I just realized that in the 1st boss level Toasty, if you stand directly beside one of the Sheperd enemies they will swipe at you but can't hit you. They even do their little dance like when they hit you.
I gotta try that. One thing I did notice is the shepherds in Stone Hill make Spyro cringe after charging while the Toasty ones can just be charged through.
Speaking of charging the shepards...Is it normal for butterflies to pop out of defeated enemies? After collecting all of the gems in Toasty I went back and charged a shepard and it released a butterfly.