Hello again! I was just wondering if anyone has gone to any of the PetSmart training classes. I was there yesterday and talked to one of the trainers ( they are certified I just forgot which association they are through) for about ten minutes and she gave me some ideas of what to do to help with the housebreaking of our new pup. I wanted to just get the communities thoughts of going to PetSmart. It is $106 flat-rate for a 6 week course. For the price you can't beat because a private in-home trainer is that for one session and these are 6 1hr sessions at PetSmart with a small group of dogs (I believe they have 6 dogs, 10 at most) per training session. Any experiences would be great. Thanks!
Malachi
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Honestly, I have never taken them. In fact the first class (at a shelter) I ever took was for an audit so that I could start teaching them there. However, I usually cringe every time I hear a class going on in the big box stores; not once have I been impressed with what I've heard.
My suggestion would be to read our sticky (in the Training/Behavior Stickies subforum), go watch a few and see if the trainers there are any good (ask them questions afterwards!), and if it seems like it won't be helpful, use the links in said sticky to find another class to check out.
That said, if I recall correction, your dog is quite fearful? I wouldn't recommend an in-store training to you if that is the case (aside from larger classes, confined/unideal training space, and a whole lot of other stuff going on customer wise). In home might be a good place to start, and then to an actual training facility. Plain exposure is not the same as good socialization.... You don't want to overwhelm or cause worse fears by taking her to place she is unprepared for.
My suggestion would be to read our sticky (in the Training/Behavior Stickies subforum), go watch a few and see if the trainers there are any good (ask them questions afterwards!), and if it seems like it won't be helpful, use the links in said sticky to find another class to check out.
That said, if I recall correction, your dog is quite fearful? I wouldn't recommend an in-store training to you if that is the case (aside from larger classes, confined/unideal training space, and a whole lot of other stuff going on customer wise). In home might be a good place to start, and then to an actual training facility. Plain exposure is not the same as good socialization.... You don't want to overwhelm or cause worse fears by taking her to place she is unprepared for.
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