Tell me about the sheltie's dark side

[VallejoSheltie]

Boots is our first dog as adults, and one of the first Shelties I've actually observed much. So its anectodal at best.

Busyness & sensitivity:
I work from home generally, sort of like Mr. Mom.
Boots is fine staying in the house most of the day, letting me work without having to be constantly interacting with him. However, that could be because he goes to the dog park 4,5,6x a week for an hour or two each day.
My wife will usually walk him when she is off, so that including the park visists seems to keep him at an adequate activity level to reduce excess energy.
He was also the largest of the litter, and is very Lab/Retreiver-like in meeting people an other dogs. Very upfront and personable, as compared to his litter-mate cousin who happens to live down the street. She is very shy and I don't think she gets much exposure to others from her Owner.
As far as sensitivity in communicating/correction, they are very bright and seem to 'get it' usually compared to many dogs.

Neediness:
My dog is not needy in the clingy sense, however he does want to 'stay in the loop', and that means either being in the same room with me, or in the hallway outside my home office. Sometimes I'll sneak into the bedroom for a siesta while he is downstairs. 10-15 minutes later he'll come up to check on me and then start looking in the other rooms investigating. If he can't see me in bed from the floor, he'll give a short bark almost like a ?-mark. If I stay quiet he'll start investigating a bit more intensely like he's lost me.
As mentioned above, one of his cousins from another litter is rather shy and more clingy/needy.


Barking:
Boots will bark the the doorbell, real or on tv, squirrels/foxes in the back yard, anyone at the door, etc. Or when I play chase with him around the house. Otherwise, wether at the dog park or home, he's actually not much of a barker at all. He hasn't been trained not too bark, however he does seem to understand when he's being told to stop.
He certainly knows not to bark when I am sleeping though.

 

[Lunatic59]

I think all these examples pretty much sum up Shelties. Given the proper amount of attention and exercise, they will train you to behave the way they want you to and make you think it was your idea ... um ... adapt to your household and your personality.

 

[Justme]

I have only had one Sheltie:

My boy was never bothered by loud noises. He had good hearing, but even severe thunderstorms and vacuum cleaners didn't bother him.

He adjusted to my activity level, and was never hyper indoors. The one exception was after a bath. After drying him, I immediately took him outside to blow off some steam.

My boy wasn't a lapdog, but he always wanted to be in the same room with me.

My boy wasn't an excessive barker, and responded to the Quiet command.

He was extremely smart, extremely eager to please, and had an excellent memory, so "training" was a breeze. He constantly monitored everything that I said and did, with the goal of making me happy.

Of course, my boy was the World's Best Doggie. Your results may vary.

 

[melbell]

busyness:
shelties need a job, whether its watching the windows and doors to bark at anything or for agility, obedience, toys etc.

neediness:
Puppies will sometimes be the in your face dog (like mine) BUT they do calm down and will learn you don't want that.

barking:
my dogs bark at everything and nothing. My sheltie who is 9, has always been this way and even when she was the only dog, she still acted this way. My pup came out fighting. He barks tons and wiggles a lot. He didn't used to bark at certain things such as people and other dogs, but now he does (thannnnkkkk you honey for teaching him oh so well!) needless to say, they are definitely barkers!

 

[Chris]

You will never pee alone. Ever.

 

[daisysparky]

Busy-ness & Sensitivity:

We have a fenced-in yard with a dog door that we give them access to for 12 hours/day, so both of our dogs get plenty of exercise. But for a lot of the day, they choose to stay inside and nap or just rest. Sometimes Daisy will want me to play fetch with her in the morning or at night, and she never turns down anyone wanting to go outside with her - even if you just sit on the deck and watch her run around the yard. Sparky is more of an inside dog who only likes the outside if he hears something going on out there or if someone goes out with him. He's basically a couch potato for the most part, lol.

Neediness:

Daisy is my shadow. She can be all the way outside when I open up the door to go into my basement apartment and she'll know and immediately come running in to follow me. She has to know where I am. However, she's also fairly independent and rarely cuddles with me on the couch. She will lay down on the floor beside me sometimes when she isn't outside or sleeping underneath the kitchen desk, corners, or coffee table. (We call them her Batcaves because she loves sleeping in small dark places, plus she has cute bat ears so she's Bat Girl, lol). But at night, she will lay on the couch with me and also sleeps on my bed. When I come home from a short trip to the store or even upstairs from the basement, she gives me the biggest puppy-like greeting with smiles and running and jumping and tackling on the couch. It really is the greatest feeling.

Sparky doesn't constantly need to know where you are to the extent that he follows you. He will walk the room after coming back inside the house to make sure all of his sheep are still there, though. And at night, when my mom goes upstairs to bed, he'll insist on doing a spinning/jumping/barking dance saying "How dare you go upstairs and leave me?". He does this even though he sleeps in her room, lol. Before we got the dog door he would fling himself against the regular door if he couldn't see you. He had to know he had a way back inside. Sparky has never been overly affectionate, but since getting Daisy, he has become a lot better. When I'm on the couch, he loves to lay beside me on the floor, when he's not on his loveseat or dog bed.

Barking:

As far as barking late at night or early in the morning, they are only allowed outside from 9AM to 9PM.

Daisy will bark in the backyard at whatever she feels is important - neighbors, other dogs, lawnmowers, etc. But she doesn't bark at anyone at the front door. She will run and hide in a corner, because Sparky does so much barking and attacking at the door that it scares her.

To be fair, Sparky was never socialized properly as a puppy because we didn't realize he needed to be. Our two other dogs at the time (one a sheltie mix) hadn't had it and were both very friendly toward people. And our sheltie mix was very friendly to other animals as well. Since then, he has improved a lot with some training and just having Daisy around, but he still attacks the front door and barks at and is afraid of anyone who doesn't reside in our household visiting. But to us, he is still a loving dog.

Don't let my Sparky scare you away from getting a sheltie, though. Sparky's behavior is a result of our ignorance and, more than likely, neurotic breeding. (His breeder was not what you would call reputable. But again, our ignorance at the time.)

 

[Toffee's Mom]

Depends on your definition of needy. They love to lean into you, but aren't in your face, like a Lab or Golden...

Yes, they bark, and are sensitive. But if you're into dogsports good luck keeping your Sheltie real quiet, they are very into you and feed of the energy of others. Toffee barks the whole way through agility course but I can tell by the sound it's his happy bark, as in YAYYY let's do this, OR a different bark for what are you doing I dunno what to do next, tell me now what to do, NOW ... lol
Spruce is completely silent during training or when he is doing real work, maybe makes an intense growl when retrieving the Frisbee or the ball but that's it.
They definitely aren't barking just to be barking, they always have a reason but often we deem it silly, but they are hyper vigilant and in tune with their guardians.
They are great little thinking dogs, I love them and yeah don't think to try an keep them outta the bathroom if yer in there!

 

[take4roll10]

Every dog has their own personality and temperament, of course training can help with some quirks, but no dog is alike. My best advice is to find a breeder, who breeds for structure, health and temperament. Observe how the other dogs are in her household and let her know the things about the breed that concern you. Even the best breeder could produce a puppy with anxiety and quirks that are common in shelties, so you really have to judge the litter, the adults and the breeder.

As for my dog...
Busyness & sensitivity:
As a puppy, my dog was into everything. She was always on the go and had trouble settling down. She did calm down at about a year old and even more the last year. She is 4 now and does much better with a schedule. She will try to engage me to play by dribbling her tennis ball or taking out a toy, but if I ignore her, she will lay down and not bother me. However, she is very sound and motion sensitive and will bark at banging sounds, neighbors outside, doorbell, telephone ringing, etc. My first sheltie was much calmer and did not require as much exercise or stimulation. She was content with some short walks, some petting and just relaxing. No noise or motion sensitivities... and this one was from a pet store, go figure! .

Neediness:
I wouldn't consider both my current sheltie and previous sheltie to be needy. They follow me from room to room, but do not sit on top of me or near me. My previous sheltie would nudge you for a few pets, but once you stopped, she would leave you alone. My current sheltie will follow me into the bathroom if the door is open, but not always. If I'm working, eating or watching TV, she will try to get my attention by dropping a ball by feet and staring at me, but no whining, no jumping on me, no barking. Sometimes she'll run around the house with my flip flop. If I don't engage her after a 1 minute, she will just lay down. And again, she will lay in the room as me, but not near me. If I'm on the couch, she'll lay on the floor or the recliner.

Barking:
Shelties are more vocal than other breeds, but there are some quieter shelties out there and early and consistent training does help. Unfortunately, mine is on the high end of barkers, but she was also diagnosed with anxiety, so she has a few issues. My previous sheltie wasn't a barker, expect for when the doorbell rang.

 

[Justme]

Another "dark side" of Shelties is that they are so smart, they are capable of being highly manipulative. It's not really a dark side though - when my boy outsmarted me, it made me laugh.

 

[Laurelin]

Imo the 'dark side' of shelties is just the extreme amount of variation from dog to dog, line to line. I love some shelties but others are a mess. I've seen a lot of temperament problems in the breed- more than most breeds. My shelties were all incredibly different and so it's hard for me to generalize.

Busyness & sensitivity:
I'm into dog sports. If given an appropriate amount of mental and physical stimulation daily, how active are shelties in the house? Are they constantly looking for something to do, or do they tune into the activity level of the house and calm down if the environment is calm?

my shelties were easy house dogs and settled well. They were probably the most adaptable dogs we've owned. A friend has one from a much more sporty background (think world teams dogs and such) and he's a lot of dog. My last sheltie was sports bred but not hard to handle energy-wise at all. He was a mess temperamentally though.

I've heard that some shelties get upset or riled up at things as simple as phones ringing -- So if the sheltie is from a responsible breeder that has exposed their puppies to many different noises and events, will they still typically act very sensitive around sudden household noises?

All of my shelties were very noise/motion sensitive. Vaccuums, blenders, etc, were something worht being riled up about. Mine weren't scared, just music needed to be sung along with and vacuums should be attacked. We kenneled them while we vacuumed.

Neediness:
How owner dependent are shelties compared to other breeds? I was previously considering a papillon or Chinese crested, but I found out both breeds are notorious "bathroom attendants", if you know what I mean. I work from home so I can easily keep a dog company, but I cannot have nor want one climbing all over me or in my face while I'm working. Coming around for pets sometimes is good, extreme clingy velcro dog behavior I'm trying to avoid.

Not nearly as needy nor as overly affectionate as my papillons. I find it is a two way sword, imo. My paps are hands down the most dotingly affectionate and shadow-like dogs I've owned. I love that. My shelties would either be nearby or stationed across the doorway keeping track but not on top of me. My paps are up in my business 24/7.

I find shelties to be more aloof in general and more stoic. Again, good or bad depending... Admittedly, I like shelties but I am in love with papillons. I don't think I could live without a papillon. I think they're hilarious and love how into me they are (sounds selfish). They have very.... erm.... loud personalities. Shelties strike me as much more responsible dogs. It makes sense to me with them coming from the good old farm dog type.

Barking:

They bark a lot compared to most dogs. But I think it's over-exaggerated. My paps bark just as much or more. My shelties had a wider range of vocalizations- honks, grunts, howling, rooing, etc. Shelties are talkers though so I'd be prepared for that. There were many a conversation we had. I do miss that a lot.

My youngest pap is the most vocal dog I've ever had. Easily.

If there are other negative sheltie traits that you think I should know about, fire away.

Good shelties are great dogs. They're spunky and fun, driven with lots of energy, nicely tempered if a bit reserved, but the other end of the spectrum is not so great. My last sheltie was the absolute stereotypical sheltie in all the bad traits. He was sports bred but would have never made it as a sports dog. He was sensitive, fearful of almost everything. Not an easy dog to live with and I ended up taking a couple bites from him. I could go on but he was not stable at all...

This is a dog that grew up going to trials most weekends, btw.
And he's not a total anomaly either. I would say most are not as bad as he was but sketchy and spooky behavior isn't uncommon. The breed should be aloof, not totally wigged out by everything.

I also see a lot with drive issues in sports as well. A lot of breeders I find just aren't breeding for drive but for show. Lots of lazy, low key shelties out there.

If I were to get another sheltie (may one day, not sure. Another herding breed is coming next) I'd be very very very picky about where it came from. Luckily I have a friend with some fantastic dogs. I would only consider one with her input.