Temperament
The Shetland Sheepdog is an outstanding companion dog and is intensely loyal. It is lively, intelligent, trainable, and willing to please and obey. Shelties are loving, loyal, and affectionate with their family, but will bark at strangers and ours tends to jump with excitement at someone they do not know. For this reason I socialize my Shelties extensively. Some can be shy but mine usually faults to the side of being too friendly. They are excellent family pets and they love children, especially if they are raised with them from an early age. The intelligent Sheltie can be trained to be an excellent watch dog, and not yappy, giving two or three barks to let us know a visitor has arrived. Mine would prefer to live in the house and sleep at my feet but I have them trained to stay on the back porch.
Intelligence
Shelties have a high level of intelligence. According to Dr. Stanley Coren, an expert on animal intelligence, the Shetland Sheepdog is one of the brightest dogs, ranking 6th out of 132 breeds tested. His research found that an average Sheltie could understand a new command in less than 5 repetitions and would obey a command the first time it was given 95% of the time or better.
Activeness
The herding instinct is still strong in many Shelties. They love to chase things, including squirrels, chickens, and children. When people are milling around the yard, Shelties sometimes try to "herd" the people into a group by running around, barking, and nipping at heels. This tendency appears most when children run around the yard in a group. Shelties love to run in wide-open areas. Shelties love to play.