I took Lexi to Petsmart school, too. Since it's your first night, they ask you to leave your puppy at home. They'll walk you around the store and show you what treats to try (ALL the puppies went crazy for these small, soft liver treats that the trainer recommended). They'll take you to the leash, collar/harness area and show you what size leash you need.

The only draw back was that there were 2 LARGE puppies in her class. While the adult classes ask that you keep your dog on the leash at all times, the puppy class asks you to take them off and let the puppies play. Needless to say, Lexi ended up getting trampled by a 10 week old lab and was afraid of dogs after that. Not just afraid...terrified :eek:

The best part is that you can buy the treats tonight and take them home to test them before you start training with your puppy.

Good Luck!

P.S. When I went to the dog show in Detroit, the trainers were giving their Yorkies little pieces of hotdogs as treats. Don't know how good they are for the little ones but the trainers I talked to were both breeders. I bellieve they were "all beef" hotdogs.

Roxie and I are currently enrolled in the puppy headstart at petsmart, we are in our 4th week (as of tuesday), and i've seen such a difference. The 1st night we left out furbabies at home, and went over the course, treats, what to bring, waterbreaks, it was very informative.

I chose Natures Recipe training treats, they should have them right there in the closed off area where the classes are held. Roxie loves them. You get a coupon after every class, they are priced at a 1.99, with a 1.00 of coupon!!! cant beat that!! so after every class my trainer gives me a coupon for these instead of the other ones because im not too crazy about the other treats. I let her try the Athority liver treats, but they upset her lil tummy. Also they advise you to have a soft treat, nothing hard. I like these soft treats because you take and split them up into about 5-6 tiny pieces so they dont get thier belly full, also make sure they dont eat 4 hours before class, because its based on treats, and a full tummy isnt going to respond as well as a empty one! We also bring a water bowl, and have a break to walk around the store, or in roxies case, water around, look pretty, and have everyone tell her shes pretty!! LOL!

Its a great class, we only have 1 other puppy in our class, and they loveeee playing with each other.

Shes learned sit, stay, laydown, wait, take it, and we are working on leave it.
Working on distance also, where you take 5 steps back, and she stays right where shes at! Its so much fun! even if your dog doesnt learn much, atleast they get the socialization they deserve!!! Acutally, thats what my trainer told me to begin with, the class is more for social time with other dogs than anything.

I encourge everyone to take this class its so much fun! (even for me)!!!

Does anyone know if there are classes at Petco or something for older dogs? Biddy can sit & come & stay (she's 1 and 1/2), but I'd to work on some other stuff with her - not jumping up on people, better manners, etc. Plus I'd like to take her & Tucker together (he's 5 months)...

cheerios
 

How about a little baggie full of plain cheerios. My Sugar Babie loves cheerios. After she does something right, a little cheerio. That way they aren't getting such a big portion and you can reward them a lot. :)

lol...... i was just going to suggest cherrios too :)

Lexi and mom have been going to the petsmart class for four weeks now mommy four weeks lexi three. We love it, it is the 8 wk class. We use cherrios for treats, Lexi will do anything for them. We love class, we have learned so many new things and socialization is great for both mommy and me. Good luck in class, you will love it. At times it seems overwhelming and you don't think your baby will ever get it but they do. We got to petsmart just to play in the training area now when we go to shop we have to go in, lexi won't let us walk by it without taking a sniff. She even goes to where we sit in class...too funny. GOOD LUCK

I'm so glad Petco Training Classes came up because I have a question.

Isn't it difficult to keep your puppy focused on you and the treats with all the other shoppers around?

That was our concern, so we opted for the $120 trainer that allows 6 students max in each of her limited age/weight classes.

(We also attend All Ages, 20 pounds and less Playtime on Saturdays. Bodhi is able to get used to a bit more variety.)

I love the Natural Balance rolls. I add this to a mixture of Royal Canin kibble, and Pupcorn. Everything is in the tiniest of bits. I feel kinda wierd cutting up dog-shaped Pupcorn, though.

Our trainer suggest mixing high-valued treats with ho-hum-treats so the dog doesn't know what kind of reward it may get.

She also rolls string cheese pieces when demo-ing. To which Bodhi threw up, thank you Teacher.

:thumbup: The best is the Skippy's Peanut Butter tube. The dog can lick just a bit from that. Very neat and clean. Haven't tried that one yet for Bodhi.

I take a mixture of a few different kinds of treats when Max & I go to school. The little bugger stops performing after a while if I use the same thing. LOL He's a finicky guy, too....Maybe it's in the name??

Max loves the liver bits...they're in a little milk-carton type container, and I buy them at Walmart for 69-cents...they're soft & easily break into a couple of smaller pieces, too...good for training.

Some of the other dogs in class responded well to toys, but Max didn't. He wanted the chow! LOL

Hope you had a great time at your 1st class!!

Well Maximus is here rteading with me and he CAN'T WAIT to spend time with mommy and meet wats and wats of fwiends......lol, but seriously I am excited for him I hope he does well...I decided to go for the petsmart classes over the more expensive private company pnes (Also because I had to call them 3x before I even got a call back at which point I was treated nasty when I asked questions)....I don't think I ever tried the liver...so we are heading there today..wish me luck

Does she like the cereal honeycomb? I have given Lily 1 of those to nibble on when she did a good job

I just sign Mocha up for Puppy Kindergarten and it will cost 165 for 7 weeks!! Looking forward to starting!!

I notice that Mocha LOVES the milk bone treats and also Cheerios!!

Let me know how you guys think the class goes. I want to take Peanut but I have heard mixed reviewss about their training methods at petsmart.

We went to the first class Friday, I brought Pita cuz I didn't know we weren't sposed to.

I think we will try cheerios & the yogurt drops. We have had the Natural Balance treats and she likes them for awhile but then is done. She eats the Natural Balance roll for food so that doesn't work for treats cuz half the time she's turning up her nose at that.

The first class was boring, I learn more from here than that. Of course there's no class next week cuz of Memorial day then I go out of town so my daughter is taking Pita to the first actual doggie class.

It seems like it will be fun. Pita did great being there, the trainer had brought her 2 dogs and Pita didn't mind them at all. My daughter's year and a half old Chihuahua is scared of big dogs so he shook the whole time. That is one of the reasons we are going.

We are in the Basic class, they have Puppy classes but Pita's 7 months so she's too old for it. They have an advanced class too.

So if you have an older dog you can go in either the Basic or Advanced depending on the level of training you already have.

The only thing I didn't like was the trainer is a big fan of Greenies and I know from this forum that there is controversy over them, so if I were her I wouldn't push them and my daughter tried to tell her that the vet she works for says they are a no no but she just poo-poo'd it.

Oh well, I know enough not to listen to everything I am told like it's gospel.

I think we will have fun in these classes tho! Pita's the littlest one there!

Why are greenies a no-no? I've never heard that before. :confused: