My Sheltie, Jake, is 6 years old. He's unbelievably intelligent and loyal. I play catch or fetch with him in the house for about 1/2 hour every day, and let him outside in the fence for a few hours every day and that's plenty of exercise for him. He would stink as a jogging partner - I don't know if Shelties are that way in general, but there's no way Jake could jog for miles without getting pooped out.

When we play catch, Jake catches the ball and sort of throws it back at me. If the ball rolls away and I don't get it when he throws it to me, and I tell him "Get the ball", he actually argues with me! It's like he knows it's not his turn. He does eventually get it, but he barks at me a few times to tell me it's not fair.

Shelties love the sound of their own voice - if you haven't heard. Their bark is very loud and piercing. I bring Jake indoors immediately when he starts barking - he doesn't bark indoors, we've trained him not to do that.

Shelties which aren't from reputable breeders have a reputation for being a little neurotic - very nervous and snappy with children. Jake's not that way at all though. He adores children and isn't afraid of anything. I got him from a good breeder.

He's very motherly toward toddlers - trying to help them up when they fall. Once when we had a toddler at our house, Jake ran back and forth in front of the stairs - like a living baby gate. He was afraid the baby would fall down the stairs!

Another adorable thing about Jake - he LLOOVVEESS kittens! He carries them around in his mouth like they're his puppies, and watches them very closely like a mother. Once we put one of "his" kittens on the table to play with it and he went bonkers! He was so afraid it was going to fall off.

As you can tell, I love talking about Jake. If you have any more questions that I might be able to help with, let me know!