The Dogs of My Life: Are you Sydney?

Now that I am up to date with all the Dogs of My Life posts I can get down to sharing with you my current dog’s story. Sydney is a miniature Shetland Sheepdog we got in October of 2015. This is the first dog we have ever had that is 100% inside. Well, what I mean is she sleeps inside. If I am outside she wants to go too.

In this post I want to share with you the process of finding Sydney. After the experiences we have had where we predominantly chose a canine with Labrador Retriever background we chose to change breeds with hopes of finding one that would be around longer. That is another reason to allow her to sleep indoors all the time.

When I began to research breeds I found that Shetland Sheepdogs, or Shelties have a long life expectancy. But they also can carry a hefty price tag. On the order of several hundred dollars. You know how the internet it, you can find anything you desire if price is no object. Well, in my house, price is always an object. It may be a larger or smaller one depending on the need at the time, but it is always a consideration.

Thankfully we found a local breeder less than five miles from our home. To top that I already knew the breeders from other interactions. Our first visit to see Sydney and her siblings was in August of 2015. It is not easy to pick out the puppy you want at this age, but I think we made the best choice.

Then about a week before we got to bring her home for good the breeder brought her by for what my 17 year old daughter called a “puppy play date. Even then at six weeks old she was tiny.