My new little sheltie, Shirina, is very small. I expected it, because I got her from a line of small agility shelties. Her back story is that she was their show prospect, until a tooth came in crooked.
Groomers and vets have commented they don't think she'll get to full size. I brushed it off. I thought, "She'll be on the small side of average."
Tonight, I took her to a training class at a local dog obedience club. I enrolled her in "pre-basic," which is a class for puppies at least five months old who have had some basic training. At the door, the checker-inners asked if this was the "shorkie" they were expecting. It took some discussion to explain that this is a Shetland Sheepdog (no Yorkie!), 5 1/2 months old. (A quick peek at the teeth confirms this.) A lot of people don't recognize Shirina's breed, because she's not sable.
So after some discussion, we were waved through to the pre-basic class, and the trainers there asked us the same questions. "How old is this dog?" She was the smallest dog there. Then someone asked me how old my "cat" was.
I don't mind that she's small. I just hope she'll be healthy and okay. She weighs about 11.5 lbs, and she was born 5/2. Her paws are proportionate to her current size.
Does anybody else here have a smaller sheltie?
