I just wanted to introduce myself. I do not yet have a Sheltie, but if all goes well I may have one very soon 
My wife and I are from Indiana; we have both been involved in one facet or another with dogs for most of our lives. Myself with some light participation in performance venues like Rally, and DiscDog and just general trick-training with my dog who passed away a few years ago, and my wife with veterinary medicine through working as a veterinary assistant for quite a few years before changing careers. Together we volunteer with our local Collie rescue, who also happen to take in quite a few Shelties as well. We've been doing transports for them, driving a dog(s) to their next destination on their way to foster homes or the like, for about a year now, and we have recently started fostering.
My interest in shelties has been pretty deep for the good part of 4 years now. My mother bought a sheltie, from a not-so-good breeder unfortunately, back in 2009 and asked me to help her with him. He was and remains incredibly shy, but he also remains the most intelligent dog I've ever had the honor to train with. I really loved the spunk for learning that he was able to maintain even while fighting, what we found out to be, horrible genetics. Unfortunately my mother has not kept up on his training and there's not much I can do for him at this point. I was very intrigued with the breed but was not yet ready for a dog at the time.
My wife and I rescued our Collie 2 years ago and we absolutely adore her. She too deals with some social anxiety, though to a much lesser degree than my mother's sheltie does. She is very smart also, but she has certainly chosen my wife as her primary handler and somehow she doesn't strike quite the same chord with me that working with a sheltie did. We've been talking sporadically for the past 3 years about the possibility of adding a sheltie to our family, and when we recently were given the opportunity to foster a little blue-merle girl my wife was sold.
We put in our application to adopt with our rescue a few days ago and have been paired with a sheltie who they say can benefit from a home that is on the more experienced side of things. We are very excited, we follow the progressive reinforcement style that is used by a trainer known as kikopup pretty well and feel that that seems to be a training-style that will be compatible with the nature of the rescue sheltie we've been paired with. We understand that she is described as "sweet but terrified" so she will take some time to come out of her shell.
Anyway, I look forward to learning more about this fabulous breed, and learn more about training techniques that have been used by those more experienced than I particularly regarding rescue shelties who are extremely shy. From what I have seen so far you guys seem to have a plethora of knowledge here and I look forward to learning more
My wife and I are from Indiana; we have both been involved in one facet or another with dogs for most of our lives. Myself with some light participation in performance venues like Rally, and DiscDog and just general trick-training with my dog who passed away a few years ago, and my wife with veterinary medicine through working as a veterinary assistant for quite a few years before changing careers. Together we volunteer with our local Collie rescue, who also happen to take in quite a few Shelties as well. We've been doing transports for them, driving a dog(s) to their next destination on their way to foster homes or the like, for about a year now, and we have recently started fostering.
My interest in shelties has been pretty deep for the good part of 4 years now. My mother bought a sheltie, from a not-so-good breeder unfortunately, back in 2009 and asked me to help her with him. He was and remains incredibly shy, but he also remains the most intelligent dog I've ever had the honor to train with. I really loved the spunk for learning that he was able to maintain even while fighting, what we found out to be, horrible genetics. Unfortunately my mother has not kept up on his training and there's not much I can do for him at this point. I was very intrigued with the breed but was not yet ready for a dog at the time.
My wife and I rescued our Collie 2 years ago and we absolutely adore her. She too deals with some social anxiety, though to a much lesser degree than my mother's sheltie does. She is very smart also, but she has certainly chosen my wife as her primary handler and somehow she doesn't strike quite the same chord with me that working with a sheltie did. We've been talking sporadically for the past 3 years about the possibility of adding a sheltie to our family, and when we recently were given the opportunity to foster a little blue-merle girl my wife was sold.
We put in our application to adopt with our rescue a few days ago and have been paired with a sheltie who they say can benefit from a home that is on the more experienced side of things. We are very excited, we follow the progressive reinforcement style that is used by a trainer known as kikopup pretty well and feel that that seems to be a training-style that will be compatible with the nature of the rescue sheltie we've been paired with. We understand that she is described as "sweet but terrified" so she will take some time to come out of her shell.
Anyway, I look forward to learning more about this fabulous breed, and learn more about training techniques that have been used by those more experienced than I particularly regarding rescue shelties who are extremely shy. From what I have seen so far you guys seem to have a plethora of knowledge here and I look forward to learning more
