Shelties are nice dog's, it was the first dog I ever had and she was called Lassie, had her for 12 years, the parents got here when I was five.
I have now German Shepherd dogs. The last pair got to the ripe old age of 12 (Joe) and 15 (Dax) and we have 2 now who are both 6 years old (Archie and Freddie). They are good around kids and good family pets. We also have five cats in the family - Tiberius, Marvel (Mab's who has a curly tail), Tigger, Sunny, Leon and Matilda (2 Maine Coon cats) plus one we are looking after whom I have named today as Cas. Thankfully the wife works at the vets so costs are not as high when they have had operations and treatment plus our insurance on em all is really good.