John and Mary Rueckert's Heart O'Gold Shetland Sheepdogs


			NOTICE - If you start to read this page, please read the entire page! To do otherwise could jeopardize your dog's safety! A few years back while one of our dogs was visiting breeder Tina Komorek of Southwinds Shelties in Raleigh, NC, we discovered a unique dog sport and Sheltie Tetherball was born. We found that our sable line almost across the board learned to play in minutes. In fact, they become almost fanatical about it. They jump up in the air and 'punch' the ball with their nose forcing it to wrap around the pole in one direction. As if they understand the object of the game, once it wraps around so far, they reverse direction and 'punch' it back the other way. They get so excited and engrossed that they start to foam at the mouth from exertion and would literally play until they dropped from exhaustion if we let them. Our AOAC's and Tina's dogs have not shown an interest in pursuing the sport. CAUTION - before trying this with your dogs, please read the rules of Sheltie Tetherball below: Rule 1 - Keep the ball tied high enough that the cord can not get wrapped around a dog's neck at jump height. This is about 30" for Shelties and would be higher, of course, for bigger dogs. Rule 2 - Limit the number of dogs playing at any given time to 2 or 3. Any more than this is tough to supervise and results in fights. Rule 3 - Limit each game to no more than a couple minutes. The dogs get extremely excited and you can not believe how exhausted they get. Rule 4 - Do not play in very hot weather. Dogs have a limited ability to dissipate body heat. This game involves extreme exertion and can be dangerous in the hot weather. If the weather is too hot to leave your dog in the car, then it is too hot to play this game. Rule 5 - Never leave the dogs unattended with the tetherball in place. To do this is to ask for disaster. The game is fun and safe when supervised, but like many things is dangerous when ignored. Would you let your toddler alone near a swimming pool? Don't leave your dogs alone with this! Rule 6 - When the game is done, completely remove the tetherball and apparatus from the dog area. Just hanging the ball out of reach doesn't work. Once they get a taste of this game they won't give up. If they see the ball hanging there they jump against the pole until the ball comes loose. As with rule 4, if this happens unsupervised, it can be dangerous. Always completely remove the ball and apparatus from the dog area. We thought this would be of unique interest to most dog enthusiasts. Our dogs have their own tetherball installed in the back yard. Another exclusive of the Sheltie Spa! We can't stress it enough - if you try this follow the rules!!!
			Heart O' Gold Nugget - "If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise." - Author Unknown · Home · Our Dogs · Puppies · Facilities · Philosophies · Stories & Poems · · Friends & Pets · Sheltie Tetherball · The Grapevine · Seasonal · · Rescue · Sheltie Links · Awards · Contact Us · Site Map · © 1999 - 2001 by John E. Rueckert - All Rights Reserved