Information on Shetland Sheepdogs…? (Sheltie owners..!!!)?

I have one male Sheltie.

1. Was it *Hard* to train your Sheltie??(Tricks, Potty training, Etc.):
He is smart and was relatively easy to train. He was very easy to house train. And he learned Sit, Down, Shake, etc. All the basic commands pretty easily and quickly.

2. I know Shelties are known to be VERY vocal, On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the noisiest,
How loud& Vocal would you rate your Sheltie/s?:
My dog really doesn’t bark that much. If he hears something, or if the doorbell rings, etc he will bark a little bit. But he does know the “Quiet” command, so whenever we give him the command he stops barking.
But on a scale of 1 to 10. I would rate him about a 2 or a 3.

3. Is grooming, *Hard*?:
Giving a good brush with a good/high quality de shedding brush every couple of weeks works good for my Sheltie. I don’t bathe him very often just whenever he really needs it. I’ve noticed that his hair doesn’t matt very much at all. And he loves being groomed. So I would really say that it’s quite easy to groom him. And he doesn’t shed very much either. Just less than average, probably.

4. In your opinion, Would you recommend a Male or Female Sheltie?:
Ir really just depends on the dogs personality and temperament, training, socialization, etc.
Also I would recommend getting it spayed/neutered whichever you get. If you get a female you won’t have to deal with it going into heat. And if it’s a male you won’t have to deal with it trying to wander away or marking, etc.

5. What are there personalities like? Loving, Kind, Stubborn, Etc.??:
My Sheltie is loving, kind, sweet, devoted, loyal, smart, willing to please, brave! He’s a really good dog, And he follows me around a lot, etc. He is laid back, calm and likes to cuddle but yet he loves hiking and everything and he’s pretty energetic.

I would say that if you got the right motivator for your dog/puppy, and learned what training method worked best for that particular dog, and was consistent and made training fun, and was in a good mood then most Shelties would be fairly easy to train.

If your dog gets enough mental stimulation and exercise and you taught them the “quiet” command they shouldn’t bark too much.

If you feed a high quality food, I found that that helps with shedding a lot. Get a good brush and brush really good once in a while, bathe when nessassary and get the dog used to grooming so that it likes grooming, it shoud be easy to groom.

That just again depends on the dog’s basic tempermant and personality and training, etc.

And that question just depend on the dog’s personality and tempermant.

Also, my Sheltie is relativley quiet (2) but when it comes to feeding times he is *Very* vocal!

Good Luck with your research and getting your Sheltie!
And I Hope I Helped!

And feel free to email me if you have any more questions.

Make sure you do lots of research on the breed (internet and books) and if you are going to a breed make sure you buy from a reputable breeder.

It would also be beneficial for your Sheltie to have a job to do. Look into getting into a sport such as Flyball or Agility. And take it to obedience classes!