I am thinking about buying a Shetland Sheepdog...?

Question

Can you give me their activity levels, kindness toward strangers, kindness toward other pets, grooming, protection or watchdog levels, stuff like that.

Are Shelties good for apartments or small housing? How about town housing?

Answer 1

taken from the american kennel club website....

"The Shetland Sheepdog is intensely loyal, affectionate, and responsive to his owner. However, he may be reserved toward strangers but not to the point of showing fear or cringing in the ring. Faults-- Shyness, timidity, or nervousness. Stubbornness, snappiness, or ill temper."


from wikipedia....

"The Shetland Sheepdog is an outstanding companion dog and is intensely loyal, with a delightful temperament. It is lively, intelligent, trainable, and willing to please and obey. Shelties are loving, loyal, and affectionate with their family, but are naturally aloof with strangers and might not appreciate being petted by someone they do not know; for this reason Shelties must be socialized extensively. Most Shelties, if encouraged, will warm up to strangers if given time. Some can be quite reserved and some have varying degrees of shyness. Although they are excellent family pets, Shelties do especially well with children if they are raised with them from an early age; however, their small size makes it easy for a child to accidentally injure them, so supervision is necessary.

Shelties have a reputation as vocal dogs, but that might be undeserved. Ill-bred dogs often display a terrier-like personality--hyper and yappy, always on the go--but can just as easily be overly timid and may become a fear-biter. The intelligent Sheltie can be trained to be an excellent watch dog, and not yappy, giving two or three barks to alert its owner to a person at the door.

Unlike some dog breeds, males and females make equally good pets. The main difference is that males tend to have more impressive coats, and unspayed females will 'blow' coat after every heat cycle. Males should appear masculine, females, feminine.

The herding instinct is still strong in many Shelties. They love to chase things, including squirrels, ducks, Bichons, and children, and when people are milling around the yard, Shelties sometimes try to "herd" the people into a group by running around, barking, and nipping at heels. This tendency appears most when children run around the yard in a group. Shelties love to run in wide-open areas. Just make sure the space is safe and they can't get too far away.

Shelties usually love to play. They do best with a sensitive, yet firm, owner. The Sheltie is, above all, an intelligent herder and likes to be kept busy, although their activity level usually coincides with their owner's level. Shelties also are very smart, making them highly trainable."


petcentral USA says that shelties will adapt well to about any living conditions, but they need a good deal of excercise, and to make sure he's taken on long walks or that he has room to run.

Answer 2

Temperament
The Shetland Sheepdog is intensely loyal, affectionate, and responsive to his owner. However, he may be reserved toward strangers but not to the point of showing fear or cringing in the ring. Faults-- Shyness, timidity, or nervousness. Stubbornness, snappiness, or ill temper.

Answer 3

A dog should be trained on how to eat, walk with you, not to bark, potty training and sleep on its place etc. You can teach anything to your puppy, dogs get trained easily with some good instructions. If you want some good training tips visit https://tr.im/wgA3K

If properly trained, they should also understand whistle and gesture equivalents for all the relevant commands, e.g. short whistle or finger raised sit, long whistle or flat hand lay down, and so on.

It's important that they also get gestures and whistles as voice may not be sufficient over long distances and under certain circumstances.

Answer 4

Shelties have a high activity level and love to herd you wherever you go. My sheltie likes to 'nip' at our heels if we're not moving where she wants us to go fast enough. I say nip in quotes because she's more like nudging us with her nose. Always use positive reinforcement with a sheltie as their feelings can be easiily hurt and you can make them piddle out of fear. My sheltie gets along great with the other pets(dogs, cats, ferrets) but she likes to herd them. Grooming takes a lot of patience because they have a lot of hair that will mat easily especially behind the ears and the back of the legs. She's a fairly protective dog and will bark whenever someone comes to the house but she'd sooner lick you to death than bite you.

Because of their high activity levels I wouldn't suggest them for apartment living unless you can get them out running a lot. They love to run around but they're also very cuddly. They are wonderful dogs but you have to start their training early on or they will become the boss of you. :) They are very easily trained if you put forth even minimal effort. Best of luck to you. :)

Answer 5

They shed by the BUSHEL & at least 1/2 are de-barked. What does THAT tell you?
LOL
But...lotz of folks really like em...tastes differ,eh?