Do you find your Aussie puppy misbehaving? What kind of behavior are your trying to modify? Here are a few tips we found work that might help you too.  Every stage of your puppy is a challenge and a reward, enjoy both experiences.

·        Set limits

·        Reward good behavior

·        Keep your emotions in check

·        Be consistent

When you first bring your Aussie puppy home, establish your rules and enforce them.  Your entire family must be on board and support the rules. If not, it won't take your Aussie long to figure out who he can control.  Your puppy does not make the rules :^).

Limit your Aussie to a small room with either a baby gate or x-pen which should include his crate that he sleeps in with the door fixed open.  Supervise him at all times if he is outside of this limited area.  If need be, put a leash on him and attach it to yourself in the house and monitor him.  At night he should be put in his crate to sleep.

Take your puppy outside often, every 2 hours at a minimum to relieve himself.  This is temporary and until he is potty trained (for potty training suggestions click here) and understands what is acceptable behavior.

Do not let your puppy have free reign of the house.  Not only is it not safe for him to have the run of the house, it will make you frustrated and his training will take much longer.

Your puppy will respond well to you if he does something you disapprove of, you say to him in a firm voice "NO" and remove him at once from the activity or area, no more talking.  Put him in a confined area and do not interact with him until he is calm and quiet.  Reward your puppy with a treat and your happy toned voice say something like "Good Boy" when he is displaying the behavior you want.

Show your puppy positive and negative emotions, but never yell at your dog out of anger or frustration. Using small words, with the correct tone will have a greater impact on correcting behavior or instilling correct behavior.  The old expression "less is more" is the idea here. They don't process long sentences like people do, just give them one or two word sentences.

With everything consistency is key. You feed your puppy on a consistent schedule, take them outside on a schedule, put them to bed on a schedule you must correct and commend them consistently too. Don't reprimand your puppy for a bad behavior one day and the next day ignore it, that sends mixed messages to your puppy. 

As always, if you are struggling with a particular problem, please feel free to contact me.  I certainly don't have all the answers, but we've been raising our own dogs for over 40 years and just want to help where we can.  Having been involved in the Australian Terrier for almost 4 years, we find them to be very smart,  quite food motivated and are easy to train.  If you are having difficulty training your Aussie, and have ruled out any medical issues, chances are you are not being consistent and it's unclear to your puppy what you are asking. Remember, it's really important to only get your puppy from a reputable breeder.

Enjoy your Aussie puppy!