[YorkieRiley]

Riley just started his obedience classes at Petsmart last night. The instructor is reallly good. She's had over 30yrs experience and is a certified vet. Not once did she use any kind of negative reinforcement. She worked with every single dog in the classroom on each technique, tailoring the technique to the breed.. ie. stubborn/dominate breads she would tell the owner to stand upright and be more authoritative. After the class, she spoke with the owner of a puppy that was next to us to tell her that the puppy was terrified of people and other dogs. She went over things to work on and possible causes of that behavior.

In my opinion, I think Petsmart is a very good route to go for training. You just happened experience a bad trainer and/or poor management. We have a really good Veterinary Clinic and even the vet told us to stay away from their obedience classes because they still use the choke collar and old school tactics and that Petsmart was a better place to go. Maybe you should report this trainer to the store manager or corporate?