firstjois wrote:

Prometheus wrote:
On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 07:49:08 GMT, Rick Cook

[snip]
In fact I am told that at least some shelties have
a tendency to nip (bite) at the heels of running children and it
has to be trained out of them.

Not concerned in this case. I've seen plenty of the herding instinct
in my dog, and it's all been benign. It's pretty funny to watch him
herding the cat around the house! He also does it with small
children, but only with gentle pushes from his muzzle.

My Sheltie herds only at mealtime - his mealtime and then I'm the sheep.
His previous owners taught him to get a ball when he wants to play and he
still does this with me, ditto for any child even looks his way. When I
have a group of people here at least one ball per person will be someplace
on the floor. No one taught him to herd the balls up and put them away.

Josie

Have you ever seen a sheltie at a kid's soccer game? Hilarous.

--RC