We jut bought a beautiful 14 week old sheltie from a very good rep
breeder (hearlandshelties), she was the last one of the litter mainly
because she's not as ooutgoing as her siblings. We bought her for us
and our 3 year old sheltie.

The puppy has been with us in our home for 48 hrs won't follow me or
my wife yet she won't try to run away from our arms when we grab her to
pet her... The good news is that she absolutely turns into a different
puppy around our older sheltie, she has literally turned into his
shadow and they are adorable playing.

My problem is that she's not the type of puppy that runs to our arms at
all, in fact she practically ignores humans (but not afraid of them).

My concern is that I keep reading about sheltie pups and how is not
good when they don't behave as friendly.... I don't want to give up on
her and take her back, I believe that she may change with a little time
as she is very confident around other dogs (she is very bossy with
other dogs in our community), but also I don't want to end up with a
dog that will ignore us for ever

I think the main problem is that she was around dogs too much time
without much interaction from humans, so maybe she will take a couple
of more days to start trusting us...

What do you all think?

Correction, the name of the breeder heatherlandshelties
(http://members.aol.com/sanfmac/home.htm)

said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

What do you all think?

I think that she's doing exactly what puppies do. Please stand
by for shipping instructions.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

"Elizabeth B Naime" wrote in message
...
On 16 Apr 2006 18:50:35 -0700, wrote:

What do you all think?

I think temperament changes little, but behavior can change a lot.

I haven't had Shelties myself, but I do know that being reserved to
strangers is normal and acceptable (reserve, not fear, which seems to
be what you describe).

Not in baby puppies. Not, not, not in baby puppies. After, say, five months,
some will start to become more reserved to strangers, but the only baby
sheltie puppies that I've met that are "reserved" around people are ones
that have had little human contact (i.e. raised in cages.)

Christy

wrote in message
oups.com...
We jut bought a beautiful 14 week old sheltie from a very good rep
breeder (hearlandshelties), she was the last one of the litter mainly
because she's not as ooutgoing as her siblings. We bought her for us
and our 3 year old sheltie.

The puppy has been with us in our home for 48 hrs won't follow me or
my wife yet she won't try to run away from our arms when we grab her to
pet her... The good news is that she absolutely turns into a different
puppy around our older sheltie, she has literally turned into his
shadow and they are adorable playing.

My problem is that she's not the type of puppy that runs to our arms at
all, in fact she practically ignores humans (but not afraid of them).

My concern is that I keep reading about sheltie pups and how is not
good when they don't behave as friendly.... I don't want to give up on
her and take her back, I believe that she may change with a little time
as she is very confident around other dogs (she is very bossy with
other dogs in our community), but also I don't want to end up with a
dog that will ignore us for ever

I think the main problem is that she was around dogs too much time
without much interaction from humans, so maybe she will take a couple
of more days to start trusting us...

What do you all think?

It would worry me that a 14 week old sheltie puppy is not full of wiggles
and excitement at meeting people. I got one of my shelties at that age, and
while his lack of early socialization resulted in his being less than
confident as an adult when dealing with new surroundings, he was very people
oriented as a puppy. My thought is that this is probably a show breeder who
didn't take the time to really socialize these puppies and you're seeing the
results. If the puppy has a good solid temperament then you will probably be
OK but right now you need to spend a ton of time with this pup. Don't let
her spend all of her time with the adult dog, because you're likely to get a
pup that only enjoys the company of other dogs. Get a ton of toys and treats
and spend a lot of time playing, training and playing with her apart from
other dogs.

Christy

On 16 Apr 2006 18:50:35 -0700, wrote:

The puppy has been with us in our home for 48 hrs won't follow me or
my wife yet she won't try to run away from our arms when we grab her to
pet her... The good news is that she absolutely turns into a different
puppy around our older sheltie, she has literally turned into his
shadow and they are adorable playing.

My problem is that she's not the type of puppy that runs to our arms at
all, in fact she practically ignores humans (but not afraid of them).

My concern is that I keep reading about sheltie pups and how is not
good when they don't behave as friendly.... I don't want to give up on
her and take her back, I believe that she may change with a little time
as she is very confident around other dogs (she is very bossy with
other dogs in our community), but also I don't want to end up with a
dog that will ignore us for ever

It may be that she wasn't socialized as much with people as with other
dogs. Give her some time and earn some trust. You can feed her one
kibble at a time from your hand instead of from a bowl. You need to
be sure to do some things with her one-on-one and not let her spend
all of her time with your other dog. She seems to be relying on the
relationship with the dog instead of bonding with the humans. You
don't want to separate them completely, but you don't want to let them
spend all their time together, either. Take your puppy to training
classes, which not only work on obedience, but also on communication
and trust.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy,
so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay

UPDATE.

3rd Day: If I had to summarize her behavior in one word it would be
curiosity, she's all over the place, obviously starting to trust my
wife and I... somehow she learned how to bark, go after a ball and a
stick... I wonder how she learned all that (hint my 3 year old
sheltie).

I'm no where near as worried today, she's by far more active than dogs
4-5 months old (we have a dog community), she can run for a couple of
hours non-stop and loves to hang out with bigger dogs. Although she is
inseparable from Lucky (my other sheltie) she is slowly starting to
follow us into other rooms and take on mini exploring missions.
Hopefully she'll keep improving.

What I've done so far:

* Lots of hugging and love
* Hand feed her
* Lots of holding and playing

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 19:03:55 GMT, "Christy"
wrote:

I haven't had Shelties myself, but I do know that being reserved to
strangers is normal and acceptable (reserve, not fear, which seems to
be what you describe).

Not in baby puppies. Not, not, not in baby puppies. After, say, five months,

Thanks, noted!

Now the puppy's coming around and showing more interest in people (I'd
hoped that would happen, hence my "write again in a week"), do you
think she'll be okay?


--------------------------------------
If you really need to email me, mow the lawn.

On 18 Apr 2006 03:57:00 -0700, "Xeneize12"
wrote:

Can someone help me understand what's the deal with this person above?

I didn't see "this person above." However, from the fact I didn't see
the post and I know whom I filter, plus the explosion of groups now
being posted to, I expect you've "met" Jerry Howe.

Help you understand what's the deal with him? I doubt anyone really
understands what the deal is with him, least of all himself. :shrug:


--------------------------------------
If you really need to email me, mow the lawn.