Sheltie or Golden!?!?

I think you have gotten all great replies!

I like goldens but would never own one because I find them over-the-top friendly and in my opinion, they can get simply annoying. But that is my opinion so it really depends on what you want in a dog. On the other hand my sheltie is extra shy with strangers which involved a lot of work on my part in learning how to train her to become more confident. She definitly barks more than my friends' goldens (maybe except for one big golden boy who is a sweetheart but loves to protect his home from people, the mailman, cars and even the wind).

I suggest you try and meet more shelties than only one in order to help you forge your opinion on that breed since their personalities can vary a lot from one dog to another. The same goes for goldens.

Visit some dog parks. Attend agility trials, especially in the beginners competition or in fun-matches (which is like practice competitions) as it can give you a good idea of what the owners deal with in terms of personality and what is more difficult to train. I expect you will see a few shelties go bark off at the judge or start running around like crazy having a party, as for the goldens, I could put my money down on a few running to be petted by anyone in the ring or to go sniff around. I'm sure it will help you discover both the pros and cons of each bread and help you decide on what is best for you.

Good luck! I'm sure whichever you choose, it will be a good doggy that will make you laugh a lot :).
 
I've had both myself and prefer the shelties 100%. My golden was just too needy. I like the more independence of the shelties. Goldens need a ton of exercise or they become distructive. Shelties need exercise, but also need to be challenged mentally or they develop problem behaviors.

I found that my golden shed more than my shelties do. Both breeds need lots of brushing. Shelties are easier t have in the house, because of their size.

Good luck with your decision!
 
There is no real right or wrong answer. It really comes down to what you personally want. A sheltie board is going to lean toward the sheltie. A golden board will lean toward the golden. We generally have the breed(s) we do for a reason.
I'm not someone who would ever own a golden. They're too clingy/needy, overly friendly, and goofy for me. I also like that my dogs are very much my dogs. A golden isn't usually like that. They like and will go with/to anyone.
 
Off the top of my head, here are some (not all) breed selection critera that I used:

Size: I thought that a small-to-medium sized dog would be the best scale for an indoor dog.

Weight: I wanted a dog that I could pick up.

(What happens, if your dog can't stand up, and you can't pick them up to take them to the vet or vet emergency room?)

Trainability: The book "The Intelligence of Dogs" lists the Shetland Sheepdog as one of smartest of all breeds. Between being very smart, very eager to please, and having an excellent memory, my boy was extremely easy to educate. In addition, he constantly studied everything that I said and did, with the goal of making me happy.

Exercise Requirement: I wanted a dog with a reasonable exercise requirement, not a very high exercise requirement. My Sheltieboy fit that requirement.

Loyalty: I wanted a breed with a reputation for loyalty. If I wanted a disloyal pet, I would get a cat. :smile2: My Sheltieboy was (not shy) quickly bored by strangers, and clearly preferred me to other family members.

And, there are many small and/or intangible factors in breed selection.

BTW, Shelties are very sensitive doggies, who are only for people who are very physically gentle and very verbally gentle.

Disclaimer: I have only had one Shetland Sheepdog, and have never had a Golden Retriever.
 
Goldies are probably the most popular breed here and my Tully's girlfriends are all Goldies - Tully is not particularly dog friendly herself so there must be something similar in the temperaments of shelties and goldies.

I'm not that keen on Goldies, even tho many friends have them. The main reasons being - they are big but don't get 'personal space', they take a long time to grow up (esp the boys), they steal other dog's possessions, and can be distructive. That said, once they get older (prob over 6yrs) they do develop lovely laid back personalities, but it is a long time to wait. But if you have the space a big lolling Goldie may be easier to handle.

As for Shelties, yep they can bark, altho not always. There is a high chance of getting a high energy sheepdog so you need to make sure you have the energy yourself to walk and stimulate them. In Australia we don't seem to have the same problem with shy or skittish shelties (only met one sheltie like that), otherwise all the ones I know love pats and attention from people. I see you're in China so I guess personality will depend on where the dog comes from (would you be importing?).

I do think Goldies shed as much hair than shelties and they do it all year round so will still need to brush regularly. I don't think Shelties are as playful with other dogs as Goldies, but I think they are much more responsive to humans.

And of course everyone wants to come up to you and pat your dog and tell them how beautiful they are when you have a sheltie, with Goldies a lot of people with young children and older people will stay away in case they get bold over, so depends if you love the attention.

Tough call.
 
They probably are the two best dogs in my book.

But I don't think I can deal with the shorter life span of the Golden or afford it.

We spent probably $10,000 to extend our last shelties life about 2 years.

I'd swear we'd never do that, but we did. And we felt guilty not spending another $8000.00 to maybe extend it another month or two.
 
*Caro said:
I'm not that keen on Goldies, even tho many friends have them. The main reasons being - they are big but don't get 'personal space', they take a long time to grow up (esp the boys), they steal other dog's possessions, and can be distructive.
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(emphasis mine)
I forgot about this but this is a problem I had with my ILs' Golden. Not only will she steal socks (I think she hid one of my special socks while we were down and it's still missing) but she will go into other dog's crates to steal toys. I had to throw two of Olive's (brand new) toys in the washer after visiting because the Golden slobbered all over them and took them outside in the dirt. The Golden also did this when visiting other families- taking the resident dog's toys and "claiming" them.
 
Yes, that's true about Goldens stealing other dogs' toys. Our daughter's Golden puppy will steal our Sheltie's toys and then guard them by growling. He is a very sweet little guy, though, but nowhere near as smart as our Sheltie. I think of the Golden as a big sweet gentle Galump and our Sheltie as a smart sassy little Scotsman with a jaunty spring in his step, always whistling a tune, and ready for a bit of mischief. However, as others have said, he is our dog all the way and tries always to plant himself between my husband and me so he can keep his eye on both of us and do whatever he needs to do to protect us. I don't think Goldens are loyal in that way. And Goldens don't do Zoomies...just sayin'. Janet
 
I have a labrador and a sheltie, both different natures but I wouldn't be without either. I feel I have the best of both worlds.

Labs are similar to Goldies, though slightly smaller and some say slightly crazier:wink2:

I think the two main differences for me between my two are

1) Friendliness to strangers.
I can walk Cadbury anywhere and if someone wants to stroke him he loves it, Merlin on the other hand is less keen, though he has improved. On the flipside Cadbury WANTS to say hello to everyone, which can be a nuisance, whereas Merlin ignores them (or sometimes barks at them!)

2) Trainability.
Both breeds are keen workers, but gundogs are very exciteable and take longer to mature mentally (if ever!) and can be harder to train. This is also dependant on whether you go for show lines or working lines. Shelties are much more eager workers and want to get things right. I suppose you could say they are a bit more serious and gundogs can be a bit more silly.

But then again, I like silly:wink2: And I know there will always be a gundog in my life, not necessarily always a lab, but maybe even a Goldie.

As for lifespan, it is not necessarily the case that a Goldie would live shorter than a sheltie. If you buy from good lines which have lots of long-lived examples in it (granparents, gt grandparents, etc) then a Goldie can easily reach 12 and I see more and more gundogs hitting the 15 mark. I know of two labs that are 10+ still doing agility. If you keep a dog fit and slim, no reason they shouldn't go past the 10 years mark easily.

Whatever you choose, enjoy your dog and have lots of fun. They are the best pals and so fun to work with, whatever the breed!
 
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