What age are female shelties full grown? Color question too

[BarbV]

The amount of dark guard hair on the tail is a giveaway as to how dark the pup might get later on (witness Justicemom's baby with the very dark tail but light body coat).

Bacca is a red sable, and at about 6 months had a light dusting of black on his tail.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=19&pictureid=239

Now he still retains most of his red colour, with only a dusting around his head and shoulders.

http://www.sheltieforums.com/album.php?albumid=257&pictureid=2973

As for size, you take what you are given. As long as your pup is eating well on a quality diet, then I wouldn't worry about size too much, unless you were hoping to show.

 

[Lacey'sMamma]

Growth patterns for height vary quite a bit from line to line....if your breeder didn't give you their observations on the growth pattern of their pups, then I wouldn't consider their height "finished" until a year old. Even so there are the rare dogs that gain a bit of height even through to 18 months old. Girls tend to finish their height sooner than boys.

As for the coat, it can take a full 3 years to see a developed coat.

Lacey's momma why are you worried that your girl is small? Is she healthy and active? If so, then relax. If you were planning to show her then I would venture a guess that she's not going to make standard height.

I find the charts on this site helpful:
http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/size/size.html

No haha you got it mixed around, i want her to be short... im worried because people say some dogs hit thier spurt at 11 months

 

[Lacey'sMamma]

Why are you starting to worry? Shelties are supposed to be 13-16 inches at the shoulder, so it will be a good thing if she has a little growth spurt.

I want to do agility with her and if she stays under 12" i think she will do awesome in that class. I perfer small dogs anyways!

 

[romeosangiovese]

Romeo was like Justice. Quite brown with a dark tail as a pup and he just got progressively darker and now he's heavily shaded.

Juliet, now 8 months, is still very sable. Her tail is quite shaded, and I see some dark guard hairs. Her fur is very dark near her skin tho'. I wonder if she'll get darker?