Tanya's Story

Tanya was my first Sheltie. She was purchased in 1970 and spent the first four years of her life being carried around. She was 12 1/2" tall which made it pretty easy to do. Despite her small size she was absolutely fearless and very, very smart. After being introduced to dog shows and obedience training in 1974, I put a CD and CDX on Tanya. She learned quickly but just never took a liking to it - possibly being carried around and being thoroughly spoiled had something to do with it. Since I used to play a game with her where I would hide her toys (yeah, I'm a rotten person) she could do articles from the first try, but after a short period of training her in Utility I gave in and retired her, since I had a new puppy to train and she LOVED obedience. Tanya was very cute and had an irresistable personality - even sworn dog haters liked her - but it didn't take me long to realise that if I wanted to show in conformation, besides being undersized with huge prick ears (she resembled a little fox more than a Sheltie), she was far from the ideal Sheltie in the looks department. However she was my introduction to the breed and I have been 100% dedicated it it ever since.