Shetland sheepdog

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Shetland Sheepdog

Shaded Sable and White Sheltie
Other names	Shetland Collie (obsolete) Dwarf Scotch Shepherd (obsolete) Toonie dog (obsolete) Miniature Collie Sheltie
Country of origin	Scotland
Traits
Classification & standards FCI Group 1 Section 1 #88 standard AKC Herding standard ANKC Group 5 (Working Dogs) standard CKC Group 7 - Herding Dogs standard KC (UK) Pastoral standard NZKC Working standard UKC Herding Dogs standard

The Shetland Sheepdog, often known as the Sheltie and sometimes as the Shetland Collie, is a breed of dog in the pastoral dog group, resembling a miniature Rough Collie.

Shelties are family-oriented dogs that can be as at home in a flat in a town as in a house in the country. They have a thick double coat that can come in many different colours and patterns. They are vocal dogs, with few health problems; among those they are prone to are hip dysplasia and thyroid problems. They are very good house and family dogs. A sheltie is very protective and good with children if properly socialised with them while it is a puppy.^{[citation needed]}

Despite its name the Shetland Sheepdog is only remotely connected with the original herding dog of the Shetland Isles, instead deriving mainly from a mixture of the Rough Collie with several toy breeds.

Description

Coat and Colours

12-week-old bi-blue

Shelties have a double coat, which means that they have two layers of fur that make up their coat. The long, rough guard hairs lie on top of the thick, soft undercoat. The guard hairs are water-repellent, while the undercoat provides relief from both high and low temperatures. There are three main colourations: sable, which ranges from golden to mahogany; tri-colour, made up of black, white and tan; and blue merle, made up of grey over other colours.

Bi-Black (white and black) and bi-blue (white, black and grey) are less common but still acceptable. The best-known colour is the sable, which is dominant over other colours. Shaded, or mahogany, sables can sometimes be mistaken for tri-coloured Shelties due to the large amount of dark shading on their coats. Another name for a shaded sable is a tri-factored sable and white. This name comes from the breeding of a tri-colour to a sable and white, or a tri-factored sable to another tri-factored sable. Another acceptable colour in the show ring, but much less seen, is the sable merle, which can often be hard to distinguish from regular sables after puppyhood. The sable merle would have patches of dark brown on a light brown background, as compared to the black and gray of a blue merle.

There are two additional coat colours that are quite rare because they are unacceptable in the breed ring. The colour-headed white (majority of fur white, with the head 'normally' marked) can occur when two white-factored dogs are mated. Double merles, a product of breeding two merle Shelties together, can be bred but have a higher incidence of deafness or blindness than the other coat colours.^[1] There have been reports of a brindle Sheltie^[2] but many Sheltie enthusiasts agree that a cross sometime in the ancestry of that specific Sheltie could have produced a brindle.

Height and Weight

The breed standard for height is from 13 to 16 inches (33 to 41 cm). A measurement outside this range will result in dismissal from the conformation ring, and three dismissals result in the dog being banned from any more conformation classes. ^[3]

Shelties normally weigh around 14–25 pounds (6.4–11 kg).

Temperament

The Shetland Sheepdog is an outstanding companion dog and is intensely loyal. 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; for this reason Shelties must be socialised. Some can be quite reserved. Shelties do well with children if they are reared with them from an early age; however, their small size makes it easy for a child to accidentally injure them, so supervision is necessary. Exercise caution when considering an adult Sheltie for a family with young children; they may not be compatible.

Shelties are vocal dogs. They are intensely loyal, affectionate and responsive to their owner; reserved but not shy or fearful ^[4]. Some shelties display a terrier-like personality, which tends to be hyper, and always on the go; however, this temperament is not sanctioned in the breed standard.^[3] Some Shelties can be very timid but this temperament is specifically discouraged by the breed standard ^[4]. Tendencies towards shyness can be reduced through proper socialisation. The average Sheltie is an excellent watch dog, giving alarm barks when a person is at the door, or a car is in the driveway.

Activity level

The herding instinct is strong in many Shelties. They love to chase and herd things, including squirrels, ducks, and children. Shelties love to run in wide-open areas.

A bi-black Sheltie doing agility

Shelties usually love to play. They do best with a sensitive, attentive, owner. The Sheltie is, above all, a 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. Shelties are very good with children. Neglecting a Sheltie's need for exercise and intellectual stimulation can result in undesirable behaviors, including excessive barking, phobias, and nervousness. Fortunately, the reverse is also true: annoying behaviors can be lessened greatly by an hour of exercise that engages the dog with its owner.

Intelligence

Shelties have a high level of intelligence. According to Dr. Stanley Coren, an expert on animal intelligence, the Shetland Sheepdog is one of the brightest dogs, ranking 6th out of 132 breeds tested. His research found that an average Sheltie could understand a new command in less than 5 repetitions and would obey a command the first time it was given 95% of the time or better.^[5]

Health

Like the Rough Collie, there is a tendency toward inherited malformation and disease of the eyes. Each individual puppy should have his eyes examined by a qualified veterinary ophthalmologist. Some lines may be susceptible to hypothyroidism, epilepsy, hip dysplasia, or skin allergies. The usual life span for Shelties is between 10 and 15 years.^[6]

Shelties are also highly succesptible to Transitional Cell Carcinoma (TCC). TCC is a cancer of the bladder, and can be diagnosed early by regular urinalysis from a normal veterinarian.

Dermatomyositis may occur at the age of 4 to 6 months, and is frequently misdiagnosed by general practice veterinarians as sarcoptic or demodectic mange. The disease manifests itself as alopecia on the top of the head, supra- and suborbital area and forearms as well as the tip of the tail. If the disease progresses to its more damaging form, it could affect the autonomic nervous system and the dog may have to be euthanised. This disease is generation-skipping and genetically transmitted, with breeders having no clear methodology for screening except clear bloodline records. Deep tissue biopsies are required to definitively diagnose dermatomyositis.

Two healthy Shelties

Von Willebrand disease is an inherited bleeding disorder. In Shelties, affected dogs as a general rule are not viable and do not live long. The Sheltie carries type III of von Willebrands, which is the most severe of the three levels. There are DNA tests that were developed to find von Willebrands in Shelties. It can be done at any age, and it will give three results: affected, carrier and non-affected. ^[7] Shelties may also suffer from hypothyroidism, which is the under-functioning thyroid gland. Clinical symptoms include hair loss or lack of coat, over or under-weight, and listlessness. Research is currently ongoing to further understand the thyroid.

Although small breed dogs are not usually plagued by hip dysplasia, it has been identified in Shelties. Hip dysplasia occurs when the head of the femur and the acetabulum do not fit together correctly, frequently causing pain and/or lameness. Hip dysplasia is thought to be genetic: many breeders will have their dogs' hips x-rayed and certified by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals.

Eyes

The two basic forms of inherited eye diseases/defects in Shelties are Collie eye anomaly (CEA) and progressive retinal atrophy (PRA).

CEA can be detected in young puppies by a veterinary ophthalmologist. The disease involves the retina. It is always bilateral although the severity may be disparate between eyes. Other accompanying defects (ophthalmic anomalies) may wrongly indicate a more severe manifestation of CEA. CEA is present at birth and although it cannot be cured, it doesn't progress.

Facial profile of a sable-coloured Shetland Sheepdog

That is, the severity of the disease at birth will not change throughout the dog's life. CEA is scored similar to the way hips are. In some countries, the Sheltie gene pool is limited so breeders will breed with a very low scoring CEA. However, most breeders are actively trying to breed this disease out by only breeding with dogs that have "clear" eyes or very low scoring eyes. A CEA score considered too high to breed with may still be low enough not to affect the dog's life. These dogs live happy and healthy lives as pets but should be not used for breeding. Most breeders have all their adults and every litter tested. Some breeders will supply a certificate from the vet to all their puppy purchasers.

PRA can be detected at any time but usually does not show up until the dog is around two years of age. As the name suggests, it is a progressive disease which will eventually result in total blindness. Currently there is no treatment for either disease, but as both diseases (CEA and PRA) are hereditary it is possible to eliminate them using selective breeding.

Ears

An example of the proper Sheltie expression

Shelties' ears should bend slightly or "tip" at the top to be shown in American Kennel Club (AKC) shows because they contribute to the proper Sheltie expression. The proper ear is to have the top 1/3 to 1/4 of the ear tipped. If a dog's ears are not bent (referred to as prick ears) it is acceptable to help the ears along to the desired position by bracing them into the correct position and leaving them on for several weeks to several months. Wide-set ears can also be a problem, often breaking too low down (referred to as 'hound' ears). These are often harder to correct than prick ears, and must be braced early and consistently throughout the first year. It is easiest to train a dog's ears when the dog is a puppy. The reason for this is because when you train a puppy's ears, the cartilage is still soft and bendable. Another way of solving this is to simply tape the puppy ear into the formation beginning at 6 to 9 weeks of age. Once that cartilage in the ears is hard (usually by the time the puppy is 6 months old), it's impossible to fix the ear set without veterinary procedures.

Activities

In their size group, the breed dominates dog agility competitions. They also excel at competitive obedience, showmanship, flyball, tracking, and herding. Participating in such a sport will satisfy a Sheltie's needs for mental and physical exercise.

Grooming

Shelties have a double coat. The topcoat consists of long, straight, water-repellent hair, which provides protection from cold and the elements. The undercoat is short, furry, and very dense and helps to keep the dog warm. The Sheltie is usually a clean dog and should only need to be brushed once or twice a week (it is helpful to spray-mist with water when brushing). Mats can be commonly found behind the ears, under the elbow on each front leg, and in the fluffy fur on the hind legs (the "skirts").

Although its coat might appear to be a time-consuming task, a once-weekly, but thorough, brushing is all that is needed, though more frequent groomings and trimmings will contribute to a beautiful and tidy coat. Shelties usually shed twice a year, often at spring and fall, and should be groomed more often at those times. A good brushing with an undercoat rake, which removes the dead and loose hair from its coat daily should reduce the amount of hair that is shed. Females will also shed right before or right after giving birth.

It is easiest to teach a dog to tolerate, or even enjoy, grooming if they are shown that it is a pleasurable thing from a young age. Breeders usually teach the dogs to lie on their side, be brushed, and then flip over to the other side. Toenails and hair between the pads need to be trimmed every couple of weeks to ensure traction and to prevent mud and snow from balling up on the feet. Most Shelties learn to love the attention that grooming provides, if the routine is started when the dog is still young.

Show dogs may require more frequent brushing to keep their coats in top condition. Regular brushing encourages undercoat growth, distributes healthful oils produced by the skin, and prevents sores known as "hotspots" which can occur when dead undercoat is allowed to accumulate close to the skin. Show dogs also require trims to certain parts of the coat, including shaping the ears, the topskull, the jawline, paws and topline. There are several published works on the subject, including the book Sheltie Talk.^[8]

Breeding

As with any dog, Shelties should be screened for inheritable genetic diseases before breeding. Both male and female should be tested for thyroid problems, von Willebrands disease and brucellosis, as well as have hip x-rays cleared by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals and eyes cleared by CERF.

Breeding colours is also a problem for many beginner breeders. Certain colour combinations can produce unwanted or potentially harmful results, such as mating blue merle to blue merle, the result of which can be deaf and blind white puppies (called the lethal white.) A tri-colour and bi-colour are the only two colours that can safely be mated to any other colour. By mating a sable and white to a blue merle, the result can be an unwanted sable merle. A tri-colour to a pure-for-sable (a sable and white which can produce only other sable and whites), will produce only sable and whites, but they will be tri-factored sable and whites (which means they have the tri-gene.) There are many more examples of breeding for color, so a good breeder will research what genes each dog carries. There are many different genes contributing to the different colors of the Sheltie, including the bi gene, the merling gene, the sable gene, and the tricolour gene.^[9][10]

Showing Requirements

As with all breeds of dogs, there is a certain set of rules that must be followed in order to show them, and these vary by country. For example, in the United States under American Kennel Club standards, Shetland Sheepdogs must be within the required height of 13-16 inches at the withers for both males and females. Both male and female must be sexually intact to show, except in the Veteran's class. A complete description of the ideal Sheltie can be found in the American Kennel Club's breed standard.

History

Sheltie puppy.

Unlike many miniature breeds that resemble their larger counterparts, this breed was not developed simply by selectively breeding the Rough Collie for smaller and smaller size. The original sheepdog of the Shetland Islands was a Spitz-type dog, probably similar to the modern Icelandic Sheepdog. This dog was crossed with mainland working collies brought to the islands,^[11] and then after being brought to England, it was further extensively crossed with the Rough Collie, and other breeds including some or all of the extinct Greenland Yakki, the King Charles Spaniel (not the Cavalier), the Pomeranian, and possibly the Border Collie. The original Spitz-type working sheepdog of the Shetlands is now extinct, having been replaced for herding there by the Border Collie. The Shetland Sheepdog in its modern form has never been used as a working dog on the Shetlands, and ironically it is uncommon there.

During the early 20th century (up until the 1940s), additional crosses were made to Rough Collies to help retain the desired Rough Collie type – in fact, the first AKC Sheltie champion's dam was a purebred Rough Collie bitch. It was at this time that the Shetland Sheepdog was known as the Shetland Collie.^[12]

The year 1909 marked the initial recognition of the Sheltie by the English Kennel Club, with the first registered Sheltie being a female called Badenock Rose. The first Sheltie to be registered by the American Kennel Club was "Lord Scott" in 1911.^[12]

Famous Shetland Sheepdogs

• Ch Halstor's Peter Pumpkin ROM^[13] - The Shetland Sheepdog sire with the most Champions (160).^[14]
• Am/Can/Jpn/Int'l Ch.Golden Hylites the Phantom ROM - One of the most expensive and campaigned Shetland Sheepdog sires, sold to a kennel in Japan for a large amount.^[15]
• Badenock Rose - the first Shetland Sheepdog registered with the English Kennel Club.^[12]
• Pikku - Shigeru Miyamoto's Shetland Sheepdog

See also

• Shetland animal breeds

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shetland Sheepdog

• Shetland Sheepdog associations
  • American Shetland Sheepdog Association
  • Canadian Shetland Sheepdog Association
  • English Shetland Sheepdog Club
  • Sheltie International

• • American Kennel Club - Shetland Sheepdog Breed Standard
  • Pedigree and Picture of the only known recorded brindle Sheltie