Petsmart puppy class?
 

Anybody taken their little monkey to the Petsmart puppy class? I wonder if it is any good... Any input would be greatly appreciated!:aimeeyork

alot of people here have used petsmart's training classes. I signed morgan up for them too, but after the third class i quit because all the stuff they were gonna teach, morgan already knew LOL i should have thought of that before signing up. the classes are good for socialization too

i personally haven't since I trained all my babies personally...and they would have taught them the exact same thing i have already...kekek

we love it! but you have to love your trainer... try and go and watch a few classes with the different trainers and see which one you like best... we love our trainer and we've taken begininner and intermediate with her.. and we are now signed up for click a trick and will be taking advanced in the summer! i love the socialization it gives layla!

Gordon will have his 5th puppy class this Saturday.

I have been with two other dogs of ours before and it helped them.
I had already taught him a few of the basic commands, but I wanted him to have the socialization with others (dogs and humans). Gordon learns the commands pretty good within a couple of minutes......the problem with Gordon is distraction. The Petsmart that he goes to.....the class is sorta in the middle of the store , and lots of distractions. The first two classes , I thought he didn't learn anything because he was so distracted. Yet, when I gave him the commands at home , he did them.
In the four classes so far he has learn the basics, (sit, down, stay, watch me, leave it, take it, and how to walk nice on a leash) he doesn't have all of them 100% but he is at least 80% even with the distractions.
He only does the commands for treats (cheerios) but once he is 100% we will faze them out. He is already doing sit and down with hand signals real good.

He will start advance classes at the end of May and then clicker classes.

It is well worth the money and the drive (45 minutes) for me.
Oh, and Gordon it the only one in the class , there were two others but they dropped out.....to long of a drive.
He will have lots in the advance class , so that will help him a lot.

I love the petsmart puppy classes! I do really like the trainer, and that he gets to socialize with other dogs. Ozzie does know a lot of what is being taught but, he is also learning new things.( He is the star of the class). We have done four classes, he learned watch me, and leave it. He perfected sit, down and walking on a leash.

I would say they are a lot of fun, and convenient.
I would definitely recommend them .

Well Wrigley is repeating puppy kindergarten! We had our first class at Petsmart last week. We didn't take it there the first time around. The main reason we wanted to do it was for the socialization. Wrigley is really scared of other people and dogs, except for our Yorkie poo who is 3 times her weight, she rules her!
I liked the trainer and the class is full with 8 dogs, just what we wanted! There is even a 12 week old Yorkie puppy!
The trainer even told us if she is still timid and scared at the end, we can repeat the class again at no charge! I would hate to think our baby would need to do kindergarten three times! :eek:

I have Annie in the Petsmart puppy classes
and I really enjoy it. Although they teach
them the basics ((which I had already done)),
I took her for the socialization and to get
her used to being around bigger dogs. She
does great in the "circle" but really shakes
and panics when we do the training/walking
in the store. She is getting better with it every week though.
Overall I would say it is well worth it.

Kasey

Yaay! I can't wait for Hustler's beginner classes to start this saturday. By the sounds of it, the classes were a worthwhile investment =)

Lola & her cousin Lily (2 lbs chihuahua) LOVE Petsmart training. The petsmart in Vacaville, CA has a wonderful trainer named Ellen. It's amazing how quickly the pups catch onto! She has some great ideas that have helped with some of our training problems.

It is my opinion that most puppy classes are very similar in content: sit, stay, heel, good/bad behaviors, etc.

Of course you want to find a teacher that you like though. We loved our puppy class teacher. She was very knowledgeable.

But the important thing to remember is that most of the training happens at home. So pretty much no matter the teacher, you can take the guidelines and do great things if you put the time it.

Sam is in the puppy class now and we love it. Now he doesnt do any of the tricks while we are there.... just every now and then, he mainly wants to play with the other dogs. And Sam loves Ms. Rachel. She brings her dog and shows us everything he knows. She is very patient and super friendly.

This week will be our 5th class. They teach you as much as you teach the puppy.

Thank you all so much, knew I could count on you for honest opinions. I am getting Ms. Reesee signed up! Thanks again!

Dior took went to puppy sch in nov. of last yr. We have had a horrible experience. It april and she still hasn't graduated. Y u ask? Because their final exam was on jan 8th and she got sick the day before because of the many treat we were using for the training. Ever since then i have been rescheduling up her appt to graduate and the instructor never shows up and is always sick. It getting to be soo frustrating. But other than that its was ok. We had somewhere to take her on Wed. and she made a few friends. I personally wouldn't recommend it. They can learn those things at home from a book or a tape. You the parent just have to stick with it.:thumbdown

You won't be sorry! :) Even if she did know everything they were going to teach her, you need it for the socialization. Chloe was so scared on her first day, I thought it wouldn't work. By the third training session, she OWNED Petsmart--it was her place. Now, she gets so excited when we go to training. I love to tease her first and get her all wound up. I say to her, "Chloe, do you want to go to Petsmart and play with the puppies?" She comes running lightening speed and dances all over the place. Then she waggles that little tail, and toenail taps, waiting for me to take her, so I say it again..." do you wanna play with the puppies?" She starts dancin' all excited. But I have to do it one more time... "puppies?!" LOL...If I torment her any longer, she'll start barking as if to say, "enough, let's go already!"