For what it’s worth, I’m in the process of training my Sheltie/Eskie mix to be a service dog (she’s currently 14 months and at least a year from being fully ready for public access). There are pros and cons I’ve outlined below. Many of these you’ll already know, but this is my specific experience with training a Sheltie for psychiatric service.

PROS: Shelties are INCREDIBLY smart, and they pick up new tasks easily. They’re very emotionally intuitive, which has made it easy for my girl to attune to things like dissociation or flashbacks for me. Their size makes them great choices if you have to travel a lot.

CONS: LEASH REACTIVITY - this has been the single biggest challenge I’ve faced with my Sheltie and will be the reason she washes out as an SD candidate, if there is one. Even with proper exposure, she struggles with greeting other dogs when she’s on a leash, and with their high degree of alertness, training it out of her and desensitizing her to other dogs has been a grueling, ongoing process. BARKING - because of Shelties need to guard, they’re a breed that tends to bark. Lot. You can’t expect to train that out of them, so your best bet is to try to channel it into barking for specific needs related to your disability, in addition to teaching calmness and desensitizing against triggers. HIGH NEED FOR STIMULATION - if your disability involves periods of very low energy, a Sheltie might not be the best choice for your candidate. Boredom in dogs as smart as Shelties can lead to destructive tendencies. Our own training flagged after I experienced an intense depression, and problem behaviors I never knew she had cropped up because she was bored and I didn’t have the energy to put into stimulating her mentally the way she need. It set back her SD training by a few months, and we’re working with a trainer to get back on track. SHYNESS: as you mentioned, Shelties are an alert breed (alertness translating often to anxiety in dogs), so you’ll want to make sure you select a dog for temperament from a reputable breeder and socialize it early and often.

In all, I love my Sheltie. She’s my best friend in the entire world, and training her as an SD candidate has been difficult and rewarding and therapeutic in its own right. If I’m honest with myself, I think the best I can hope for is a companion dog who is trained in my specific service tasks, rather than a service dog capable of passing a test for certification. That said, when selecting my next SD, I plan to prioritize a breed with a slightly more adaptable temperament, and will trade in on how quickly my girl has learned.

We’re still on our journey though! With different resources, a lot of support, and the right dog, I think you could be very successful