Activities For Cairn Australian Shepterriers

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Activities For Cairn Australian Shepterriers

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Introduction

The Cairn Australian Shepterrier is a companion pup derived from two working dogs – Australian Shepherd and Cairn Terrier. The Cairn Terrier is a small dog that earns their keep as a vermin hunter, while the Australian Shepherd is a medium dog with a natural affinity for cattle herding. The resultant puppy of these two dogs is a small Shepherd-like companion pup with a great need for physical activity and mental stimulation. If you leave them to their own devices, they can quickly get themselves into trouble, with their stubbornness making it a challenge to get them to behave! You are bound to need help coming up with ways to keep them out of mischief, so consider these options below.

Harness Training

Popular

0 Votes

Any Day

Cheap

Normal

10 min

Items needed

Leash

Harness

Treats

Activity description

Because you will need to exercise your Cairn Australian Shepterrier for at least one hour per day, you will find that taking them for a walk is one of the most effective methods for doing so. However, given their high energy levels, you may discover they can pull on the leash quite a bit and could require some harness training so you can walk them comfortably. Harness training can take a bit of time, a few ten-minute training sessions, and a leash, harness and treat. Your Cairn Australian Shepterrier won’t take to it right away, but as it’s an all-weather activity, you can keep working on it until you get it right. You will also find it’s affordable as you only need to buy the leash and harness which you can have forever.

Step

Familarize

The first step is to make sure the harness doesn’t remain a foreign object for long. Don’t buy it then immediately try to put it on your dog. All you will do is scare your pooch off it for good. Instead, leave it lying around your home for at least one week before you attempt to put it on your dog. Let your Shepterrier hear the clipping of the buckles and any other sounds it makes. Feed your pooch around the harness, and even place it where your dog tends to hang out at home. They will get used to it being around and won’t be fearful of it.

Step

Put it on

With a bit of familiarization, you can now attempt to put it on. The fitting process can be tricky as your dog won’t know what you are doing, and it doesn’t always fit appropriately without adjustment. Use treats to bribe your Cairn Australian Shepterrier into behaving and take a break if you need to. Attempt the final adjustments once you have it successfully fitted onto their body.

Step

Walk

With the harness on, you can let your Cairn Australian Shepterrier walk around your house wearing it. Distract them from how foreign it feels with treats, toys, and fun activities. Make it feel as natural as possible for your dog. You can then attach the leash and let them drag that around the house before taking them for a walk with the entire setup connected.

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Obedience Training

Popular

0 Votes

Any Day

Expensive

Hard

1 hr

Items needed

Leash

Treats

Activity description

The Cairn Australian Shepterrier is an intelligent dog, stemming from both parent breeds. However, they also get their pig-headedness from the Cairn Terrier. As a result, you may find your dog is entirely capable of learning new skills but doesn’t want to. You may need a helping hand from an experienced (and often expensive) trainer if that’s the case. Obedience training is something you can do with other dogs (which can be beneficial for their social skills) or in one-on-one sessions. These sessions take place in one hour, and you only need to bring your dog, leash, and treats. It can be quite a challenging time, but you can end up with the most well-behaved pooch at the other end.

Step

School or sessions

Decide whether you want to involve your dog in a school environment or single sessions. If your Cairn Australian Shepterrier is six months or younger, they can attend puppy school which generally runs for eight weeks. If they are older than six months old, individual training sessions may be suitable and targeted. Consult your local kennel club or vet to see who and which facilities they recommend.

Step

Learn skills

The goal of obedience training is to teach your pooch to be obedient. With a trainer’s help, your Cairn Australian Shepterrier can learn how to sit, stay, and come back to you, among other things. Because of how stubborn your dog is, these skills may take a little longer to learn, but you will get there in the end.

Step

Practice

Even though you can learn some valuable skills at a training facility, if you don’t practice them, you may as well have not got training for your pooch at all. To instill the correct behaviors in your dog, you need to repeat them at home and make sure you’re consistent with how you are training them. Otherwise, your dog can fall back into old patterns, and you waste a lot of money!

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Puzzles

Popular

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Rainy Day

Expensive

Hard

1 hr

Items needed

Puzzles

Treats

Activity description

When your dog is full of energy, it’s so easy to put them in the backyard with their favorite toy or throw a ball across the lawn for them to fetch until they tire out. If it’s raining, however, it’s a little harder than usual to entertain them. That’s why puzzles may become your new favorite rainy-day activity. Even though it’s mental stimulation instead of physical, it’s benefiting your Cairn Australian Shepterrier all the same. Puzzles can be expensive from a pet store, but they challenge your dog which makes them worth their weight in gold. You can set them up in an area of your home for an hour, fill them up with treats, then let the puzzle do all the work.

Step

Choose a puzzle

When you step foot in a pet store, the selection of toys for dogs will overwhelm you. There are many options! However, you can narrow down the field by checking out the difficulty level. You will quickly discover that the best puzzle for a Cairn Australian Shepterrier is a hard one. If you buy them an easy or intermediate level one, you would be wasting your money.

Step

Choose treats

Most dog puzzles require you to add a few tidbits. After all, what’s the incentive for the dog if there is no food they have to get out? However, it’s a good idea to be smart with your food choices. Many grocery store dog treats are full of fat and salt which is not healthy for your dog. Consider natural food like sweet potato and carrot that you can cook or leave raw. Skinless, boneless chicken or turkey is also something your dog will be thrilled with!

Step

Play

Once you set the puzzle up for your dog, you can place it in an area of your home where you can keep an eye on them. Always supervise your dog playing with puzzles, even if it specifically caters for a dog. They might have it in pieces before you know it!

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More Fun Ideas...

Dog Park

The Cairn Terrier parentage of your Cairn Australian Shepterrier means they might not always get on with other dogs. Therefore, once you adopt them as a puppy, one of the first things you may like to do is take them to a dog park. Here, they can learn how to share and play nicely with other pooches, while working on their social skills. Make trips to the dog park a set part of their routine.

Laser Light

Cairn Australian Shepterriers love to take chase to anything and everything, but if you want to draw their attention away from your other pets, a laser light could be an excellent place to start. Buy a pet-friendly laser then shine it across your floor. They will take chase and burn off all that pent-up energy at the same time.

Conclusion

A Cairn Australian Shepterrier is an unusual dog with a lot of spunk and personality. If you don’t come up with activities to keep them busy and out of trouble, they can end up feeling a little ruff and cause strife! Compile a list of things to do with your dog, including these options above, and you can rest assured knowing you do everything possible to keep your Shepterrier happy and healthy.