So you’ve got the smartest dog around.
And she’s the perfect companion to take on runs, long walks, or any other kind of outdoor adventure.
While Australian Shepherds are generally healthy dogs, I’m sure you know they can get sick from time to time.
Would you believe me if I told you that CBD, a tiny compound taken from hemp, could help improve your dog’s health?
Well I’m glad I got you here because I want to talk about CBD in a bit more detail, and show you how it can help Australian Shepherds dealing with thyroid problems and cancer.
We’ve seen success with CBD on our dogs, so I will highlight that story and recommend some CBD supplements for you if you’re ready to give this medicine a try.
Our Pick:
This is recommended for Aussie Shepherds. It's a 100% Organic Full Spectrum Oil and one of our top choices right now.
Free Bonus: Download a free checklist which reveals if your dog will benefit from CBD. Also get my full report on CBD for Pets that you can print and download for later. Aussie Shepherd owners can get access here.
Australian Shepherds
The Australian Shepherd is a hard-working farm dog that, despite its name, originated in the US.
These dogs were used for all kinds of work, including herding and guarding livestock.
Given their role as working dogs, Australian Shepherds are loyal, alert, and extremely intelligent.
In fact, they are often praised for being one of the most intelligent breeds in the world.
While they make great guard dogs, Australian Shepherds have calm, balanced tempers.
Like most other herding dogs, Australian Shepherds require plenty of exercise and are happiest when they’re active.
Common Australian Shepherd Health Problems
Australian Shepherds are generally healthy dogs that can live long, fulfilling lives (reaching up to 15 years of age).
Unfortunately, no dog is immune to disease or other health problems, and the Australian Shepherd is no different.
In fact, there are a few health conditions that tend to affect this breed more than others, suggesting they may be genetically susceptible to things like dysplasias, eye issues, and more.
Find the most common health conditions affecting Australian Shepherds in this list:
- Allergies: Australian Shepherds are known to deal with allergies. The most common symptom of an allergic reaction is itching, but they may also experience digestive or respiratory problems. Find more info on skin allergies here.
- Autoimmune Thyroiditis: This condition is one of the most commonly reported health problems in Australian Shepherds and causes the body to develop antibodies to attack its own thyroid cells.
- Cancer: Like all dogs, Australian Shepherds can develop a variety of cancers. Hemangiosarcoma, an aggressive cancer of the blood vessels, and lymphoma are both very common in this breed.
- Drug Sensitivities: Australian Shepherds are known to carry the MDR1 (multidrug resistance) gene. As a result, your dog may be sensitive to a range of medications. This sensitivity can be mild or, in extreme cases, cause serious illness or even death.
- Dysplasias: Dysplasias can affect all dogs, although they seem to be more common in larger breeds. Elbow dysplasia, however, is very common in Australian Shepherds. Some dogs may only show occasional symptoms (like lameness), meaning many dysplasias are misdiagnosed as injuries, especially since this is such an active breed.
- Eye Issues: Cataracts is by far the most common eye condition affecting Australian Shepherds. However, they may occasionally deal with other eye issues, including colobomas, glaucoma, and more.
How Can CBD Help My Australian Shepherd?
The list above clearly shows some common health problems this breed has. Let's learn how CBD may help:
CBD is a natural compound found in hemp and some varieties of cannabis.
If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, don’t worry:
While CBD can induce calming effects that are perfect for people and animals dealing with anxiety, it doesn’t produce any kinds of psychedelic effects like those we associate with a cannabis “high.”
Our family was introduced to CBD when our Golden Retriever Rosie was diagnosed with cancer and hip dysplasia.
As Rosie got older, the dysplasia lead to arthritis.
Our active dog who was always happy and full of energy, turn lethargic and lazy.
At one stage, my vet made it clear that it was time to look for treatments and supplements to help improve Rosie’s quality of life in her remaining time with us.
That’s when I learned about CBD.
Best known for its painkiller and anti-inflammatory powers, I wondered if CBD could help Rosie deal with her symptoms.
So I took it up with my vet, but she wasn’t too familiar with the research that had gone into CBD.
And I wasn’t ready to give Rosie some random “miracle cure” without knowing as much about it as possible.
So, I dove head deep into researching all of the literature on CBD I could find.
And the more I learned about this little compound, the more convinced I was it could help Rosie.
So, I went back to my vet and based on the painkilling and anti-inflammatory properties of CBD, we decided to give it a try.
And the results were amazing!
Within just a few days of using CBD, it was clear that she was getting better.
And as we continued the treatment, her condition just kept improving.
After a few weeks, Rosie was much more active and happy around the house, and she’d even join us for walks again (something she’d come to avoid given the inflammation and pain in her hip).
To help slow the growth of her cancer, Rosie was also undergoing chemotherapy.
She generally didn’t experience any side effects, but would seem slightly “under the weather” a few days after her chemo sessions.
Her appetite also seemed to die down a bit during these days.
Luckily, CBD also helped Rosie curb the negative side effects of her chemo, and especially helped her keep up a healthy appetite after her sessions.
The fact is, CBD has a long list of benefits other than just being a powerful painkiller and anti-inflammatory.
There are 2 common conditions affecting Australian Shepherds: Hyper / hypothyroidism and cancer. I want to cover those in detail.
But here's the deal:
If your dog is suffering from some other ailment not covered here, then I highly recommend you download my free checklist. It's an easy way to find out if your dog really needs CBD.
Click this image to download the checklist right now:
CBD Oil for Australian Shepherds With Thyroid Problems
The thyroid has a ton of power.
It produces a variety of hormones which help regulate a wide variety of physiological processes, including your dog’s metabolism, heart function, digestion, brain development, and more.
The thyroid manages these processes by producing a range of hormones, including thyroxine and triiodothyronine (T4 and T3).
When the thyroid produces too many or too few of these hormones, the processes that involve those hormones are affected, which essentially disrupts the proper functioning of the body.
For example, if your dog’s thyroid becomes overactive (hyperthyroidism) and produces too many hormones, it can speed up her metabolism.
As a result, they might lose weight rapidly, overeat, struggle to sleep, or deal with an elevated heart rate and altered heart beat.
On the other hand, if your dog’s thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism) and produces too few hormones, your dog’s metabolism may slow down, leading them to rapidly gain wait, deal with chronic fatigue, and more.
Another common thyroid problem that can affect dogs and is especially common in Australian Shepherds is autoimmune thyroiditis.
This processes causes the body’s immune system to create antibodies that attack healthy thyroid tissue, causing the thyroid to become inflamed.
As the thyroid cells begin to die, the remaining cells have to work overtime in order to compensate for the loss of healthy tissue.
Once roughly 75% of the healthy thyroid cells have been destroyed, the thyroid is no longer able to produce the necessary amount of hormones and the dog will typically start experiencing symptoms of hypothyroidism.
These can include:
- Lethargy
- Appetite loss
- Dull, unhealthy looking coat
- Skin infections and/or overly greasy or dry skin
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Aggression
If your pup experiences autoimmune thyroiditis or any other kind of thyroid issues, I highly recommend looking into CBD.
Studies have found cannabinoid receptors in the the thyroid gland.
By interacting with those receptors, CBD has been shown to be able to both increase and decrease the production of hormones like T3 and T4.
Plus, thanks to its powerful anti-inflammatory properties, CBD may also help manage the chronic inflammation of the thyroid caused by autoimmune thyroiditis.
By interacting with cannabinoid receptors around the brain and body, CBD has been shown to fight all kinds of inflammation.
For example, CBD is regularly used to help fight chronic inflammation of the joints (caused by dysplasias or arthritis), the digestive tract (caused by inflammatory bowel disease), or even in the brain (caused by conditions like Parkinson’s).
CBD can help fight inflammation in different parts of the body by activating the endocannabinoid system, or ECS.
The ECS is a system made up of predominantly 2 kinds of receptors known as CB1 and CB2.
These receptors are designed to mediate the effects of 2AG and anandamide, 2 cannabinoids naturally produced by the body.
However, because of their similarity to the endocannabinoids produced by the body, CB1 and CB2 can also mediate the effects of plant-derived cannabinoids like CBD.
Now, while researchers still don’t understand the endocannabinoid system entirely, they know that it manages processes such as pain sensation, memory, mood, metabolism, and much more.
Overall, CBD looks like it can definitely help dogs with this condition.
CBD Oil for Australian Shepherds With Cancer
When your vet says "cancer", it can be sad and scary.
Unfortunately, just like humans, dogs often suffer from a wide variety of cancers.
As I mentioned earlier, my dog Rosie got the dreaded cancer diagnosis a few years ago.
As you can imagine, my entire family and I were devastated.
Rosie was a huge part of the family, and accepting the reality that her time with us was limited was incredibly difficult.
Regardless, we persevered and started looking for palliative treatment options to help give Rosie the best quality of life possible.
This is when I stumbled on to CBD for pets.
I still can’t really believe that such a tiny compound could make such a big difference to my Rosie.
Before we started using CBD, Rosie’s condition had gotten pretty bad.
She’d become lethargic and lazy, and was dealing with severe chronic pain.
Her chemo response was good, however the therapy would sometimes leave her a little drained and also seemed to curb her appetite.
All in all, seeing the effects the cancer and dysplasia had on Rosie’s health was extremely difficult.
Luckily, I was able to turn that around with CBD.
Hence, if your Australian Shepherd suffers from cancer, I highly recommend trying CBD supplements like oils and treats.
Pet owners like you and I are seeing extremely positive results when using CBD to treat cancer symptoms.
In fact, there is also a growing body of research showing that CBD may help slow the growth of tumors, and possible even help destroy cancer cells.
Remember, these are preliminary results that still need further investigation in order to be validated.
Nonetheless, they are important and promising findings.
Check out this article on CBD for dogs with cancer for more information.
Are Other Aussie Shepherds Having Success With CBD?
You know my story by now.
But I’m certainly not the only success story.
There are many other pet owners just like me who are seeing amazing results using CBD to treat thyroid issues, cancer, and many other problems in their dogs.
Sassy, for example, is a 12 year-old Australian Shepherd who has dealt with chronic arthritis in her neck ever since she was a puppy (due to an injury).

For a long time, Sassy’s owners struggled to find a reliable solution for managing Sassy’s pain and inflammation that didn’t produce some kind of negative side effects.
Luckily, they recently learned about CBD and have never looked back since.
“We would not have her today if it were not for your oil. It has helped her deal with pain and mobility,” wrote Sassy’s owners, who have been easing her symptoms using Canna-Pet CBD oil.
Roma is another Australian Shepherd who has been dealing with very violent seizures ever since she was 2 years-old.

Her owners started Roma on CBD supplements and have seen a huge reduction in the frequency and intensity to Roma’s seizures.
Start Using CBD Oil Today
Hopefully you found this overview useful.
More specifically, I'm hoping you now understand that CBD is a safe option to help deal with some of the health issues your dog is facing.
So if you’re ready to jump on board, I highly recommend King Kanine's King Kalm CBD 300mg Rx. I have seen great results with this oil, and I feel it offers the best value right now.
You can save 23% ($27) by visiting the official product page here.
I've used this product on my own dogs and I highly recommend it.
If you need more information, you can read my full King Kanine review here.