Instinctively, an Australian Kelpie puppy loves to seek approval from its owner. Having been originally bred as a herding dog, the Kelpie never lost its hard work ethic and, today, with the right master, can grow to be very obedient pups. However, if you don’t train them well, they can grow disobedient and take to herding everything in sight!
If you’ve decided to add an Australian Kelpie puppy to your family, you’re going to have to keep their herding instincts somewhat under control. But what does Australian Kelpie training take, and when should you start? Read on as we demystify every relevant aspect of Australian Kelpie training.
If you want to establish any dog as your family pet, you’re going to want to train them accordingly. This is especially true of former working dogs such as the Kelpie. The Kelpie dog arguably needs more training than other breeds, seen as they still have a strong instinct to herd.
If added to a household with small children or other pets (even other dogs), a Kelpie puppy will take to nipping them to round them up, as they would with livestock. This is an inherent characteristic of the Kelpie, which can’t be totally stamped out of them, but it can be curbed through obedience training.
Obedience training needs to start pretty much as soon as your Kelpie arrives home – at around 4-5 weeks of age. A Kelpie’s early experiences decide how quickly you can control the herding instinct. Plenty of socialisation with the other members of their family and lightly telling them off for nipping should keep things manageable.
Kelpies are both eager to please and highly intelligent, making them the perfect match for those with little prior experience training dogs. They have good recall capabilities and can learn command words and patterns easily. All they need is a steady owner who can keep things consistent and provide them with plenty of new training exercises.
Besides obedience, crate, and toilet training, your dogs’ training sessions could also involve swimming, obstacle courses, herding, fetch, and retrieving tasks. Through practice, you could also turn this working dog into a hiking dog. Although highly territorial, Kelpies can develop a keen sense of adventure and like accompanying their family on lengthy hikes and hill walks.
In terms of dog sports, Kelpies love playing fetch and also enjoy finding hidden treats. Kelpies take to the energy of younger members of the family and can play with kids at length. They enjoy mentally stimulating tasks but cannot be overstimulated. It’s important not to overwhelm your Australian Kelpie puppy (or adult dog) with tasks and training sessions.
As with all dog breeds and other pets, it’s important to get your Australian Kelpie house trained – specifically, toilet trained -as soon as possible. You most likely want to keep accident clean-ups to a minimum!
As a standard rule, it’s best to toilet train your Kelpie between the ages of 8 and 10 weeks; this is generally when people bring their pups home. However, many people start before this. The sooner you toilet train, the better!
You’re introducing your Kelpie to a whole new world when they arrive at their forever home, so it’s best to permit them only to form good habits rather than bad ones. For that reason, it’s best to start toilet training your Kelpie puppy as soon as you bring them home.
You can’t expect a Kelpie puppy to feel comfortable as soon as they enter your home. You need to give them a few days to understand the layout of the house. During this time, it’s important to keep an eye out for signs that they need the toilet and take them outside as required.
Whenever your Kelpie puppy exhibits signs of needing the toilet (or whenever they wake up and after meal times), lift them out into the garden. Choose an area of your garden that you don’t mind your Kelpie turning into its regular toilet spot, and place your Kelpie down in the area selected.
Familiarity is key when it comes to toilet training, and you should aim to take your pup to the same area of the garden each time that they need to toilet.
After a few days of using the same spot in the garden, it will be firmly established in your Kelpie’s head as the place they need to go whenever they need to. Hopefully, your Kelpie should start going to the door that leads to the garden whenever they need it. They may even start barking to get you to open the door.
Kelpies respond particularly well to commands, so establishing a command word for ‘toilet’ should not be hard. This will come in useful whenever you have to leave the house and want your Kelpie to use the toilet before you go.
Crate training shouldn’t be seen as a cruel thing. Animals naturally burrow themselves away and have an established den in the wild where they can retreat and feel safe. A crate has similar qualities to a Kelpie due partially to their wild dingo ancestry.
Besides it providing a safe space for your Kelpie, crate training also gives you better control over your pup.
Like toilet training, it’s better to start crate training from a young age rather than an adult dog. A lot of Kelpie owners start around the 8-week mark.
Crate training an Australian Kelpie isn’t a difficult thing to do. All you need to do is establish the crate as the Kelpie’s safe space by filling it with bedding and toys that they’re familiar with. By placing the Kelpie in from a young age, they’ll immediately regard it as their safe space.
It would also be a good idea to set up a command word, such as ‘basket’, to get the dog to go in when you need them to.
You can include a few tricks into training, including agility and obstacle course stunts. Kelpies can also easily be taught how to play dead, roll over, fetch, shake hands, and even stand on their hind legs!
If you don’t give them the same level of attention, training, and mental stimulation each day, these pups will grow destructive.
Positive reinforcement works best for all dog breeds when it comes to dog training.
To allow your Australian Kelpie to grow into a healthy adult dog, you should avoid over-using treats as praise.
Although the Australian Kelpie works well with commands, clicker training could be used if necessary.
Kelpies are great pups to train, both for the dog and the owner. You can derive a lot of satisfaction from dog training these eager-to-please pups. By establishing mutual respect through training, you’re sure to enjoy a long, loving relationship with your Australian Kelpie dog.
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