HOW I GOT A SHELTIE 
BY KAY PRESTON

Hi I thought I would set down and tell how I came to own a Sheltie. 
I have had many dogs. Some were purebred others were not. 
I have had breeds like, Cocker Spaniels, Brittney Spaniels, 
German Shepherds, Chihuahua and Pomeranian. 
My last two dogs before getting Star Chaser 
was a wonderful Chihuahua named Charmin 
and a beautiful little Pomeranian called Corky. 
Corky live to be 15 years old and Charmin lived to be 17 years. 
I loved these dogs so much. They did everything with me..We were very close. 
I was heart broken when I first lost Corky of heart failure and old age. 
Then almost 2 years later I lost Charmin. Each friend was buried in my front yard. 
I think of them often. I did not go out a get a new puppy for almost 1 ½ years later. 
I had often looked at the breeds in the AKC book and read about many of them. 
I always came back to a couple of choices. One of which was the Shetland Sheepdog. 
My husband became tired of hearing me talk of another dog over 
and over during these many months. He and I had looked at many of the breeds together. 
One afternoon he came home and he said it is time for us to get another puppy. 
We both agreed on the Shetland Sheepdog. This was a favorite because of its size 
and it wonderful coat. I had always wanted a collie growing up and this little fellow 
looked a lot like one and it was compact...
Well we visited a breeder here in our town and was shown 2 puppies both females. 
They were very small but just not what I had in mind. 
So we searched the news papers until I found a breeder about 45 miles from us. 
I liked this breeder because both the Mother and father were with the owner and 
I could meet them and view the puppies in their home. 
I found that the family had 3 children and that the parents were very friendly 
and had good bloodlines. But most of all that they were in a home that loved these dogs 
and they were very well cared for. This was a very good setting for a new puppy 
just starting out.
So we started looking at the puppies and one little guy just came over and set beside me 
and looked up with his wonderful bright eyes. He was so cute. 
Yet another one stood off and looked at us with wonder. This was a sable female. 
Now I wanted to get closer to her but she was cautious. She was not afraid or shy, 
but she watched us without coming over to us. 
We continued to look at each puppy and finally my husband and 
I decided it would be this little female that the children had named Star. 
I gave the breeder the money and went home with a very cute puppy named Star. 
Later when I registered her I named her Star Chaser Skyrocket Sport after her Father 
and I kept the name Star. Because the little girl had named her and I wanted her first name 
to stick with her.
I started training this puppy after a week or so with us. 
It was soon apparent that this puppy was special. 
I had never trained a puppy that was any smarter than this little girl. 
She wanted to please me so much and she always caught on quickly. 
Sometimes I only had to spend 5 minutes on a command 
and she would have it down without any problems. 
She never forgot any of these. I would add a new command every couple of days 
and she learned so fast. I thought what am I doing here she could be teaching me. 
We quickly grew to be best friends. I have never felt such love and devotion from a dog before. 
This was the best chose I could ever made.....

By Kay Preston