Performance – Polymath Shelties

Probably my favorite thing about shelties is that they are a “canine multi-function tool.” I put Polymath in the kennel name because I love a dog who is quick to learn and eager to perform a wide variety of skills in a wide variety of circumstances, both practical and competition-oriented. That’s what makes my heart sing.

My dogs have been participating in the versatility program through the Association of Working Shetland Sheepdogs since 2015. That’s more than just a brag — it’s also an important part of how I assess dogs as breeding candidates. Ideally, I’d like to have a Versatility Excellent or Versatility Championship on my own boys and at least a beginning Versatility Title on my own girls before making firm breeding plans for them. There are “many paths up the mountain” to an AWSS versatility title (unlike the more-restrictive path to an ASSA versatility title), so if I’m struggling to reach that goal with a specific dog despite a reasonable effort, that’s a cue for me to step back and re-assess before moving forward.

Because of that, we play a little bit of everything. I try to spend the first year or two of a dog’s life dabbling in all of the sports to see what they’re interested in and where their aptitudes lie. I’d like to see some herding interest from all of my keepers, but otherwise I’m pretty flexible about what games my dogs would prefer to play and what level they’d like to play them at.