Hello- A few questions!

A

acciodog

Forums Novice
Hey everyone, I am considering a few breeds, a Sheltie obviously being one of them, as a first dog for my family. I have a couple of questions-

1) Would a Sheltie be ok to be home alone for about 6-7 hours during the day? I work too far away during the day to come home at noon. I do have a few close friends in the area that may be able to come by at noon, but I doubt it as most are working as well. The Sheltie wouldn't be a small puppy, at least 5 months old, and of course would get plenty of exercise before and after I leave for work.

2) What crate/brand do you recommend? I'd like one that's easy to transport, as I do plan on doing agility and taking the dog with me to places. I know there are different styles, like a full wire crate, or those plastic ones that look like large versions of cat carriers, etc. and I'm not too sure which one would be the best.

3) What can I expect when visiting a breeder? Like I mentioned, this would be my first dog ever, so I don't have any experiences with these types of things, and while I'm always keeping an eye out for Shelties in local shelters, a good breeder is also an option. I understand there'd be lots of questions, and while I'm no expert since I don't have a lot of experience with this, apart from taking care of friend's dogs while they were on vacation, I have spent a lot of time (I've considered the breed for years) reading and researching on the breed, from what food to feed to training.

Thanks in advance! :smile2:
 
First off, love love love your name :cool:
Harry Potter forever, LOL

Welcome to Sheltie Nation

1. 6/7 hours alone is ok, as long as you don't mind a Sheltie Shadow the rest of the time and do keep him busy mentally and physically. They DO need exercise and mental stimulation

2. I definitely don't recommend crate training with a portable crate, especially with a new to you dog. I wouldn't pay for an expensive crate until I knew the dog wasn't going to destroy it the first time you walked away from him in an unknown place like a trial arena, lol
I use regular plastic crate and am very happy with it. I am training with a portable one currently, too. But I wouldn't trust him to not shred it when I'd go to walk a course or something!

3. Just be honest with the breeder about your expectations and lifestyle :biggrin2:
I will let the breeders in this forum get into more details, since I got my big, short strided boxy guy from a hobby breeder, lol... who was nice enough to the dogs and myself, but not the kind of caliber that I would NOW be looking for in a breeder
 
And while you're looking at the local shelters, remember to check the area Sheltie rescue too. You don't say what state you're in but most all have a Sheltie rescue.
 
Love your HP name as well!

1) 6-7 hours alone should not be an issue with an older puppy. Lots of physical and/or mental exercise before and after work will help keep your puppy happy.

Crating him/her while you're at work will help with potty training.

2) I have two crates. I have a wired crate in my bedroom and a soft, pop-up crate that I leave in my car for when we travel. In the car, my dog wears a doggie seat belt.

3) Here is a list that can help with some questions for a breeder:
http://www.sheltieforums.com/showthread.php?t=6530
In addition to those questions, you want to look for a breeder who is breeding for a goal: conformation, agility, obedience, etc. You should be able to meet the mother of the puppies and any other dogs the breeder owns.

Good luck!
 
Here is another good guide to buying a Sheltie puppy written by a member of my club.

Go to Shetland Sheepdog Club of Greater Detroit's website. On the homepage at the bottom click on: Before you buy a Sheltie Puppy read "Looking For A Puppy".

Also in the Breeder Referral section at the bottom click on: "Be a Responsible Dog Owner".
 
I'm also a fan of your username. :biggrin2:

I agree with the others... the provided link above is a great resource for breeder questions. As far as finding a good breeder to ask these questions... a good place to start is by checking the American Shetland Sheepdog Association's webpage (if you live in the United States). http://www.assa.org/breeders.html You can click on your state and find a list of ASSA Sheltie breeders. You can contact them and they may be able to put you in contact with other breeders who may have litters available, if they do not. That was how we found our breeder. Our local ASSA breeder put us in touch with her. These local ASSA breeders will also be willing to answer any general questions you might have, too.

I also agree that with an older pup, as long as you are going to make sure he gets the love, attention and exercise he needs when you are home, he should be ok while you are at work, especially if you are going to crate him.

Speaking of crates... I highly recommend a good wire crate. We have one and we love it. It's a Midwest brand crate. It has a carrying handle, or collapses and folds pretty flat, so moving it around is pretty easy. In fact, when we go on long car trips with the dog, we crate him in the car. We have a 1991 2-door Nissan Sentra (not the roomiest car), and we collapse the crate to load it into the car, and then pop it up in the back seat. The kind we got came with a divider, so we bought one big enough for a full-grown Sheltie, and used the divider to make the crate small enough for our 8-week pup when we got him, and adjusted the divider as he grew. That way the crate was always the perfect size for him, but you don't have to keep buying bigger and bigger crates. You don't want the crate to be too big, or the dog may develop bad potty habits (eliminating in one end, and sleeping in the other, for example). Our crate also has a nice plastic liner, which makes clean-up easy if there are any accidents (we had a couple once when he was ill). Down the line, you can add a nice crate pad in there if you feel the pup needs a softer bed, but I wouldn't recommend doing that until you are sure the pup is not going to potty in the crate.

Good luck with your search! Obviously, we're all predisposed toward Shelties on this forum, but no matter what breed you eventually choose, you are awesome for putting so much thought into it now. You're ahead of a lot of dog owners, and you don't even have the dog yet!:yes:
 
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