Some fellow sheltie breeders and I would like to take a fresh look at sheltie growth patterns. The growth charts we have, while helpful, are older and the trends with respect to several variables have changed.

My husband, who has a masters degree in biostatistics, has offered to help take a fresh look at more recent growth patterns and chart a new growth chart to compare it to the ones we are using now. He has also started work on a computer program where you can input a pups age and height and print a chart of the pups growth as the puppy grows. 

In order to do this we need data- as much data on puppy growth rates as possible. I am hoping folks receiving this e-mail might have great data to share with us so that we can plot it, do a regression and come up with a new chart to look at. The thinking is this:

Have two charts for pups who grew up "in size"- one chart for sables and another for AOAC's. We might also combine the two and take a look at the breed in general to see if there are differences and where the differences are.

Have one chart for pups who went oversize and take a look  at the growth patterns of the oversized pups and the differences between them and their "in size" counterparts.

If there is enough data on weight  we would like to chart weights of the young pups and see the predictive  value of the weight regression.

Please let me know if you have some data you might be able to share. If you can copy and mail litter records, or just e-mail the pups age, height and color- we can use that to start. The more data we get the better and if this is to be accurate we will need wide spread participation. Please let me know if you are interested in helping. Data can be e-mailed to us at: sheltieranch@aol.com

or sent through the mail to: 8340 west drive, Wesley chapel, fl 33544.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANY SHELTIE BREEDERS YOU KNOW!!!!

 

Thanks!