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Alright.. I have a question that I have been wondering about for some while now.
Some Shelties I see, are really, really small. Others I see, are almost as big as Mickey (21").
Is height a variation in this breed? Do certain breeders breed for certain sizes of the Sheltie? Is there a size that they actually have to be?
I was at an agility trial one time and there was a LARGE sheltie, my Aunt commented on how pretty her 'collie' was and the lady got upset, it was a sheltie, just extremely large. My cousin has a 5 month (?) old and he's already 14 inches tall :eek:
I think it has to do with BYBs. It's the same with JRTs, you see really itty bitty ones and then I have my ginormous monters :rolleyes:
Sorry I can't really answer your question :confused:
Oh, I found this site, I can't really look through it since I need to get to class...but from the little I saw it looked pretty informative! Hope it helps.
http://bowlingsite.mcf.com/Size/size.html
All's I can say about the sheltie are they are a little dog that get thier hair from standing under a collie as it gets groomed.:D
Now all you Sheltie owners know I'm just kiddin right. lol I don't want to offend sheltie owners!!!
Seriously though, Size in shelties come from the various pedigrees the breeders use. Its the same way in collies. You can perfect your line to have smaller collies ranging from 50 to 70# or 60 to 100#. Depends on your pedigree line.
The Canadian standard calls for 13-16 inches, so that is what breeders should be breeding for. It's not unusual to see a larger Sheltie though. It's believed that bigger Shelties are popping up because Collies were used when they were establishing this breed.. and I believe (but don't quote me) that this breed isn't very old, which could be why there are so many different looks and sizes.
And of course, it depends on the individual breeder. The line Kai comes from has dogs that all look alike. I can spot a Satelier dog in an instant. The majority of his dogs at his "kennel" weren't very small at all.. probably pushing the 16" limit.
It depends on what the breeder is breeding for too. Shelties can be great at flyball and pretty good jumpers for their height, so flyball enthusiasts may breed smaller Shelties for smaller height dogs.
It's as Ashley said. As breeds go shelties aren't an old breed. This means that they don't breed true to type. A breeder can breed two dogs that are 14" tall and end up with puppies that are 18" or more when they mature.... (I know as I own one, lol). Size is something sheltie breeders really struggle with.
The world has "glamorized" the Sheltie breed alot in the past few years. The AKC standard is 13-16 inches I believe. Alot of the Shelties I see at agility events are TINY, but I have no idea why they are getting so small. Kayla is 14inches, right where she needs to be.
Awesome.. thanks for all of that information you guys!
When I get a Sheltie, I'll probably go for the larger ones.. I'm not a little person dog.
Hey Riptide.. we need more pictures of Kayla!!
You're not offending us...I thought it was funny.:p I believe that the "sheltie" you saw may have been mixed with a collie because 21" is extremely large for a sheltie, well to me anyways. My sheltie is I think around 16" and even he looks pretty big. Also the standard height for a collie is around 22"-26" and 21" is actually closer to the collie's height standard compared to the sheltie standard which is around 13"-16".Quote:
Originally Posted by MajesticCollies
I want a sheltie !!!!!!! :(