Sheltie Playdate

Yesterday Epic and I went out to meet up with our favorite Sheltie friends, Gio and Romeo from Life is Better with Sheltie Hair. Epic is currently a puppy learning sponge, so who better to hang out with than two well-behaved Shelties?

Epic was Epic, and was a little unsure at first. Okay, well he was a little unsure the whole time. However, he did try and join in the Sheltie games and chased a few balls, chased a few Shelties, and scored a few mouthfuls of Sheltie hair (sorry Romeo!). Epic also fell deeply in love with Gio. Granted, Gio didn't want anything to do with him... he was all "la la la, I don't see a puppy, nope, no puppies over here". Epic tried all his tricks -he followed Gio, he sat beside Gio, he bit Gio...

But Gio could not be swayed by Epic's obvious admiration.

Romeo wasn't so sure about Epic as he does not have any fluff, and fluff-less creatures cannot be trusted. Well, that, and Epic decided to bite Romeo's tongue. I'm sure that was endearing.

He may not have been very playful, but he sure did come away from it tired and happy. Thanks Shelties and Sheltie Mom! Epic needs all the friends he can get!

My goal (hope) is to socialize the little guy as much as possible now, while he's young, to curb some of the breed snarkiness in adulthood. I see a lot of Jacks at flyball tournaments, and I watch as many of them try to nail their teammates as they pass by. I don't like it. Obviously not every Jack does this... but mine did. When Ben began flyball he took issue with a few of this teammates and he was known to give them the eye as they passed, or try to nip them. I don't believe it was about the actual dog coming back, but rather his attempt to score a ball. That issue lasted for only a few months until the boy began to REALLY understand the game, and he has been a perfect gentleman ever since. However, this less-than-kind behaviour caused me a lot of grief at the time and it is an issue that I still am occasionally questioned on when teams are being formed. He's fine! Really! I firmly believe in that boy. Anyway, I'd just like to make sure that Epic has the best start I can give him, and that I'll always be able to predict how he'll react to other dogs. It's important to me.