An Australian Shepherd is originally from the herding breed. Over the years they have been used as guard dogs or watchdogs by the shepherds. They are naturally trained to look after a flock or cattle. They are excellent with protection and security.
Features:
- Australian Shepherds are blessed with alert senses. They have the ability to sense any potential threat or danger ahead and alert their owners.
- Australian Shepherds are extremely protective of their family. They can even risk their own lives to save their owner and family members.
- Australian Shepherds are known for their loyalty. They will never betray their owner’s trust or go against the instructions.
- Australian Shepherds are very intelligent dogs. They are smart and easy to train. They are very quick in learning the commands and obeying instructions.
An Australian shepherd is a mildly aggressive dog since they are always protective of their owner. They will never become too aggressive unless they have a reason to act like that.
Some common reasons for their aggressiveness might be the following:
- They have sensed danger, and they want to alert their owner about it.
- There is something or some item which is bothering them, i.e., they are getting annoyed or irritated with its presence. This irritation leads to aggressive behavior.
- They are suffering from a health condition which you might not have noticed yet. Severe deterioration in health can invoke aggressiveness in the dogs.
- There is some mental health issue. Insanity is common in dogs. There might be some past incident which had a profound impact on your dog and caused it trauma. You can never understand when a past trauma can resurface and cause mental illness.
(Fun Fact: sometimes Australian shepherds can behave aggressively to grab their owner’s attention!)
It is advised that you take your dog to the veterinary doctor at the earliest. Any sign of extreme aggressiveness should not be ignored.
Training
The aggressiveness in an Australian Shepherd can be suppressed with proper training. Trainers always suggest that you bring in your Australian Shepherd puppy as soon as it starts understanding, i.e., at the age of three months. Training them from an early age helps in calming their temper and controlling their aggressiveness.
Australian shepherds are otherwise family-friendly dogs. They just need love and care, and lots of playtime.
Tip: For some cool Boxer print products, check our unique Australian Shepherd collection.
Refrences:
Image courtesy:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Miniature_Australian_Shepherd_blue_merle.jpg
