From: trytten@ahmeek.cps.msu.edu (Deborah Trytten)
Subject: Re: Toy Collies,etc.
Organization: Michigan State University, CPS Department
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 14:25:52 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.105902.2020@brandonu.ca>, guelzow@brandonu.ca writes:
|> In article <9207291508.AA22006@bottom.magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>, 
|> Barbara S Withem <bwithem@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> writes:
|> > I am looking to adopt a puppy that will grow into a small dog. I am thinking of
|> > of a toy collie, sheltie or a mutt with a mix of one of these breeds. All of my

|> A Sheltie is a very good dog to live with since they try
|> to please you, but you should be willing to spend much time with them since
|> they attach themself to you. They also require quite a bit of grooming: surely
|> more than a german shepard. SHelties like to learn (because that makes you
|> happy). Note that I am bias: I live with two tricolour shelties: Can Ch. Can
|> OTCh Dyniques Misty Manitoba Morn and her daughter Taliesin Midnight Sun Can CD
|> FDCh.

I have a sheltie and a sheltie mix.   They are fantastic dogs.  In fact, I
had them both at the vet yesterday to get their teeth cleaned.  Three of
the staff members came out from behind the scenes to tell me how 
wonderful my dogs are.   To give you an idea of how docile a sheltie can
be, both of these guys had their teeth cleaned manually with no anesthetic
and no problems.  The vet says that he has only six dogs in the practice
that he can do that with.  And two of them are mine :-).  (Nah, I'm not
proud of my boys. :-) )

One thing that no one has mentioned yet is that shelties are very playful.
One of mine is a frisbee player, and the other is a rope tugger.   If
you play with a sheltie regularly (i.e. daily), it will keep a puppylike
playfulness for its entire life.   My older sheltie-X is 10 years old.
I adopted him last year from the Humane Society.  He had obviously never
played with a toy before in his life.  Now he adores racing around with
a tennis ball in his mouth.  The younger one, who I've owned 6.5 years,
gets so excited just seeing a frisbee that I have to keep it out of sight.
I have seen shelties that are fifteen years old race after a tennis ball
just like a puppy.  I think that both of mine will be like that as they
age.

|> > past dogs have been german shepards so I am not very familiar with the smaller
|> > breeds. I would appreciate any suggestions, stories(good or bad) or hints of
|> > what to look for about these two breeds. Thanks-Barb
|> The best book on Sheltie is called SHeltieTalk, you may want to have a look at
|> it.

Here is Michigan there are three things you need to be careful about when
buying a sheltie.  The first is shyness.   My younger sheltie is shy around
strangers, but isn't around me.  There are shelties that are shy even 
around their owners.    The second is allergies.  My younger sheltie has
a full set and it cost me a fortune to get them diagnosed and fixed.
The third thing is nervousness.   Neither of my guys are nervous, but
I have seen some terribly tense shelties around here.

There are a lot of sheltie fanatics on the net, so I expect that you've
already been deluged with email telling you how wonderful shelties are.
Good luck making your decision,

Deb
trytten@cps.msu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.pets.dogs