Vanilla's Sheltie Thread

[Vanilla]

Sooo I've been meaning to start one of these and I'm currently naturally raising a litter, so might as well post them here, yeah? This thread will probably jump around dogs a lot, I have a couple of puppies I plan to naturally raise once this litter is off to their new owners, but I also plan to do lots of getting to know some of my shelties that I never really got a chance to get to know, and playing with some oldies as well <3 So I'll go ahead and drop everything from the litter updates I've been posting over at PKC

Day 1



Our puppies have finally arrived! Six of them, mom and babies are all well! Queenie is handling being a first time mother wonderfully, she's definitely protective but will let me handle the puppies without much fuss. I was shocked when they all came out, just one girl after another! Seems very fitting that we're using Penny's pink nursery In order of birth we've got pink, light blue, green, teal, yellow, and dark blue! They all look just about the same, however I'm sure you all know how they change as they grow From what I can see now, it looks like four will be a-reg and two will be p-reg. I'll keep you updated as they grow!

Day 2



Not much to report here at Royalty. The puppies are two days old now and gaining weight quickly! Until they're up and walking, there's not too much going on here other than lots of handling and such to try and get the puppies used to being held. Soon we'll be able to start seeing their personalities come out instead of the current puptatoes that they are, and I can't wait!

Day 3

Everyone is up and walking, and eating solid food <3  So I'm able to learn a little bit about them now, although momma is pretty protective still.

I took out pink to play with first.  Queenie followed us around, barking angrily when I pet too much.  She IS a new time mom after all, so I tried to reassure her it was okay.  Upon seeing the star pillow, she went and just laid down on top of it.  She's a chubby little girl, waddles all over the place lol.  So far she seems pretty relaxed, and definitely food motivated. She barely hesitated before gulping down several mouthfuls, so she also seems to be pretty confident.  The sight of that new pillow didn't phase her either.





Light blue was next.  She wasn't quite as heavy as pink, but still at a good weight.  As soon as Queenie set him down he went right to the food bowl. Not to eat, but to paw it around and play with it.  Mom wasn't very happy to see him playing with his food, so it wasn't long before he started chowing down.  When he finished there was hardly any left!  Stuffed to the brim, he laid down for a nap.





Green is also on the chunkier side, but she seems to be more active, she was play bowing at her mom right off the bat.  Momma was comfortable enough to take a nap while Green waddled around the room, contemplating what heck was in the bowl.  She was a little scared of it, nudging it and then laid down next to it looking all sad.  However, when I took a picture of her she hopped up and posed!  After the confidence boost of getting rewarded for posing, she happily hopped over to eat some food.






Teal was up next, she's also a little chubby ball of fluff XD  She seemed pretty relaxed, but is definitely a momma's girl.  Following mom all over the place.  She wasn't shy about the food, but she didn't immediately start chowing down either.  So far she seems






Next up was yellow!  She's not as chubby as some of the others, but still has a good weight.  She seems pretty confident and outgoing, however Queenie is a little nervous about her still!  I picked her up and set her down and mom did NOT like that!  She literally scooped up her pup and left XD  After I convinced them to come back, I just let yellow explore.  She went over to the food bowl and nudged it at least 15 times, and she kept going over to the door and just staring at it.  On top of that she seems to love exploring, she spent a lot of time just sniffing around.  Didn't really care much about the pillow or food, at least as far as eating it goes lol.






Last but not least is dark blue!  Not chubby but at a very healthy weight.  She is just full of personality!  Squished her feet on the pillow right off the bat, and then batted it around.  She seems really enthusiastic about life, and likes to make goofy faces!  She's very active, and enjoys running all over the screen.  No real interest in the food, but loves batting the pillow all over the place and running around like crazy, and made me laugh out loud more than once.







So that's that!  Everyone is doing really well.  As far as showing goes green is currently POL, and I'm leaning towards taking dark blue but nothing is official until everyone leaves mom and I make my final decisions.  Please note that yellow and pink are our two p-reg double merles  All the puppies have one more day with mom which I plan to use to introduce them to some toys.  After that they will get their new coats and I will do full temperament testing, decide who is POL, and decide who I'm keeping.  After that you may all start picking who you want in order of reservation.  Please note that temperament testing often takes two days in larger litters like this as I am very thorough, however I will keep all of the puppies at the same age if it does take more than one day.

Day 4

I've got 5 toys out for everyone to explore today. The red and blue ball, a bone, the wool plush, a kong, and another puppy toy(which I made based on a toy one of my RL dogs had when she was a puppy lol).

Just like yesterday, pink was first! Just as chubby as yesterday XD She seems a little interested in the toys, and nudged a few, but was just as interested in the food bowl LOL. Because why play with toys when you can play with your food! Some of that might just be because she's still so chubby, tomorrow we'll burn some fat off and find out what her drive is actually like lol.







Light blue was next, she was definitely more interested in the toys! She was most interested in the orange toy and the ball. She spent a lot of time just nudging the toys so they'd move. Still interested in the food, but she spent more time checking out the toys. She really enjoyed just checking everything out.






Green was next. She was immediately ready to play, and hopped right over to check out the toys. She got sad when she nudged the orange toy and it didn't move, which was basically the cutest thing lol. She wasn't afraid of the toys at all, and was happy to check them out. Poor girl got bowled over by mom though XD Distracted her a bit LOL. After that mom kept bringing the food bowl over and nudging it towards her, which was really sweet but green was not hungry and got a little confused XD






Teal came next. Teal checked out the toys a bit but wasn't super interested in any of the items. Teal was mostly interested in me and her mom vs the toys. She sorted just wandered around following Queenie or checking out the room, or watching me to see what I was up to. She seems to be a bit of the daydreaming type.






Up next of course is our little odd-ball, yellow She was really into the toys, immediately going over to check them out. They definitely brought her out of her shell some. She really liked that when she nudged the ball it would roll. She'd follow it and nudge it again She was the first pup to actually pick up a toy as well, and then she just laid there chewing on it. Very glad she's starting to blossom. I didn't want to post it before everyone's trip to the vet, as I wanted confirmation, miss yellow is indeed one of our double merles and sometimes that comes with health issues. Yellow happens to be deaf, which explains her behavior being a little different than the other pups. However, she's definitely very sight and scent driven, and loves her toys! She will still do very well in whatever home she goes to.






Last but night least is dark blue! He ran around right off the bat, and said hi to me before checking out any of the toys. Then he rushed over and started nudging at the different toys to check them out. He was super enthusiastic about checking out the toys, and did lots of nudging! He seems to have a handler focus but also enjoys other dogs, food, and toys. A nice rounded out puppy for sure.







That's everyone! Tomorrow everyone gets to finally be away from mom which probably means more/better pictures LOL, plus lots of testing to be done! <3 So excited about this litter!

~Vanilla

[Thor]

Awww what a cute litter! I'm surprised you were able to successfully keep track of so many x3 Smart idea with the color coordinated collars!

Oh no yellow is deaf?

[Vanilla]

LOL it's definitely tough keeping track of them all! Especially while they still looked the same XD Collars are 90% of how I kept them apart and could tell who was in what picture LOL.

Yes, little Yellow is indeed deaf! The great news is though that she went home with Shade! Also Green has gone home with Buck! I'm keeping Dark Blue for myself So hopefully you'll see lots more of at least a few of these pups! <3 Here's the rest of the updates that I never posted here...

Day 5
Well, today is the day!!!  Everyone is away from mom  They grow so quickly!  First, let's take a look at everyone's new coats, shall we?


In their usual order, Pink, Light Blue, Green, Teal, Yellow, and Dark Blue!  Not gonna lie, I love how these babies came out and it's tempting to keep them all XD  And yes, we're finally out of the nursery!  As you can imagine, however, it's pretty much impossible to get good pics of 6 active puppies all together, so uh, here's what I got.



































Hope you enjoyed the pics <3  I had to include that one of them all together too

Evals

Pink

Pink starts it off, of course.  Started off with handling, which includes petting the pup all over as well at picking them up and doing some basic grooming like nail trimming and brushing.  She did well with being touched, didn't even mind when I pet her toes.  Was not a fan of being picked up, however she did great with being brushed and having her nails trimmed.


After that I brought out the auto ball and both timed how long it took her to catch it as well as how many tries it takes!  We did this 3 times so I could get an average time for you
Attempt 1: 26 seconds, 2 tries
Attempt 2: 7 seconds, 1 try
Attempt 3: 21 seconds, 1 try < could've done better but she wanted to bat it around some first XD
Average: 18 seconds!  She's pretty good


Next up was the hoop!  This time I timed how long it took her to jump through the hoop!
Jump 1: 24 seconds
Jump 2: 6 seconds
Jump 3: 6 seconds
Average: 12 seconds!  Once she figured it out she was doing she was pretty eager to jump through!


Since we were already being athletic, I decided it was time to bring out the frisbee!  I timed how long it took for her to catch it
Catch 1: 38 seconds (she posed on my camera lick here!)
Catch 2: 30 seconds
Catch 3: 1 minute 47 seconds
Average: 58 seconds.  Not much of a frisbee dog, but she did try really hard!


Next up was training!  I teach everyone to do either a down>sit or just a sit using the bone treat, and also test out come and heel  Tricks are decided to be fully taught when they can do them 3 times in a row  She did really well on everything, listened pretty quickly


Last up was pose training!  She did really well, didn't take long for her to pose!  A little out of alignment but I just didn't bother moving her back when she jumped XD  But she posed quickly and wasn't too shabby for being unaligned, and then the next time I hit the spacebar she started posing again right away!  So it seems she's pretty good at it

Light Blue[/b]
Time to hang with Light Blue! <3


After a bowl of food, we started off with handling and grooming. She definitely let it be known that she didn't like her toes being pet, but did good with everywhere else. She's not a fan of being picked up though LOL, she immediately started kicking and got angry XD She didn't mind the brushing as long as it wasn't on her feet, but she was perfectly fine with getting her nails clipped!


Next up was auto ball! Her first try would've been faster but I clicked the camera and she posed! :3 This girl definitely has personality! She caught the second ball by sliding! The third one she struggled a bit with but still got the ball quickly.
Attempt 1: 27 seconds, 2 tries
Attempt 2: 10 seconds, 1 try
Attempt 3: 18 seconds, 4 tries
Average: 18 seconds


Hoop jumping came next! She was very good at it, speedy and eager to just eager to jump! Very consistent as well
Jump 1: 9 seconds
Jump 2: 9 seconds
Jump 3: 6 seconds
Average: 8 seconds


Next up is frisbee! At first she had no idea what the heck to do, just followed it around lol. Once she figured it out though things went...a little bit better XD She jumped like 5 or 6 jumps before she caught it lol, poor dear. She got better and better with each attempt so there's some hope there, but she'll probably never be a star frisbee dog XD I noticed during this though that she's very possessive of her toys. Almost all shelties have some possessiveness, however she was extra upset when I took her disc away, even with petting her beforehand lol. Very sassy XD
Catch 1: 2 minutes 25 seconds
Catch 2: 1 minute 16 seconds
Catch 3: 54 seconds
Average: 1 minute 32 seconds


After that it was time to train! I figured after all that she'd be hard to work with but she picked up sit SO quickly! No flopping in the beginning, only other trick she tried was roll over and after that she did 3 beautiful sits in a row! Her come was very nice too, she actually came all the way up to my hand pretty happily! She was eager to heel as well, following without even having a second thought about it!


She posed really quickly, took only a few clicks for her to go into a pose. She didn't throw the best heads but that will come with time and reinforcement. Looks like she'll be a pretty good poser!

Green

Starting off with grooming and handling of course. She did good with her front toes being played with, but wasn't too thrilled about the back ones. She did really well with the brushing and nail trimming, she even wanted to play with the clippers lol! Didn't enjoy being picked up though lol, as you can see!


She surprised me, her first catch was a sliding catch! From there on she did great! Had some misses but was quick to keep trying.
First catch: 11 seconds
Second catch: 6 seconds, 2 misses
Third catch: 12 seconds, 4 misses
Average: 9.5 seconds


Clearly this girl can jump! A 2 second jump is REALLY good. She's clearly happy to work and more than willing to work with her handler.
First jump: 7 seconds
Second jump: 2 seconds
Third jump: 6 seconds


She surprised me with the frisbee too, starting out she was awful but she improved incredibly quickly. Sometimes she was very interested, and other times she sort of ignored the frisbee completely lol. If her new owner so desires, I imagine with some practice she'd be pretty good!
Catch 1: 1 minute 40 seconds ; 7 attempts
Catch 2: 36 seconds ; 2 attempts
Catch 3: 11 seconds ; 1 attempt


Started off training with learning sit. Took her a couple of tries to figure out what I wanted, but once I rewarded her once she was quick to offer it again and yet again. Her come is great, her heel needs a bit of work just getting her started, but once she starts going she follows very well.


Pose training went really well, out of handler error I missed her first pose(which was very quick after I started taking trying to get a pose) but she posed again quickly after and posed very nicely. Not a rushed pose, gave a few different heads. She'll be an easy poser.

Overall green would be a great dog for anyone, she is a very easy going dog who is happy to do what her handler asks, and she could be molded for whatever type of dog you want her to be(sport, obedience, etc).

Teal

Next up is of course, Teal! She was super tolerant about all of the grooming stuff, didn't even mind her toes being messed with.
However was not a big fan of being held LOL. I was happy to see how well she handled everything else though!


At first she was really wary of the auto ball. She spent some time just watching it roll around, looking nervous. But after she caught it the first time, all that fear was gone. Only reason she didn't catch the second round quicker was because she was being goofy and fell over sideways LOL.
First catch: 40 seconds, 3 tries
Second catch: 16 seconds, 1 try
Third catch: 3 seconds, 1 try
Average: 19.5 seconds


She didn't take long at all to try out hopping through the hoop! She actually seems to enjoy it, although she'd prefer being pet
Jump 1: 14 seconds
Jump 2: 9 seconds
Jump 3: 13 seconds
Average: 12 seconds


Well first off we had to wait for a butterfly to leave the yard, because it was very distracting XD The first catch took her ages, she just ran around following it, had no idea whatsoever how to catch it lol. Eventually she figured it out. After that she was very much improved in both of her other catches. She tripped over her feet a lot, and she seems to like to make silly faces XD She's definitely a quirky one!
Catch 1: 3 minutes 15 seconds, 2 attempts
Catch 2: 48 seconds, 2 attempts
Catch 3: 14 seconds, 1 attempt


Sit to down came very easily, that is once she figured out that's what I wanted! She tried a few other tricks first, but the first time I rewarded her she knew and did it perfectly from there on! It was really fun to watch her trying to figure out what I wanted, you could just about watch her think! Heel also took her a bit to figure out. I don't think she's fully got it yet, but she's getting faster about starting to trot towards me so I think that's pretty good! She did better at come, came readily. However, one time she got distracted and stopped halfway there, and then casually trotted over LOL.


Like her siblings, it didn't take long for her to pose! And she posed pretty nicely, I think!

I rather like Teal, she's a good competing dog but also has her endearing little quirks. I'd love to see her go to a home that would naturally raise her, although she'd do well with someone who just plans on competing as well

Yellow

Yellow has always been an interesting one, so I was super excited to see how she did in this eval lol. She wasn't a big fan of having her feet touched, sometimes she didn't really fuss and other times she seemed fine about it LOL. She did fine with the rest too, but she was very energetic! Raring and ready to go! She also posed once when I clicked the camera which is great!


WOW I knew she was toy motivated but I'm very impressed! She was scared for just a moment, but then knew exactly what to do. She rocketed right to the ball, no hesitation!
Catch 1: 13 seconds, 1 try
Catch 2: 2 seconds, 1 try
Catch 3: 5 seconds, 1 try
Average: 6.5 seconds


At first she wasn't quite convinced she should jump, she just stared at it and then pawed it out the way XD Once she realized she got attention for jumping through she was very eager to jump!
Jump 1: 35 seconds
Jump 2: 5 seconds
Jump 3: 5 seconds
Average: 15 seconds


At first, like the others, she followed it around but really didn't know what to do. She was very sweet and even returned the frisbee to me. She seems to be pretty handler focused, but not so much that is distracts her from the task at hand. Frisbee is not really her thing it seems, although she is just a small pup still and could definitely improve with some practice and training.
Catch 1: 2 minutes 6 seconds, 3 tries
Catch 2: 44 seconds, 2 tries
Catch 3: 1 minute 43 seconds, 4 tries
Average: 1 minute 31 seconds


I really wasn't sure how training was going to go with her since she is deaf, but she picked things up really quickly. Didn't take long for her to start trying things and she almost immediately guessed sit. Every time after that when I asked she was flawless. When we tried heel, it took me a minute to get her attention LOL, I actually had to pet her to remind her I was there. After that she was happy to heel, and even after I rewarded her she kept following! She did really well at come too, although she tripped over her feet on her way over the first time XD


So far Yellow has been the harder to pose because she was so excited lol. She hopped out of place maybe 4-5 times before posing, but still only took maybe 3 minutes to pose her. She gave some nice heads too it's not too bad!

I have to admit, Yellow is absolutely pulling on my heart strings! There's definitely a chance I'll end up picking her, she's very quirky and different from my other shelties. If I don't keep her I'd LOVE for her to go to a naturally raising home(fairly important to me on her if I don't keep her, there's just something about her and she deserves to be played with lol) and I will definitely want a puppy from her in the future

Dark Blue

FINALLY onto the last one!!! Dark blue was pretty good about being pet and brushing. Not a huge fan of her toes being played with, but dealt with it. However the instant I picked her up she rioted lol. Even glared at me for a moment after I set her down!


At first she really struggled, but I loved it anyway because she kept trying over and over again despite constantly missing. As she kept working on it she got more precise, down to 4 seconds on the last catch! Pretty impressed, but it's hard to say if she'll keep doing this well now or not.
Catch 1: 32 seconds, 6 tries
Catch 2: 34 seconds, 4 tries
Catch 3: 4 seconds, 1 try
Average: 23 seconds


She didn't hesitate at all jumping through, and she tried to put it off a little bit the last time but still was pretty eager to jump through.
Jump 1: 11 seconds
Jump 2: 5 seconds
Jump 3: 12 seconds
Average: 9 seconds


As always, it took her a while to figure out what the heck she was supposed to do, but I was super impressed that she caught it on her first attempt! However, after there she didn't do quite so good with accuracy XD She's a bit all over the place LOL.
Catch 1: 1 minute 37 seconds, 1 try
Catch 2: 1 minute 32 seconds, 6 tries
Catch 3: 31 seconds, 2 tries
Average: 1 minute 13 seconds


It took her a few tries to guess what I wanted, but once she sat it was very nice and she was very enthusiastic about getting her treat XD After that she knew exactly was she was supposed to do and was pretty excited about it too! Her heel and come were pretty good as well as soon as she knew what I wanted!


Posing went really well, within a few clicks she posed, however she didn't give the nicest heads. She did give some usable ones though so no biggie

Other Thoughts and Notes

Honestly it was so hard to pick a pup, even though Dark Blue had me from the beginning XD Thought I'd share everyones new names so far!
Pink - Royalty's Wonderful Wonderland "Chia" ; went home with V-T
Green - Royalty's Emerald Insight "Muzo" ; Went home with Buck
Yellow - Royalty's White Noise "Gwendolen" ; went home with Shade
Dark Blue - Royalty's Little Devil "Taz" (Bucks idea lol!) ; staying with me

The other two are still waiting to be claimed by their future owners, so they don't have new names quite yet All 4 are pending registration over at PKC. Sooo there you have it! I'm planning on Taz being my new DG pet so yeah! <3

~Vanilla

[Thor]

Oh gosh sheltie poses are super adorable!! <3 <3

Also this makes me want to do this for my newly adopted pups now! ToT

[Buck]

Right? I love how much time and effort Nilla put into this litter! It was super fun to watch, and of course I'm so happy with my new pup

[Vanilla]

Awww thank you both! You're far too sweet <3  I love getting to spend so much time with them before they leave!

Sooo I'm going to be using this thread, for now anyway, mostly to post about my lil baby Taz <3

Taz: Heya Vanilla! Where'd everybody go?

Me: Your sisters all went to their new homes!

T: What do you mean? Will I ever see them again??

M: Don't worry, you'll definitely see at least two of your sisters, we can even do a playdate sometime. But for now let's hang out just us! Let's go get you some food!

T: ooooh let's go!

T: Can I have it now? Pleeeeeeaaaase?

T: Yay! My favorite!

T: Alright, what now?

M: I thought we could get dressed up!

T: Only if I get to pick my own outfit!

T: Is it ready yet???

M: Almost!

T: Hurry up!

This is what it looked like when I was finally done! I didn't even throw out anything lol. As you can imagine, stuff was bouncing around at the bottom like crazy, and the game was actually laggy, and I hadn't even added my 6 auto balls yet LOL. And yes, Taz is SUPER impatient. It took maybe 5 minutes to get all the clothing out and she came to the door like 10 times.

T: How the heck am I supposed to choose from all these?!

T: Alright, I think I'm ready! You can clean up now.

M: *rolls eyes*

Looking good 8)

T: So where are we going anyway?

M: You'll have to wait and see!

T: What is this wet stuff?

M: It's called "snow"

T: Are you sure this stuff is safe???

M: Yes, of course it is silly goose. Would I bring you here if it weren't?

T: Let's just move on...

M: Oh, come on! Just give it a try.

T: Oh, very cold!

T: Let's play!

She's so silly!

Sorry it's not a little bit longer like I wanted it to be, it's getting late and I've gotta get my butt up for class in the morning XD Hope y'all enjoyed it <3

~Vanilla

[Buck]

LOL Omg, I love the 3D glasses and the ear muff combo!!! What a cutie pie.

[💙Amy💙]

Love this Nilla! Super cute <3 I really love how your litter turned out and the pup you kept is too cute!!

[Vanilla]

Thank you both!!! I think her outfit is pretty cute too, I was totally surprised at how good the 3D glasses and earmuffs went XD

Well today I'm just doing a little post of Ecker, a Sheltie that is a mix of files who I got from salki cuz I totally just got a giant cat named Cassie from her as well so I thought they needed to meet XD Please note that this cat is a KITTEN at only age 12! XD








At first Ecker was just really confused lol, but he was polite, even when those angry eyes started showing. He sat opposite of her and started howling and at first he had angry eyes, but that went away when Cassie started swaying back and forth, enjoying his howling...and then she joined in! <3 Apparently that wore Ecker out, because he went to sleep. Cassie was less than thrilled with this lol. Ecker still seems not to know what to do with Cassie, and Cassie just seems to want his attention XD

~Vanilla

[salki]

Awwwwh yes!! Look at Ecker being a polite child like his parents! She did seem like a very attention wanting cat lol.