"Hi Kristi,

I've been breeding Shelties for about 21 years. We are from England and my mum bred Collies (Rough) and Shelties as far back as 1948.
There is no proof that they are related to the Border Collie or the Welsh Collie.
Very early standard for the Sheltie stated that they should resemble the Highland Collie in miniature.
This has led to people wrongly referring to Shelties as "Miniature Collies".
When the first Sheltie Club was formed they named the breed the "Shetland Collie".
The Collie Club objected to this so the name was changed to the Shetland Sheepdog.
As with most breeds, the appearance of the dogs changed over the years and in fact have changed even in fairly recent years if you compare the American lines with the original British lines.
Understandably, an American may look at an English line and have the opinion that it is not a good example of the breed "as they know it" and vice verca.
Also in the conformation ring, it depends whether the judge prefers the American type or the English type.
The only Sheltie breed is simply known as the "Shetland Sheepdog".
A popular theory of their origin is that they started as a cross between the Highland Collie (Lassie dogs) and the Yakki dogs who came to the Shetland Isles on fishing trawlers from Iceland and Norway but this was never proven.
There are many books written about their history.
I'm naughty and up late tonight. Must go get some sleep but when I have time I'll post about the books and websites where you can read about the history Shelties.
Also, there are obviously photos of Shelties that are not good examples of 'show quality' conformation wise but if like me, you 'work' these dogs either in herding or obedience etc, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
My priority is temperament and working ability, not whether they have all the ticks in the box for the perfect show dog ;-)))))
Hope this helps. "