# Training an Australian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix puppy



## bdavis0238 (Dec 28, 2013)

We just adopted an Australian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mixed puppy. She is 7 weeks old. Our ultimate goal is to train her to be a therapy dog for my son who battles with Autism Spectrum Disorder (high functioning) and Anxiety disorder. His occupational therapist highly recommended a dog for him for therapeutic reasons. 

I read that the dog should start with behavioral training then we can work on therapy training when she is 6 months. Does this sound right? When do you start behavioral training? We are not looking to have her registered as a therapy dog yet, so we are thinking about doing some online classes at home to help with my son. 

My husband said that he read that both breeds are very smart and everyone we have talked to said that they think she would make the perfect dog for this type of training. Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

What sort of behavioral training are you talking about? What therapy training? Are you looking for a companion dog, or a service dog? A therapy dog would be one who visits hospitals, group homes, etc. to offer support/happiness to patients, not for your son. A regular ol' pet could do that. 

You should enroll in a puppy basics class right away, and start training at home with little, soft and smelly treats asap. Learn sit, don't jump, crate training, her name, come when called, lay down, settle, etc.


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## bdavis0238 (Dec 28, 2013)

We have someone who is going to help with the therapy part. Yes, at a later point in time the kids want to take her to hospitals and nursing homes, but for now the occupational therapist said it would really help to her the proper therapy training so when my son is in the middle of an anxiety attack she can help. We can get him controlled ourselves but the therapist said it would help if he had a dog around because then when he gets older he has a companion that can help when we are not there. We have other pets and it has not worked for him, that was why the therapist said it would help to have the therapy training because he has other pets and what an everyday pet can offer is not working. She said he needed one that could bond with him, so she recommended a puppy, and one that had proper training. What I meant by not getting her registered just yet is... we want to let her get older and have plenty of practice with my son and around other people, dogs, and is well socialized. 

I found some basic behavioral training videos. I think we are going to use those.


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## BernerMax (Mar 15, 2013)

I would reccomend that you take your pup to a puppy training class, its starts out immediately by getting puppy socialized to other people and dogs (puppies) in a controlled and safe setting, here in the Bay area they require one set of vaccines and a vet health check and they start right away-- pups 9 weeks--

here is a link to my favorite school/ pls read the class description of puppy class it tells you why they reccommend it:

http://sfpuppyprep.com/classes.html#ps101

also the Livestock guardian breeds can be very gentle but also very independent, I have no idea how they would work as a service dog for a person (yes a therapy dog, but not a service dog there is a difference) it sounds like you need a service dog for your child (there are whole thread around emotional service dogs on this Forum with some really good discussions)....
We have a Great Pyr/ anatolian pup and while extremely calm, he is very independent and not particularily focused on his Handler at all....
Dont have experience with Aussies, but so cannot help you there,
but you cant go wrong with starting Pup out right in a good puppy class.... good luck..... it sounds like you are willing to put the Work in!


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## DJEtzel (Dec 28, 2009)

bdavis0238 said:


> We have someone who is going to help with the therapy part. Yes, at a later point in time the kids want to take her to hospitals and nursing homes, but for now the occupational therapist said it would really help to her the proper therapy training so when my son is in the middle of an anxiety attack she can help. We can get him controlled ourselves but the therapist said it would help if he had a dog around because then when he gets older he has a companion that can help when we are not there. We have other pets and it has not worked for him, that was why the therapist said it would help to have the therapy training because he has other pets and what an everyday pet can offer is not working. She said he needed one that could bond with him, so she recommended a puppy, and one that had proper training. What I meant by not getting her registered just yet is... we want to let her get older and have plenty of practice with my son and around other people, dogs, and is well socialized.
> 
> I found some basic behavioral training videos. I think we are going to use those.


The thing is, there is no special therapy training. It's just making sure a dog is well behaved and can handle dogs, crowds, kids, food around and listen. 

You can start all of that as soon as you have the puppy.


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