My hubby and I have talked often about getting another
Blue Merle Sheltie – we had one about 10 years ago, and he was a wonderful dog. He was very smart – and dorky – so he fit into our family really well. Unfortunately, I had purchased him at a pet store and didn’t know his ‘heritage’…if you’re not careful you can get one that might eventually have some ‘issues’, and ours unfortunately had epilepsy. We were able to control his epilepsy with ‘doggie downers’, we had to make sure that we gave him a dose before a thunderstorm because the booming of the thunder seemed to be the ‘trigger’ of his seizures. At the time we lived in a townhouse, and had the misfortune of living next door to a guy who liked to have boisterous parties and had a huge sound system set up in the basement of his townhouse.
One weekend we were out visiting some friends and didn’t get home until about 3:00 a.m., only to discover a full-blown party going on next door with lots of noise and loud music. Since we weren’t anticipating any thunderstorms, we hadn’t given our dog any doggie downers before we left that evening, and when we returned home, he was in the middle of a seizure. It was heartbreaking, he would come out of it and run into things because his vision was impaired immediately after a seizure. And when he was finally calmed down, he would go right into another seizure. My hubby raced him to the emergency vet, who kept him overnight to take care of him, but no matter what kind of medication they tried, he would still wake up after a time and go right back into another seizure. We had to make the heart wrenching decision to have him put to sleep.
Our Blue Merle Sheltie in the background, Original Wheaten Terrier in the foreground (our Wheaten Terrier passed away a few years ago when he was almost 14 years old)
Our original Blue Merle Sheltie with our Persian
Our Blue Merle Sheltie was always guarding our Little Princess
Fast forward 5-1/2 years later, and we live in a big old house with a great backyard. We have one dog, a 2 year old (another
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier) who is King of his castle, but loves other dogs (our neighbor’s dogs come over to ‘play’ with him almost on a daily basis!). Having gone through the stress of having a dog who had seizures, while I liked the idea of getting another Sheltie (specifically a Blue Merle one), I was concerned that we would be facing the same hardships as we did with our old one. However, my hubby and I have done extensive research on the breed, and found a
Sheltie Breeder who has ‘proven’ dogs and is highly recommended…so we’re going to set aside our fears and get a puppy.
The only thing I’m not looking forward to is the fact that we’ll be getting him in January, and typically January through March is when Mother Nature decides to deliver her worst weather for us – be it cold rain or snow. So it’s going to be an interesting prospect house breaking the new puppy during the cold winter months – but he’s going to melt our hearts and then some, so it’ll be worth all the midnight excursions into the back yard with him! Am I ready for a new puppy? Emotionally and Physically, yes. Mentally? Not so sure…but I’m sure once I cuddle him my mental status will resolve itself! π
Here are pictures the breeder sent to us of the actual puppy we will be picking up towards the end of January (when he’s at 8 weeks – in these pictures he’s only 2 days old):
The more I think about it, and the more I look at his pictures, I’m really excited to be adding him to our family! Our Little Princess is impatient, she doesn’t understand the concept that the puppy needs to be 8 weeks old before he can move into our house away from his mommy. She’s already coming up with some unique names for him, we’ll decide that when we see him in person. Something to look forward to after the holidays! π
Oh, this is so wonderful, Stacy! Your original Sheltie was beautiful! I’m sure the next one will be as well. I’m so glad to see that you have done your research and picked a reputable breeder. The new baby is a blue cutie, that’s for sure! π Good luck!
Thank you, Kendra! It was so hard to have our original little guy put to sleep, but he was suffering, poor thing! The only way I would even think about getting another one (and I have definitely wanted to get another one) was to do our homework and really be sure that we wanted to take a chance again. I’m so happy we located a great breeder that has adopted out so many wonderful puppies, so we’re really excited to have one in our home again. And like you said – the baby sure is a cutie, so he’ll probably be just as beautiful as our original – and definitely loved just as much! π
Oh–he’s so adorable. I want a puppy for my daughter. I believe they should be part of the family and my hubby feels they belong ONLY outside. I’m hoping that I can convince him to have a cute small dog inside and a big protector outside. That should be a good compromise.
Davida
He’s so cute π wishing you all the luck with the new puppy, the other one was so cute too π
your new little puppy is such a sweetie. I’m sure everything will be fine, especially since you take such good care of your other furry friends too β₯
Awwww, sweet puppies. How lucky for you that you’re getting a new addition to the family. Currently we have 2 wonderful Golden Retrievers. We just love them to death. I miss the puppy years. Thanks for sharing.
attygnorris: I agree, puppies should be a part of the family – we always joke that our Wheaten Terrier, Elvis, is our daughters ‘brother’, and that the new puppy will be a new brother…heh, heh! I have a friend whose parents were the same way your hubby is – dogs ‘belong’ outside. So when she was growing up, while they had a dog, she didn’t really ‘connect’ with him because he wasn’t allowed to be involved in their immediate family. Poor dog! Now that she’s married and has a house of her own, she has an ‘inside dog’ that her kids absolutely love – she comments that it’s a lot different than she thought it would be, meaning that it wasn’t so bad having a dog in the house! LOL!! If you have friends who have indoor dogs, maybe your hubby seeing them not trashing the house and being irresistible as a pet will change his way of thinking…y’all are welcome to come to our house and see that it is possible to cohabitate with a dog and not have the house smell or look like a doghouse! (grin!!)
Firefly: Thanks a bunch! He does look like a little cutie – and our original one was so much fun as a puppy (and an adult), so I’m really looking forward to picking him up! π My daughter is just a bit bummed that we have to wait a whole month after Christmas, though – she keeps saying she can’t wait that long…LOL!
Duni: Aww, thanks, Duni! Some people think we’re nuts that we spoil our furry friends, but they deserve it! π
Michelle: Golden Retrievers? Great dogs! We thought about getting one (or two) of those after our Wheaten Terrier crossed over, but then we decided we wanted another Wheaten again since we had such a wonderful experience with the original one. We have friends that have a golden retriever, and we love visiting them and playing with their dog! LOL! There’s just something about baby puppies and baby kittens that make your heart melt, isn’t there? I’ll be sure to post some pictures of the new addition in late January when we finally get to hold him and cuddle him… π
I understand her completely I wouldn’t be able to wait LOL Oh thanks for adding my button I added yours too on my sidebar π
How’s the decorating going (I was so lazy last night still didn’t do anything)
Firefly: She is quite excited to decorate – I don’t blame her, I’m excited too, just not as motivated as I have been for some reason! I’m pretty sure it’s from slowly coming back from the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had, but each day I get more and more energy, so there’s a light at the end of the tunnel! Hopefully you have a light at the end of the tunnel with your back, you poor thing!
Thanks for putting my button on your blog – I had to add yours to mine, ‘cuz I like visiting your site every day, and it made for an easy shortcut for me…(snicker!) That, and that way other people can ‘find’ you, too! (heh, heh!)
Decorating will (hopefully) be an actual happening thing tomorrow…better be, I now have a bunch of boxes stacked in my living room taking up space. It’ll drive me bonkers to have them sitting there, so I’ll be doing something about it, pronto! π Maybe you and I will get finished with decorating at the same time – at least sometime before Christmas, eh? (grin!!!)
How things are looking up I’m sure sometimes before Christmas is right. I’m surrounded right now with all of the decorations spread all over the living room (I’m taking a brake HAHAHAHA) my back is better thanks to the killer pills LOL Glad your sinuses are better!
I love your blog and button does make it easier to get to you π
Hope your evening is going well (LOL it’s 12:14 here, and as you can see I’m a night owl LOL)
Your dogs are so pretty, how is the Wheaton with the kids (the 2-legged variety kids, that is)? I’ve met some pretty bad tempered Wheatons where kids are concerned, and I’ve met some really sweet ones, hard to tell with them sometimes, and being a groomer, I’m always curious about things like that (or is it nosy? No, I like curious better.sHA)
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HAHAHA!s I just saw this comment today, Firefly – sorry, I wasn’t ignoring you, I’ve been having issues with my comment sections! π
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Thanks for the compliment – I love being able to take that shortcut over to your site daily with your button on my blog, too!s Love your blog as well! π
LOL Angie!s Just remember – Curiosity Killed the Cat, BUT Satisfaction Brought Him Back! π
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So far the two Wheaten’s I’ve had have been WONDERFUL with kids.s My first Wheaten was a major sweetie – we were at a lake with some friends, and one friend had a newborn with them.s My Wheaten was running around being chased by 5 year old twins, and when he saw the newborn in the baby carrier, he ran over to check it out…but when he got about 5 feet from the baby carrier, he suddenly flattened on his belly and crawled ever so slowly over there…as if he instinctively knew that if he just barged over there he’d scare the baby.s He put his nose close, and the baby cooed at him and grabbed the fur on his snout, but all he did was hold himself really still (with a look in his eye of ‘help me!’) until the baby released his grip.s Everyone was amazed at how great he was not only playing with the twins (who were chasing him in and out of the edge of the water, laughing hysterically) but with how he was with the baby, too.s I miss him!
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Our newest Wheaten is also absolutely wonderful with kids – if our Little Princess gets hold of his leash, she’ll put it on him and ‘walk the dog’ all over the house.s He follows her everywhere she goes (mostly because he’s hoping she’ll drop some yummy food for him…heh, heh!) but he’s very protective of her.s When she goes out to play in the backyard, he’s right there with her, keeping an eye on her.s And when my hubby is playing with her, if our Wheaten thinks he’s being too loud or too rough, he’ll jump on him to get him to stop.s He always wants to cuddle with her in her bed, but he’s too big – he ends up hogging the bed, so he sleeps on a blanket next to the bed instead (after he gets his nightly cuddle time, that is! π )
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From what I understand the Wheaten breed is supposed to be ‘family friendly’, and those that I have seen have been absolutely charming to kids and adults.s I do think, though, that a Wheaten, being as head strong as they are, can be aggressive if that’s how they are raised/treated/trained.s They are very smart dogs. π