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Guide To Australian Shepherd Training & Care

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Australian Shepherd Tricks

by Anton

What tricks can your Australian Shepherd do?

Hi Everyone, I'd love to hear what kind of tricks your Australian Shepherd has learned. How many tricks do they know? How did you teach them? How long did it take for them to learn? And what are your favorite dog tricks?

Comments for Australian Shepherd Tricks

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Ash's Tricks
by: Tiffany

Ash can do a variety of tricks. She can play dead, wave, do a leg weave, stand/sit/down, and sit pretty among others. These are just the beginnings of the tricks she is going to learn. Here's a video of Ash doing some of her tricks:

Whisper
by: Pat

The trick that my aussie does that just cracks everyone up is "whisper". It took a while for her to move from "speak" to "whisper" and I actually demonstrated it for her and she just began copying! I put my finger by my lips in a shhh motion and say "whisper" and she responds with a tiny little "woof".
Usually when we are showing off, I'll say "Use your inside voice" and "shhhh, whisper" and she'll form this soft little woof.
Try it. Just look for a private place to work so nobody catches you saying "woof" to your dog!

my aussie BLUE fetches my slippers
by: Judi

Whenever I need my slippers he brings them to me no matter where I leave them. I just say, Blue bring me my slippers and he goes and finds them one by one.
I love him so much. He is a blue merle aussie who is nine years old.

Cooper
by: Lindsay

Cooper can give knuckles. It's like shaking a paw, but instead of holding his paw out for you, he lets the end of his paw go limp and touches his knuckles to yours.

by: Jackie
by: Belle

Our Aussie, Belle loves to be outdoors. When she wants out of the house she goes to the door and hits with her nose the hanging cords that make a distinct noise against the door. This always gets our attention. She is so smart.

Hard Headed???
by: Steve

I've had Sydney a year, he is a three legged rescue dog. We love him to death but he is not interested in learning any tricks. He does sit on command so I know he has it in him but our lab can walk circles around him in learning. So I would be interested in any techniques that work.

Tricks
by: Jean and Tucker

One of my favorite tricks that Tucker does is give "hugs". When you ask him for a hug, he will come close up to you, sit and wrap his front paws around your leg and rest his head... huge hit with my friends ^_^.

I had foot surgery yesterday and won't be able to take Tucker on his 3 mile daily walk for 2 months or more! I will hire someone a couple times a week but I had planned on teaching him new tricks to keep him busy. Would love to hear of other peoples unusual tricks to teach my smart boy!

Candy and Cookie's Tricks
by: Laura

Candy (blue merle) and sister, Cookie (black tri) can shake, sit, down, stay, jump, run come (all simple), roll over, play dead, go up(stairs), go down(stairs) and with hand and arm signals stop, hurry up/run, turn around and back-up, get ball and frisbee. They also know go to garage door, go to front/back door, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom for bedtime. My granson has taught them with little treats when they have backpacks on to sit and stay while he puts all his toys downstairs in their packs and then tells them to go up(stairs) and then sit and stay while he empties their packs so he can put his toys away more efficiently. They love it because they are doing a "job". Cookie can also give a hug on command and Candy can stand up for treats.

Mama
by: Janet Holman

Zuni can say "Mama"...really...I taught all my Aussies as puppies to say Mama, so that they would know how to really get me attention...It is so precious...

Re: tricks
by: Anonymous

My 5 month old female knows the basic commands and has since she was 10 weeks old. Without distractions, she can also weave through my legs, heel, get between my legs, jump through a hoop, (hoola touching the ground, no jumping)and a few other things we kinda made up as not to get bored. We're working on distractions...like responding to commands at the park or while the kids are playing. That has been more difficult for her, but she's still a baby.

Nothing we have learned took longer than a day, then probably a few days to be confident and consistent.

I really started seeing the biggest improvement when I started keeping food in my pockets always. It makes her super attentive because she knows that at any time she's doing something right, she could get a treat.

Marker training is the absolute best in my opinion. (clicker training with a word instead of a clicker.)

Tricks
by: BJ

Murphy is an amazing Aussie mix, he can pick up all his toys and place them in his toy box, plays wounded, whispers softly, crawls, spins and he can even do math, (speaks out the answer while I hold my hand at waist level, then stops speaking when it is dropped)
He is so smart, we can learn new tricks in a few hours - and he never forgets anything! Best friend ever.

Tricks
by: gayle--big run aussies

We had a really icky day on Monday-- rain, snow, cold-- we turned the day into a trick training session. Bryn learned to drop her toys in a box. Molly learned to close the cabinet door and Sera always picks up everything off the floor and hands those things to me. Other tricks we have been working on are: open cabinet door, turn on a tap light, roll up in a blanket. The girls all "say prayers", put heads down, paws up, spin, "stop, drop & roll". The first trick my pups usually learn is the "wave". Sera has been trained as a service dog and will actually pick up anything off the floor, grab the phone, remote, etc. All tricks are taught with clicker and positive reinforcement. We do demos at nursing homes, schools and dog events.

Blaze's tricks
by: Keisha

When I ask Blaze "are you pretty? " he sits up in beg position. Then when I ask "are you shy?" He ducks his head to his chest and puts his paws over his face. He also has an inside bark and an outside bark and can sneeze on command. We are currently working on a bang your dead sequence where he starts from beg position, falls over and rolls belly up.

tricks
by: Gayle

To Steve:
Some dogs really are not motivated to learn tricks. Since he is a rescue, you don't really know what happened in his past. To make things really fun, food is a great motivator-- and I'm not talking about the garbage stuff that comes in those bags at the grocery store-- I am talking REAL FOOD-- cheese, meat-- leftovers work great. There is a wonderful book by Kyra Sundance, "101 Dog Tricks". It teaches tricks step by step. It's a great investment. See if you can get a used one on Amazon or EBAY. Make it positive. He could be overwhelmed by the Lab If the Lab is dominant over him. You might want to work separately with him.

Tricks of Stetson and Montana
by: Pat

All of the dogs know sit stay, I have 2 aussies and 2 others. I had to teach sit stay, since every time I dare get up or walk from room to room no matter if I will only be there a min. they all have to go with me. At times it is nerve racking. So if I don't want them tagging a along I give the had signal to stay, and try to have some food with me. They are all good at it now except my little doxin, he still working on it. If I don't stay too long he can do it. Stetson my tri color, loves to play go find, he loves stuffed toys so I make him sit stay, I go hide the toy and he gets to find it. Very good at it. He also will back up for me, if I say BACK, he will back up for me. They both shake hands and do the weave poles, Montana is better at the weave poles than Stetson. They jump through hula hoop. Working on putting the toy kitty in the doxin bed.

Navas Tricks
by: Ellen

Nava is a female Aussie, and she has many tricks.
She knows about 75 tricks, and also competes in agility and obedience.

Skye's Tricks
by: Anonymous

Skye, my blue merle, knows what to do if she is on fire: drop and roll. She also waves, shakes your "paw" and dances or twirls upon command. She pretty much works for food. She will steal socks, shoes, paper, etc and holds them for ransom (a doggy biscuit). I somehow think we have encouraged this behavior. :) If she "steals" and we don't notice, she will run past us with the item in her mouth, making grunting noises to attract our attention, as if to say "Look at me, I've got something of yours!" We love her and enjoy her tricks. She is so smart!

Lily learns quickly!
by: Jenna

My Australian Shepherd puppy who is four months old, knows lots of tricks!

A few are: Sit, spin, jump, watch, fetch, come, shoulder, back, watch, crawl, down.

Riley
by: lynn

Riley, my mini is exceptional at learning. It usually takes about a day and then a few days to reinforce and he has it. He rings a bell to go out, gets his leash when we send him for it. We can send him to the family room in the basement to find either his monkey, rope or moo to play with and he will bring it up. He also gives hugs and kisses, shakes, has his CGC since he was 6 months old, does agility competitions. We tell him when we leave to guard the house and he waits in the foyer or close to the front doors until we come home, then he brings us toys when we do arrive. His tricks is shake, mouse, pretty foot, weave between my legs (still learning), when outside we have to climb steps to go into the house and all I have to do is say go climb it and he goes for the door. He's a wonderful pet and member of our family.

Tricks
by: Laurie

Sam knows lots of tricks and is a fast, intense learner. The trick we use the most is when we play fetch with his tennis ball. He throws it at my feet while I'm walking, timing it to where I'll kick it without even trying. If it misses my foot, I'll say "pick it up", and he'll pick it up. Then I say "hand it to me" which he promptly does, sometimes with impatience because I didn't kick it right, lol! He is obsessed with playing ball.

The Amazing Jasper
by: Todd

We have a 1.5 year old Blue Merle Australian Shepherd, Jasper. We've worked on tricks pretty much from the day we got him. And we have two 5-10 minute training sessions per day which he loves because he gets treats. In addition to the standard sit, down, stand, stay commands he does some other crowd pleasers: Weave (through our legs as we walk), Pow (play dead), roll over, turn right, turn left, shake (hands) left, shake right, wave, paws up (on whatever we point to), say your prayers (bows his head between his front paws), dance (up on his hind legs), go to the kitchen, go to the dining room, run upstairs, go check on Jean (my wife), go to your bed... others in progress but not yet mastered.

Can can
by: Anonymous

Mickey, my 2 year old blue Merle has learned lots of tricks, but his biggest crowd pleaser is "can-can" when he lifts each paw up in turn 4 times... kind of like a low "shake". When he's excited he does it really fast and is hilarious.

I love hearing about tricks
by: Mystic

My male Mini Aussie only knows the basics and he will only do them when he's in the mood. He’s hard to train because he’s not motivated by anything. Not treats, praise or anything else anyone has suggested.After trying at 50 least of kinds of treats the only time he wants one is if another dog is around.That is when he's learned most everything except for come, sit and to wait when we feed him.(Like roll over and “where’s your tail.” Which he will only do when he is in the mood.) However he is awesome at telling my husband when his blood sugar is high. People ask how we taught him that, but we didn't, he just started licking my husband's hand and whining sometimes. One time my husband wasn't feeling well when he did it and when he said "He acts like something's wrong." I asked "Have you checked your blood sugar lately?" He hadn't and when he did it was high. After that we started paying attention and realized that every single time Shaman did that my husband needed meds.

We just got a puppy and although we've only had her a few days she seems very eager to please. Even though she is not quite 8 weeks old and we've only had her for 2 days she loves attention and treats. I am hopeful that it will help Shaman learn too because whenever I work for a few minutes with Mystic he wants attention and the treats. The same ones he turns his nose up at any other time.

A couple of years ago we had Max. He loved to learn and show off and in the few short months we had him he learned many tricks and very quickly. How to climb over and down a small slide. How to jump over things and thru a hoop. I am going to quit now because it makes me sad. I loved that guy more than any other pet I've had. He was shot by a neighbor when my husband left him in the yard (he was an inside dog and only ever went out with us.) one day when he came in to use the restroom. It was awful and the police refused to do anything because the guy swore that Max had killed one of his chickens the day before. (We don't have a fenced yard and their yard only has a barbed wire fence, like most homes out here in the country.) It didn't matter that Max wasn't in his yard at the time he was shot or that the guy had shot another neighbors dog the day before claiming it had killed the same chicken. Or that he had shot a 3rd dog at the same time he shot our beloved Max. I shouldn't have brought Max up.

My mom's older dog Merlin isn't able to do much now but when she was younger she would put her toys away in addition to most of the things her younger Mini does. Storm is a service and therapy dog. Besides riding on my dad's scooter and doing tricks like roll over (I swear his favorite thing of all time.) he can pick up anything off the floor and give it to you. If there is something he can't pick up (that isn't too heavy) I haven't seen it. One of his jobs is to pick up change. I'm sure there are others but he is the only dog I've ever seen who can pick up a dime.

Mystic
by: gayle--big run aussies

Loved hearing about your dogs. So sorry about Max. I had a similar thing happen with my Sera, my service and therapy dog. My neighbor shot her while she was in our fenced yard. She was fine, but she bothers no one. She never leaves our yard. He shot her because we reported him for not having rabies shots on his dogs that attacked and killed our 14 yr old Aussie mix. The case went to court because he is a felon and is not supposed to have guns. The sheriff didn't show up for several days -- plenty of time for him to ditch the guns. In the end, it was my word against his. He lied and said he was at a funeral. I heard him yell at her and then he shot her. He lied to us about having rabies shots on his dogs, too. My vet actually turned him in to animal control because he was tired of stitching up my dogs from his dogs attacking them through the fence. We have had some serious injuries. Molly came close to having her tendon severed when she was a pup. I just want you to know that I sympathize with you. I don't know what I would do without my Sera. She also picks up dimes from the floor..
Congrats on your new pup. Have fun with her. Aussies are awesome!

Jami - Sizes, Shapes and Colors
by: Becky

I have this awesome trainer and we have taken several classes from her...Beginning Rally, Caning Good Citizen, etc...but recently she has started teaching a class "Sizes, Shapes and Colors" in which the dog learns yellow, blue, white, purple... big and small and triangle, square, and circle. It is so much fun and Jami just loves to go to "school"... when I say the word.

opening doors
by: Terry

Opening doors is not difficult for an Aussie. Our full size Shepherd first learned how to open doors when he was about 12 months. We're talking about round door knobs and doors that open out.

On occasion we had to put him in the laundry room, which had three in swinging doors. One to the garage, one to outside, and one leading into the kitchen and rest of the house.

One day we put in the laundry room when friends with a dog visited. He was excited to join the fun and proceeded to begin jumping and hitting the door with his front paws. Three jumps later the door opened (in) and in he came, happy as a puppy with a new toy. My wife said, "Why did you let him in?'

"I didn't" I replied.

The friends were visiting so we postponed that discussion, and I put the dog back in the laundry room.

Boom! Ten seconds later there was the sound of his slamming against the door, and then the door opened again. Opened in.

We were all curious now, so back in he went, and we all rushed out the back door and around to the window into the family room. And we couldn't believe our eyes. The dog, in one motion reared back and then his left front paw hit the door simultaneous with his right paw coming down on the right side of the round door knob, and he instantly jumped back as the door hit and bounced off the jam, causing the door to open.

Watch for Part two- what happened when I installed a bathroom door knob, with the turn button lock.

Maggie May
by: Suzanne

My Maggie May can open the doors to go into the house. I didn't teach her that. She taught herself when she was tall enough to stand on the handle, push down, and push the door open. Needless to say, when I let her and her Daddy Bear outside, I have to lock the door, cause she will come right back in. She also can catch a Frisbee, no matter how far you throw it. She will be standing right by me, and when I throw it, she can run fast and catch it in the air. She loves it. I put gloves on so I don't have to handle doggie saliva, so when she sees those gloves go on, it's on. Actually,her little eyes sparkle when I do it cause she knows she's gonna play Frisbee. Bless her heart. She is addicted. Sometimes she will take her little frisbee to me to throw in the living room. So she sits and I'll tell her to move back, she scoots her little butt back. I'll tell back some more and she'll scoot it more. It's so cute. She loves to play with her Daddy Bear (her daddy TeeBear). They are so funny when they play together. Lots of entertainment. My dogs are so beautiful and so much fun.
Now Teebear can create a scenario. He wanted a biscuit I was eating so he nudged my coffee off the table and when I lifted up my hand with my biscuit in it, he jumped up and grabbed it. I've never had a smarter dog than an Aussie. They amaze me every day.

Lola 10 month female tri black
by: Stephan

Very smart and learns quickly, knows a lot of commands but the one that cracks people up is when I say "you're embarrassing me" and she goes into lie down position with her head to the floor between her legs...very fun breed to train. :)

Led Zeppelin
by: Anonymous

Our 4 aussie's are all named after the members of Led Zeppelin and when we say "sing a song!" they all howl intently. :)

Agustus
by: Jolie

Hello, my name is Jolie. My Australian Sheppard puppy, Agustus, know various tricks. The first one I tought him was to sit. What I done was pushed his bottom down, and commanded "sit" several times. I counted each time I said "sit" and the fewer times I had to say it, he slowly caught on. The second trick I tought him was to Sit and Stay.all you have to do is tie their leash to something sturdy and tell them to sit. Then tell them to stay and slowly walk away. Soon, you should be able to say sit, and they will sit. And when you say stay, they will stay. I am in process of teaching Agustus more tricks, but like I said earlier, he is just a puppy, so there are some that are just to complicated to achieve.

1cute1girl1
by: me

aussies are SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!!

The Beast
by: A&C

Charles is a black tri just over a year old. He's whip-smart, affectionate, silly and full of character (read: head-strong). Best. Dog. Ever. He's been learning tricks since the day he switched on as a pup. Liver treats are the best currency. Loves anything to do with jumping. He's nailed sit, stay, come, roll over, high 5, paw, back, bow (I fold my hands and bow like before a karate spar), turn around, "hup", jump through hooped arms, jump up on my back when i bend at the waist, a jumping kiss 5 feet to my lips (a trust game, really), a twisty 360 jump, touch, bring, and hurdles. Never expected sit-pretty to be a challenge, but c'est la vie. And we do a superman high 10 thing where he runs at full tilt, jumps and pushes off my open palms.
--If your Aussie's active (hehe) and you've never considered these, the beast loves: snow frisbee (throw a frisbee into deep snow. So simple, so tiring, such fun) and big, round hay bales. We found a field with them lined up, and he could leap-frog across the tops.

Tricks
by: First time dog owner

My Black Bicolor Aussie is 11 weeks old right now (I've had her since she was 8 1/2 week) and she can already:
Sit
Lie down
Up (stand)
Speak
High five (left paw)
Shake (right paw)
Crawl
Kiss (all dogs will lick you if you put your face next to them, but she'll come across the room and lick you on the cheek)
Jump
Roll over
and she's almost got down a couple others. She's been learning new tricks in less than three days.

My Aussie who is supposed to be a service dig
by: Sarsh

Well, she has learned her "job" duties and knows her jacket coming out means we get to work AND "go" to town. She is an angel in wal mart and the grocery and fabric store and knows if there is someone there she is allowed to interact with.

She never has an accident anywhere. She had her own "language" but we didn't get a translation book.

Her downfall, she is 2 years old) is that cats and squirrels are not allowed anywhere and my neighbors love that barking late at night. She doesn't think socialization and manners apply to her. A dog who ignores her in the pet store will be chastised to the extent everyone in the store knows! We were unable to socialize her as a youngster as I was quite ill. I have MS and she is my mobility dog. She will help me up, go find daddy, comforts me if she feels I am not stable, loves to ride in the truck and totally gets excited when we pull into Starbucks as she knows she gets a cup of ice cubes.

I'm thinking of shelling out the money for a personal trainer as she refuses to heel, she prefers to be on my right side as that's my weak side. She feels it is her job to herd any neighborhood dog who walks on HER yard! She can sit, down. Wait (2 min), Come, go bye bye, give mommy a hug, up (the stairs) but what worries me is she has never been on a plane but would sit still in my lap (65 lbs) or a bus. She loves horses but wants to jump and kiss them and they think she should have outgrown that ( they are next door and I feed them carrots). Do keeping her quiet, and lying still for long periods are my worst nightmares. I will have to board her for my next chemo round (new drug) as they last all day. I don't mind her sitting on my lap or being friendly, but as you can see, she does have some bad habits and I'm open to any suggestions!

training
by: dakota

some people use table scraps witch your actually not supposed to do because it gives your dog heart worms and it makes it harder for theme to eat there dog food when that's what you give them to eat, and you can teach your dog to play dead in 5 minutes just say bang and gently push your dog over, i have a 12 month old blue Merle named scout and she army craws, plays dead and she can open her crate door do rollover and do kiss on command the one i'am working on now it wait when i give her food and say OK and she eats.

tricks
by: Anonymous

my dog can also jump through my legs

Tricks
by: Gayle

Dakota, just to clarify your statement: mosquitoes carry heartworm and will transmit the worms to your dog, not table scraps. You can give your dog heartworm preventative, so they do not get parasites. Just be careful about the mdr1 gene, which can determine which type of preventative to give your dog. Good job with the tricks, though!

Mr Balou Magoo
by: Tracy

My 10 month old Aussie just keeps bringing smile after smile, day after day with his tenacity and brilliance. When we brought him home at 10 weeks it took him 3 days to learn sit, lay down, circle right and circle left. By the end of the week he was also crawling. He now has sit pretty, stand, pirouette left and pirouette right, puppy high five (switches hands when we do), roll over, walk with me (hind legs and holds my hand), he weaves through my legs and he will bow. Today he was bored so I taught him to "relax" which with a hand gesture he will lay down on his side with 2 paws in the air. So smart, took him 4 tries to get it. He identifies all his toys by name, people too. Goes upstairs or downstairs when told. Finds people. Plays hide and seek with treats where I show him 4 treats, let him watch me hide all 4 in, around and under things, I'll keep him in a sit stay for a minute after then let him loose to find the treats I hide. We want to teach him to smile next. All is down with positive reinforcement mixed in with treats to keep him guessing.

Tricks
by: Gayle

My 6 month old pup just earned her Novice Trick Dog title with Do More With Your Dog.

My Tricks
by: Millie

I'm Millie, a black bicolour working-line Australian Shepherd. I know many tricks my 12 year old best friend taught me! I can sit, lay-down, speak, whisper, stand up, sit pretty, bang (you're dead), walk backwards, roll-over, catch a frisbee, jump in the air, and jump over barrels, etc.

Lucy’s tricks
by: Anonymous

My Aussie, Lucy, is about 4 months old. She knows how to sit, Stay, lay down, high five, shake, nose my hand, and spin left. I’m working on teaching her to sit pretty but it’s kinda tough because she likes to jump up.

Zulu
by: Zulu

I taught Zulu how to jump through my arms, it took about a week for her to learn just doing a little every day but she is great at it. She has always been a good jumper and I don’t even have to bend over for her to reach my arms.

My new Aussie pup Nellie belly
by: Anonymous

Has brought so much joy into my life

She is intelligent beyond belief

She learns commands in two lessons and remembers them

She sits
She lays
She covers herself at night
All at 7 weeks old

Man oh man she is learning chew
She now opens the fridge
She plays take all dirty clothing and place it in piles

It is amazing

Toy Aussie, Benji
by: Linda

Toy Aussie sit, stand & walk on hind legs, down, shake, catch ball, jump through Hulu hoop, stay, come, speak. He learns really fast. This morning I taught him speak (bark) with just three tries.

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