i wish i had known..

[Toffee's Mom]

I wish I had known sooner how sensitive and intuitive these guys are!
I wish I had known sooner that they were bred to control motion and will react differently than most dogs to things.. like vacuums and sneezes (of all things, lol)

 

[Dexter'sMom]

I wish I had known, how easy it would be for my Sheltie to train me.

 

[romeosangiovese]

I wish I had known not to waste money installing a door to my bathroom. These guys just will not let me have any privacy!

Ditto buying the dog beds (they prefer the cool marble).

But on a (slightly) more serious note, I wish I had known how much fun, time and energy can be spent doing all kinds of exciting things with shelties (yes agility, and going to the beach, etc), then I wouldn't have agreed to the "one dog one kid" thing my husband came up with... Not so sure about the kids now.

 

[Albinodragon]

I wish I had known that some Sheltie puppies eat poop before I kissed Layla that day...

lol Thankfully our Lil'Bit grew out of that. Now if we can just get Gigi to stop raiding used tissue from the trashcan. lol

 

[Psalms]

Oh ya, the used tissue! Eeewww! Sammy does that, too. What could possibly be appealing about that? The cat heard me and just answered my question: "What did you expect? He's a DOG! Gross!"

Janet

 

[CurtnDeb]

I wish I had known that as they age they get pushy, impatient and won't take "NO"..."Can you wait just one minute" or "Go lay down" for an answer!

 

[take4roll10]

I wish I had known... how truly intelligent they are and will always find away to outsmart you.

I wish I had known... how strong their herding instinct is, how compulsive they can be, how obsessive they can be, how demanding they can be, how food crazy they are and reactive they can be.

I also wish I had known... how freakin' adorable and sweet they are!

 

[Izziesbud]

I wish I had known sooner how much fun our five year old sheltie would have with a new sheltie puppy

 

[AusnAsh]

What a good idea! It's definitely useful for me to hear all these insights since I'm still learning with my 9 month old.

I wish I had known reactive Shelties were and how to introduce my Asher to other dogs as a pup.

But I also am glad I knew how much it'd be worth it to get him!

 

[Caro]

Wish I had known that what's funny as a puppy can be darn annoying as an adult and not to laugh at what I thought was 'cute' at the time. Like attacking the rake - should never have laughed at Deska as a puppy when he did this, not if I ever wanted to rake the leaves again!

And I wish I had known when teaching a smart dog to jump (ie agility and flyball) that they could use the knowledge against me by jumping on the tables and benchtops.

And I wish I had never, ever listened to that behaviourist that said little puppy Tully was trying to 'dominate', oh the damage that did.