed me out and was sniffing around us as we spoke. The detective asked, "what kind of dog is that??" When I told him he was a Sheltie, he couldn't stop laughing. It took all summer before his coat got back to looking normal.

Oh that’s just terrible Riky! Poor Cody…must’ve been so upsetting for Cody!
I took Riley to the groomer not long after I’d gotten him. I didn’t know much about Sheltie’s at that point but I was adamant about not cutting any fur. The groomer pushed and pushed (I think they see all that coat and just HAVE to cut) and I finally agreed to allow her to trim a bit. She didn’t go too overboard (thankfully) but I was determined to do it myself from then on (plus all the horror stories) and I got so many tips from the breeder that I then used on Piper and Riley.
It can be quite intimidating for a new Sheltie owner …we see all that coat and think the groomer knows best. Little do we know Sheltie’s are not like all other dogs. Now I see Shelties that people purposely trim down and I think they don’t look anything like they’re supposed to.

 

[SheepOfBlue]

Such a good thread Sharon and I've really enjoyed reading these posts. Skye the tomato stealer gave me a chuckle and I can 100% relate to Sheeps plan to train Sca, I had all the same plans with Monty and failed
Lisa your post on Riley is so heart warming, it was like it was meant to be and Riley ended up getting his best life

I was spoiled by my first Sheltie Harley, due to a few health and look issues no-one wanted him. I like the ones that don't really fit in so I had to take him and he ended up being the most perfect dog ever. He never did anything wrong, didn't bark much, looked after the family. I was working a mix of day and night shifts and he would work around my schedule and rest when I wanted to rest and play when I was up. I could not have had a more perfect dog BUTTTTT that kind of made me assume that is what Shelties are like..........and then along came Monty........

When I had Dow the pre-Sheltie aka psychopath Mom used to say he was a LOT of company and we would all laugh. Monty is just a LOT of company.

 

[Sandy in CT]

When I was young, I wanted a dog... problem was my mom was terrified of dogs! I worked on her for a long time, she agreed to stop at a breeder near us in Hamden, Ma. While there, mom kneeled down and this dog came up, placed her paw on mom's thigh.... Goldrup's Heavenly Handfull became my Sarah Lee. Sarah had been sold previously to a man who wanted a 'hyper' sheltie. When she was not, she was abused and he eventually returned her to the breeder, Susan Feeney. Sarah came home with us as a 15 month old; terrified of newspapers, magazines, fire places, men.

Fast forward a few years, Sarah travelled everywhere with us. We were campers and she visited most National Parks across the US. She went on Indian Reservations, saw buffalo, she had quite the life! That shy, terrified pup who came home with us was spoiled rotten by my folks. Mom built her a bed fit for the queen she was; Sarah would stand at the bed and wait for her real human pillows to be fluffed before she'd step foot into bed. I remember a trip to San Francisco where we stayed in a hotel - not dog friendly. We went somewhere, came back and as we got out of our truck, way, way, way up high, many, many floors above us was Sarah barking her head off. Being the dog of a UPS family, she acted like a demon every time our mail was delivered.

Sarah lasted many years before she was put to sleep having developed bladder cancer - no one was able to say goodbye to her so I think we kept her a tad too long. I think I was 19, drove home from work on New Years Eve to see my dad pulling her bed out of the back of the truck, empty, bawling his head off. In a house full of females, he said Sarah Lee was the only one ALWAYS happy to see him when he walked in the door. Years later, I could still not bring her up - he'd get watery eyed.

She was my best friend for years as we moved all over the country and I was new student at school after school. She was a loving, loyal companion during some hard, awkward times in my life. I still have her registration and her hand-written Pedigree.