Like primabella said shelties are great dogs. They are heavy sheders but that doesn't start until they reach 11 or so months. You do need to walk the a lot and spend a lot of time with them. Not all shelties bark. I think that primabella said that Mickey doesn't bark but Foxy barks all the time which can be good if you want a good watch dog. Oh and another thind. Shelties are good watch dogs but they would not try and bite a person that they don't know, they would just want to try and play with the person.
I'll try and find a good site about shelties in the next few days.
Good luck