Australian Shepherds have long been valued by stockmen for their versatility and trainability. While some of them continue to work in the farms and as stock dogs, the breed has also earned recognition as successful search and rescue dogs, disaster dogs, detection dogs, guide, service, and therapy dogs. This comes as no surprise as Australian Shepherds are eager to please and highly regarded for their skills in obedience.
Because of their temperament and protective instinct, Australian Shepherds make for excellent service dogs. Most of them are specifically trained to perform an overwhelmingly wide number of services such as:
Medical Alerting: As most dogs can sense ‘sickness’, Australian Shepherds that are trained for medical alerting purposes can signal their owner of dangerous physiological changes which could include blood pressure and any other life-threatening bodily symptoms.
Hearing Assistance: Australian Shepherds trained especially for this purpose can aid their handler to sounds such as alarms, cars, doorbells or phones
Medical Assistance: Australian Shepherds trained to provide medical assistance can aid their handlers in completing tasks that otherwise are difficult to do on their own.
Wheelchair Assistance: Australian Shepherds trained for wheelchair assistance can help their handler retrieve dropped objects, open doors and any other task that their partner may need.
Therapy: As Australian Shepherds generally have a very pleasant disposition and good character, they have what it takes to become excellent therapy dogs that can provide love and comfort to people living in hospitals, assisted living facilities and even schools. Most of them provide therapy in the form of sitting on someone’s lap or allowing strangers of all ages to pet and handle them. Some are even trained to perform small tricks for entertainment and leisure purposes. Regardless of what tricks they can perform, Australian Shepherds are definitely instrumental in calming and improving the wellbeing of patients and other disadvantaged individuals.