Why did you get a Sheltie?

How I fell in love with Shelties !

When I was growing up I always wanted a dog But never could have one because of where we lived in Cold Water flats. Tenement buildings.:wink2: So when my parents finally got their own home I was already out of nursing School. So we went to the local Humane society and adopted a mixed breed named King, he was part St. Bernard and afghan hound ! heck of a combo but what an awesome dog !! When I got married both myself and my husband were animal lovers and we wanted a dog but couldn't until many years later. When we moved up to the White Mountains we had just adopted Tasha, our Shepard dobie mix. We got her from the Humane society at 8 weeks old . Then about one year later we happened to go into the local pet shop in Littleton, Nh to buy some things for Tasha when we saw this poor gorgeous Sheltie just sitting there saying please take me home !!:rolleyes2: I don't like buying from pet stores but I made quite a stink about confining pups in small cages with grates for floors and how would they like to stand on that or lye on it all day. Needless to say she came home with us. We all loved her and we named her Lady, she was a tri-colored ,Sheltie. We brought her to the vet for her check up she was fine. A woman came in asking the vet if he knew of anyone who was selling a small dog Because her daughters pup had passed away. She wanted to get it for Christmas. We went home and I just for some reason knew this pup should go to this little girl. We gave Lady to the girl. I missed Lady so much I had to have another Sheltie so this time we looked for a breeder. Then we found Jewel !! That was my soul-mate and my forever in love with Shelties dog. When she passed I was so heart-broken it's undescribable.:cry: A piece of myself and my husband went with that precious Jewel . Now we have Kiara, aka Kia and she's an awesome Sheltie !!:cool:
 
I've probably told this story here before but here goes:
Growing up we did without a lot, my dad is a minister and I am the third of six children. Our church was located in a small town, across from a lumber yard. When I was 5 or 6 years old there was a terrible racket from across the street one night, lights waving and yelling and banging. My dad had mom call the police and went over to check out what was happening. It was cold, there was frost...we watched from the picture window in the front room. Dad went to the lumber yard and was gone a long time. The police came...and went..and dad came back home with his coat zipped up and something wiggling inside. I only learned a decade later that dad interrupted the night watchman at the lumber yard beating a mother dog and her pups to death with a crowbar. The man threatened my dad and even as the police took him away he jeered at dad that he was a stupid do-gooder but the dogs were better off dead than starving. My dad put the only surviving pup in his coat and said "this one won't starve, I'm taking her home." That is how we got Sandy, a sheltie mix. Three years later she had a litter of 8 puppies, delivering one in the snow. I remember going out to help my mom and siblings search and make sure that we had found all of the pups and brought them into the pantry room. I thought there was nothing so awesome as all of that wiggling tiny life and the incredible serenity and strength that I could feel from Sandy. As the years went by Sandy had other litters of pups and we even kept a few...Hadji and then Poppy and then Poppy's son Max. Sometimes the pups looked like sheltie-marked small german shepherds, sometimes like border collies, sometimes like shelties. Our family raised Sandy and her family, with the last of her line passing away when I was 25 or so. When I married my first husband didn't want a dog when we lived in-town; so we had cats. When we moved to Weaverville I was interested in getting another pet; and out of the blue he said he wanted a dog. I expected Russ to pitch a fit about a dog because he was just working his way out of a terrible fear of dogs. But all of the slow exposure to movie dogs and well trained dogs worked, and Russell chose shelties. We got Indy from a local breeder; and he is just fabulous. Unfortunately he slipped his collar and "caught" a truck in 2000. Between arthritis and his injuries he lost his interest in activities. I decided that another dog might perk him up and my second-current-and-final husband Alan agreed; we chose Emma as a birthday present for Russ and companion for Indy. It worked like a charm for 3 years, then Indy was just too slow and old for Emma and she nearly plucked Indy's tail and backside bald trying to goad him into running with her. We chose Figaro as her playmate and potential stud; and in the process of searching for the right pup in Figaro I discovered Sasha's plight and rescued her from neglect and abuse. The rest you guys know....Emma and Figaro did indeed produce two healthy litters of pups and Alan couldn't part with one of them...and so Angus joined the clan. Then Sasha and Figaro had the current litter of pups and we discovered Newton's sad situation and rescued him.

So I am another of the members whose childhood experiences with a sheltie matured into a love for the breed .... and a desire to rescue, rehab, and raise them.
 
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In looking for a second dog, I wanted one that was smart, easy to train, and small. I did a lot of research and narrowed my choices down to a papillon, Boston Terrier, and a Sheltie. For a long time I was really leaning toward a Boston Terrier. It was after discussing my choices with members of our local dog club that they highly recommended a Sheltie. When they said Sheltie, it just felt right.

After bringing home our first Sheltie I know I made the right choice. Jackson is a delight and everything I wanted.
 
SheltieStar said:
In looking for a second dog, I wanted one that was smart, easy to train, and small. I did a lot of research and narrowed my choices down to a papillon, Boston Terrier, and a Sheltie. For a long time I was really leaning toward a Boston Terrier. It was after discussing my choices with members of our local dog club that they highly recommended a Sheltie. When they said Sheltie, it just felt right.

After bringing home our first Sheltie I know I made the right choice. Jackson is a delight and everything I wanted.
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Those three breeds are some of my favorite small dogs. Having a Papillon, I can say they are a world apart from Shelties. However, they are infectious and love, love, love!! My step-brother met Pierre this past Christmas and within a month, he had his first dog - Cheech the Papillon. Of course, I don't like the name, so I named him Claude (which is what the whole family calls him- what are little sisters for?). I teased him after I got Duncan and said, "Now when you meet him, I'm not going to be surprised if you run out and get yourself a Sheltie, but if you name him Chong, the whole family will call him Clyve!! Hey, if I'm making up a name for him, why not something overly Scottish?"
 
Just reading though older posts and found this thread.

I grew up with labs. I liked smart high energy dogs but I wanted something smaller that I could have in an apartment while I was in college so I rescued a JRT mix. She was a wonderful dog. I loved her size,her spunk and her zest for life, but there was one problem she hated other dogs. She did not like them jumping on her or invading her space. After college, I wanted another dog but it just didn't seem possible.

When my mix was 8yr, I developed a friendship with a lady who raised raised shelties. I wasn't much impressed at first by her dogs. They seemed so boring. They just stood there. They didn't care if I petted them or not. Then I went to her house. Wow what a difference. They were active, playful and engaging. How could these be the same dogs? Funny thing was my JRT mix loved them.:biggrin2: Somehow the shelties knew just how to relate to her. They would run and wrestle never a cross action. I took home Justice a 1.5yr later.

My mix passed 2 yrs ago and I looked at getting a different breed but went with another sheltie. Honestly I don't think I'll ever get anything other then a sheltie.
 
Justicemom said:
They seemed so boring. They just stood there. They didn't care if I petted them or not. Then I went to her house. Wow what a difference. They were active, playful and engaging. How could these be the same dogs? .
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This is Aztec. People meet him at the park and say he is so calm and sweet and that they reall like his personality and want a sheltie like that. Then I tell them that he is rarely calm at home! He just gets reserved and puts on his good behavior in public.
 
I am sure some of you figured out, I grew up with sporting dogs, pointers and setters. I love the sporting dogs. My husband grew up with collies.

First of all I had two setters of my own here, beautiful set of brothers, so sweet and loyal. When I lost both of them, I decided I wanted a smaller, spunky breed. With much thought a "SHELTIE". I figured my husband would love the sheltie, and Lucky fell right into my lap. Then Lil' Lady came. When it comes to temperment, loyal friends, and being spunky, they fall into that category that I love, just like my setters.

Outfits are not complete without sheltie hair.
 
Cant believe I didn't see this thread...anyway..
I never picked a sheltie for a dog, I was born into shelties. By the time I arrived my dad had rescued a sheltie some 7 or more years earlier from a lady who used to beat him and keep him locked in the basement. So While at work one day my dad took Laddie home to live with my parents and my two brothers because he wasn't going to leave a dog in those conditions he didn't deserve it. He was wayy over sized, almost Collie size:eek2: and from a puppy mill out of Kansas. However he was the sweetest most gentle, and smartest dog ever! He was with us until 12 years old where he died in my kitchen suffering most likely a heart attack. Its a day i'll never forget even though I was only 4 years old. From there we were sold on Shelties, or atleast my parents were since they were so good with us kids.
After Laddie passed my dad said no more dogs...yea right because we all listen to him:lol: a few years later my mom got another sheltie, named Brandy, he had horrible sheltie skin disorder although back in the late 80's it wasn't heard of too much by local vets so he went misdiagnosed and we did the best we could with baths, food and cortisone...He lived to 12 years old when he crossed the bridge.
Than when my parents were living in Florida my dad came across this cute homely looking sheltie and said if he kisses me he can come home with me...what a sucker!! Needless to say Sam in now sleeping on the bed with my dad right now! Than my mom and I decided that well Sam needed a playmate because he was lonely (Sam would most likely beg to differ on this subject now a days:lol:)...we found one up in Canada who was cuter than cute! I flew up in the dead of winter to get Molly as she started to grow up we thought she looked really good, like she could be a show dog, so we asked the breeder and she said sure give it a go, and the rest is history.....
 
When i was little i always wanted to have a dog. So my mom knew someone that was giving a dog away for free. that dog happend to be a sheltie. The owner didnt think she had a personality. So we took her and we absolutlely loved her. She had the best personality ever, she was so caring, and forgiving and loving and playful and a lot of energy, she never bit anyone and was never mean even though i was rough on her when i was young. She was easily trainable. Just the best dog i've ever had.
Me and my parents got hooked on shelties while having her.

Than we got another sheltie. he was a blue merle and only 5 weeks old. He grew up and had such an outstanding personality, he is very very expressive in his personality. He has so much energy, he is always very playful, very easily trained, he aims to please, loves the center of attention, he's very easily amused and is always happy. Its almost like you know what he's saying to you when he's whining for something. His personality is so human like its scary sometimes.

I just love everything about this breed, there so beautiful and have the best personalities, so very easy to train also.
 
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