Australian Shepherd Dog - Everything You Want to Know

The idea of bringing home a puppy will surely be one exciting event for the entire family.  However, you need to make sure that the pup does not get too frightened the moment it steps inside your house.  Preparing your house for your new mini Australian Shepherd puppies includes providing them with a new home that will make them feel relaxed and secure.

Before you set a date on when to bring the mini Aussie puppy home, there are some house preparations that you will need to give details to.  The very first thing that you will need to do is to look at all the things inside your house and look at it like you are the puppy.  While looking at all the things inside the house, ask yourself how would you react when you would see those things if you were a puppy.

If there should be anything inside your house which may be in danger from being ripped off by a mini Australian Shepherd puppy, try to move it somewhere out of the pups reach.  You do not have to worry of forever keeping your things out of your puppy’s reach, because as soon as your mini Aussie knows what his place in your household is, you can slowly return the things that you kept away from him into its proper places.

One important thing that you need to prepare for your pup is a place for it to sleep.  Providing your pup with a crate is advisable.  A crate should be not too big so that it is enough for him to stand up and turn around.  A crate that may be larger than his size is not advisable because the mini Aussie may use a portion of it for sleeping and another portion for leaving his pee and poo.  It should also be placed a place where he can see the entire family together.  That way he does not feel isolated.

Be prepared for constant whining and barking the moment you take home your mini Australian Shepherd puppies.  It is like having a new baby in the family who may constantly cry all night through.  You will need to bear with it for the first few weeks or even months as the pup adjusts to its new environment.  The most important thing is for you as the owner to make it feel secure in its new home, to make the adjustment period easy.

Would you be interested to have your Mini Australian Shepherd get basic dog training?  Well, you can provide it to your mini Aussie or get a professional dog trainer to do it for you.  You must remember that since this is a professional trainer, it may cost you quite a lot to hire their services and there is a need for you to bring your dog to class during training.

After thinking it out and taking considerations, you may just decide to do the training yourself, especially if you have the time to do it.  Should you decide to do it by yourself, please get a little training first on how to do it.  You will need to learn even just the basic training commands to teach to your dog.

The three basic commands which you should teach your dog includes: sit, come and stay.  Remember that a mini Aussie is a highly intelligent dog so it would be practically easy to train him.  But you need to remember that he is still a dog, and just like other dogs, he gets motivated when he sees the possibility of getting a treat after obeying a command.

In order to succeed in training, select a place in your house where your dog does not get distracted.  It would help if it is just you and your dog alone during the training.  Distractions can cause delays in training.

To teach a mini Aussie to sit, hold a treat in your hand while you say the word “sit” repeatedly.  When you do this, your dog looks up at the treat in your hand and when he gets frustrated not being able to reach it, he just sits down on his own.  If he does not do this, try to push his rear slowly until he sits.  The moment he gets down on his butt, praise him and give him the treat as his reward.  When your mini Aussie constantly hears the word “sit”, it will associate it in getting praised when sitting.

Training your mini Aussie to “stay” may be the most challenging command that you will teach him.  What you need to do is let your dog sit first then slowly move away from him while you repeatedly tell him to “stay”.  Always look at your dog in the eye, and when your dog should stand up, say “no” then make him sit and say “stay” again.  Just be patient when teaching this to your mini Aussie.

After your dog has learned the command stay, you can now teach your mini Aussie the command “come”.  Say “come” in a very convincing and lovely manner while patting your knee.  When your mini Aussie responds, give him a treat.

Always remember when teaching your mini Australian Shepherd these commands, never punish if it does not obey the commands.  Using praise will assure you a more positive response.