Please help! I’m not even sure where to start. I adopted a Sheltie from a breeder that was retiring him. She didn’t give me much info about him other than he needs a loving home. That’s me!

His given name was Superman. We’ve since been calling him “Shy Guy” due to his behavior. He turns 5 in February. He has yet to be neutered. We have a long wait at our vet. We’ve had him now for 4 weeks and he will not come out from underneath the coffee table we have in the corner of the living room. We take him out on a leash to go to the bathroom and he does okay. We have another dog Redneck that’s a border collie lab mix that doesn’t bother him at all. I know he’s not scared of him because we take them out together and they walk side by side touching.

I’m wondering what we can do? He will occasionally take a treat from our hand but doesn’t like to be pet. Under no circumstances will he come out from under the table unless we put the leash on him to go out. We took him to my mom’s house one day to let the dogs run together in the yard and after a few sniffs and a pee he ran and found the farthest corner sit and hide. He stayed in the same spot four 4 hours until we put the leash on him and left.

Today we got him a bed to put under the table for him to make it a little more comfortable and he ran under the kitchen bar chair and hasn’t moved.

What should we do? I thought we were doing the right thing giving him his space and allowing him to slowly start to trust us but he hasn’t showed any interest in us at all.

So our little guy started limping after long walks. We thought maybe he strained himself because it came on all of a sudden. After seeing the vet and x-rays it looks like 'mild' hip dysplasia. He's not going to have surgery, but is on a twice monthly shot and meloxycam as-needed. The vet wanted him to walk 45min a day but for a while he couldn't even stand for 5minutes. Slowly he's built up his strength again and can do a great 45minute walk and not even take a break. We walk his speed and break when he wants to. So things are doing well. He's 6yrs old now. The reason for the long walk daily isn't just for exercising that hip, it's because he's clearly chubby. Even on reduced food, he's chunky. I had a blood test done and he's hypothyroid. He has another test coming up to see his full levels and then maybe it's meds for him. I hope that helps him lose weight as it will be easier on that hip! I'm wondering if anyone else has a special needs Sheltie?

I love my girlfriend's sheltie to death, and she has a bunch of quirks.

1. She makes a ton of what I call 'fake pees'. If you're walking her and she has peed already, she might lift her leg (yes, SHE lifts her leg to pee) and do it 2, 3, or even 4 more times without any pee actually coming out. On one walk this summer in particular, she did it 9 times within a 300 yard stretch.
2. She'll lie with the back half of her body sticking out from under the bed with her front half under it.
3. Sometimes when she pees, she will reverse kick the grass in the same way that a cat would kick litter back to cover their pees in the litter box.
4. She will only eat her treats on her favorite towel. If we give her a treat, she'll bring it to the towel and eat it there.
5. Any time we stand up to take her outside and grab the leash+harness, she does several laps of the couches in hopes that you will put down the harness and just attach the leash directly to her collar.
6. Hoods and brimmed hats are highly sus. If she trusts someone 10/10, that trust level goes down to a 7/10 if they are wearing a hat, and a 1/10 if it is something like a mask where she can't see their facial expressions. Strangely, beanies are fine with her.
7. Any kind of beep is anathema. Microwave? Evil. EKG in a movie? The Devil. Beeping security system? Defcon 1. I could go on.
8. Small clicking sounds are slightly less distressing than beeps, but only slightly. The clicking of the remote is frequently enough to warrant her exit from the room.\

There are certainly more that I am forgetting right now.

My beautiful boy says Hi!

Hello everyone! 
My name is Dragos Pepina and I am a pet portrait artist based in Belgium. 
This is one of my older commissions and I had an absolute blast creating this artwork of Fergus the Sheltie! 
His owner said he is probably the largest Sheltie ever as everyone thinks he is a Collie. 
Shelties are one of my favorite breeds, and bringing Fergus to life on paper was truly a joy. 
I love their big personalities and unique features - they make for such captivating subjects to draw.
I am looking forward to hear your opinions about this drawing. 
If you want to see more of my art, please feel free to follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/dragospepina_art
And if you want to find more information about commissioning a pet portrait, you can have a look at my website:
www.pepinadragosart.com/commissions 

https://preview.redd.it/2iqizyomlr5e1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98dcd1c799bc89f569199899e2f2fb49d215f83e

She doesn't look like a sheltie but she's purebred she's such a cutie 😭

Does anyone have any recommendations for the best “sheltie” vacuum cleaner? In need of a new one and have yet to find the best one for our dogs.

Hair spray, room spray, furniture polish,etc. drives Pearl insane! I try to avoid it as much as possible, but even picking up the bottle triggers her!

First time trying peanut butter 😆

She loves sitting next to her dad when he's on the computer.

I’ve got a sheltie/lab mix. I knew shelties were a more vocal breed. My dog barks a fair amount, but more than barking he…..moos? It’s like a cross between a cow and maybe a whale sound. All the time. When he’s happy. When the kids are annoying him. When he wants dinner. It goes on for a second or two, and then when you don’t acknowledge him he switches to a bark.

Is this a thing with shelties? Never heard a lab do anything like it.

Illustrated Guide to Sheltie Grooming (out of print)

Hi guys,

My boyfriend and I have a wonderful 1 year old Sheltie male. Hes’ smart, loving, alert and the goodest of boys. He’s a super fast learner and ver food motivated.

BUT.. He is really struggling with the concept of being home alone. He will constantly get triggered and bark until he can barely breath. We’ve just abour read all guides on how to best move forward. Patiently and without causing him disstress.

After weeks of decensortizing him to the sound of our keys, us putting on our jackets and shoes we finallt had a breakthrough! Yesterday after getting home from a play date with a doggy friend we had given him a chewring. He loved it and ran to his bed to get chewing. We took our chances and got dressed again, made s bit of noise (not too much), and left. WHICH WORKED! It was like he went from 0-100.

We were able to leave him alone for about 6 minutes and caem back before he even noticed we were gone. A few hours later we tried the same tactic agian, this time he was able to be calm and alone for about 10 minutes. You can imagine the relief we felt!!!

Fast forward to today.. we tried the same tactic (without having had a play date) and had no luck. He was imidiatley upset and wouldnt stop barking.

a few hours later we went for along walk and tossed his ball around for a good 30-40 minutes (walk and ball play together).

When we came back we gave him his olde chewring and he went straigh to bed chewing it. We got dressed and decided to give it another try. This time i took his old half eaten chewring and gave him a new one. We got dressed and walked out without any issues. And immediately came back inside and got undressed. After letting him get settled with the new ring we left a second time. This time we were able to stat out side for around 10 minutes but after those 10 minutes he started barking.

Are we doing this right? We feel as though he is able to be alone, but only when HE wants to.

What are your experiances and what tips and tricks have you or others used to easy your furry friend into being home alone?

When are you guys neutering?

Does anyone have a recommended source for KJ/Cal per day for shelties?

Generic guides by weight on kibble/etc seem to be not accurate and I don't want to overfeed mine too much.

They’re “adaptable” to a degree, but mine have almost zero chill. They went to daycare 7am-6:30pm, and they’re STILL getting up and barking when they hear strange sounds. I’ve taught them a lot of tricks and commands but controlling the barking is extraordinarily difficult. They’re super excitable at all times. I’ve never been able to REALLY tire them out—they always seem to jump right back up.

In comparison, my German shepherd (same age, 16mo) has been zonked out since he got home. He barely lifts his head for small noises. He chases the Shelties for 15 minutes and he’s good for a while—they can keep going for HOURS. Everything I read said a GSD would be far more work and far more energy lol.

I love my Shelties, don’t get me wrong—they have amazing personalities, they’re super smart, funny, and charming. I don’t regret them at all. I’m just surprised because a lot of dog breed sites I read seriously downplay how energetic they are!