cuz it's a Sheltie...

[Toffee's Mom]

Just ask them "so when are you going to trade up to a Sheltie then?"

Lol, I am going to
Thats just the point, poor little Toffee/Demon Dog wasn't easy either, he is shy and dog reactive, try and teach collar grab games, lol. Or teach recall game, where somebody else is gonna hold him, lollll
So yes, come a long way, lol, guess I am going to get rid of my occasional Border Collar envy, eh? Lol

 

[Jaynie]

Yes, Shelties do seem to have the advantage sometimes in some dog sports, and a lot of owner/handlers of other breeds do speak disparagingly of Shelties as fellow competitors.

However, consider the poor Border Collie owner/handler. When I was running Max through obedience, he was my Novice B dog. (Neechee, my Sheltie, had been my Novice A dog a year before.) I heard so many hostile comments ringside!

"Oh, there's two BC's in our group - I guess we know who'll be 1st and 2nd."

"Is that a BC in the Novice A group? They should make all Novice BC's show in Novice B."

"Why do we even bother to compete today? Three BC's!"

and my personal favorite:

"There goes my Dog World award."

<sigh>

 

[SheepOfBlue]

Funny you should say that. The flyball coach is semi-anti-sheltie because they are to flaky like this. Of course she loves Sca (and he her) and considers him 'different'. I do admit that with him being huge helps for the day he is faster than one of their BCs. It will be celebration time

The perfect quote about him (applies to all of them I think) was "sometimes he just has his own agenda"

 

[k9kreationz]

Hmmm...I've never had that problem. Does this mean Koji just sucks! LOL. Like you, I've worked really hard at agility with Koji. He hated almost every dang obstacle. I mean we had to WORK at it. If I didn't get those free privates (dog only) with the trainer, I seriously wouldn't even be close to where I am today.

Granted though. I'm now in an 90% Sheltie class (so, he's nothing special) and the other 2 dogs are mini Aussies. And of course, my trainer has 2 BC's.

I gotta say, I'm probably the ONLY person that doesn't have BC envy. I watch them run, think how beautiful it is, but then I tell myself, "I soooo don't want that intense of a dog". Koji's crazy enough for me and he doesn't even RUN crazy. He's just CRAZY (aka barky, ADD, etc)!

I love the idea of switching dogs to run (assuming they'll run for others). You can learn a lot from running a dog so different than your own. Heck, I make mistakes by watching others. I simply said, "yay" and screwed Koji all up. Totally made him 100% handler focused and he wanted food. So, I hate to say it, but I've learned not to talk too much when I run. He runs mostly off of my motion.

 

[Sharon7]

I can't tell you all how many times my girls have been admired for being "so well behaved", and my answer is always, "Thank you, but they didn't come that way"! It frustrates me no end when friends get a dog and tell me, "oh I want to train them so they'll be well behaved like your dogs".... and then of course they never follow through!

Yes Shelties are smart and probably easier to train than a lot of breeds but sometimes they are TOO smart and to have a nice dog, you have to put the time in. My girls are spoiled in lots of ways but they are not allowed to misbehave and they know it!

 

[Cindy]

I get that a lot. I bring gavin in to work about 6 times a year. People are always so admiring of him, and talk about getting a dog themselves. I have to go on a crusade to tell people how much work a dog is, because Gavin 'didn't just come this way'. I taught him to be this way, and it was a lot of work (fun work, but still took a lot of time).

But shelties are the best we all know that!

 

[Sackett]

There are blessings and then...well, there are things like Beckon today. Last Rally station: a simple halt, sit. He halts and slooooooollllyyyyyy lowers his furry a$$ to the floor. I swear, I could have sung the Star Spangled Banner in the time it took him to match tail to floor!!!!

Like a stage actor at the final bow... wants to draaaaaag it out....

 

[Goggle]

Haha I second that!! It drives me crazy when I hear in our agility class "oh it's because he's a sheltie" or "i wish my dog was that well behaved". Well, you know what, your dog COULD be that well behaved if you put as much time into him as I do! So Toffee's Mom I feel your frustration but all that really matters is that YOU know the effort you have put in and Toffee appreciates it and you two have a greater bond than all the others because of it!

As a side note, even DH doesn't always realise that Domino is well behaved because I teach him what is acceptable. Last week he came back from a walk and exclaimed "Wow Domino was really good today...he heeled the whole way...I wonder why he is suddenly listening when I ask him to heel?" Well..DH...it MAY just be because I had spent the week prior teaching him to. But the reason I point it out is because I guess if even DH doesn't realise that Domino behaves well because I taught him to then how can a stranger?

Getting a little tired of the people who suffer from Sheltie envy! Lol
Lately Toffee has done really well in agility class, yesterday he did a great push which I am just starting to train for, we put it in a tiny snooker course...
Naturally Toffee is handler focused and good on a tight course in classroom.
If I hear ONE more time, oh its just cuz he's a Sheltie, so am going to smack somebody!!
Not like I put a years worth of training into him or anything, eh?
Mind you he is a perfect dog for a beginner and slow learner like myself