Petsmart's Taining Program

[MartyJohnson]

I'm sure that has question has been brought up before. Looked back though may past pages of posts. What are peoples thoughts of their program? I have never been to a obedience class, but want to give Fawn my best chance for us to both be as Successful. Thanks for any thoughts

 

[johann]

It is very dependent on who the instructor is and their training ideas. Petsmart only allows positive reinforcement training, which is a big plus to me. But- you may end up with an instructor with limited training experience that went thru their "certification program" and now teaches classes.

That being said, we did puppy/basic/advanced obedience with Johann at Petsmart. It was great for getting him to behave around distractions and in public. We've continued on with more specialty training classes, but I do feel that we got a good base from our Petsmart trainer.

See if you can observe a class and decide if the trainer/training style will work for you. Definitely is better than no class at all, so I'd encourage you to try it.

 

[MartyJohnson]

Thanks

Thank you for your response. I will get Fawn signed up this weekend. I'm really looking forward to this. I just needed to know if it was worth it. But all the time I can spend with her is worth it.

 

[rrboxer]

Initially we were planning on going with PetsMart with our first boxer and after visiting the store many times while they had training class (before we received Lacy) - we decided against it. I didn't the small walled off training space not very big and not alot of room to maneuver (looked like everyone was crammed in). For us we didn't feel comfortable on how experienced the trainer was with boxer breed. Then I wasn't keen on when trainer had the class and pets walk around the store. For me I kept thinking of all the germs the canines can pick up on the store floor. Even though dogs get vaccinated and up to date they can still get sick. Who knows if all the public coming in with their dogs are really up to date on shots. I do know of some friends who did go PetsMart route and they loved it. It just depends on alot of factors I'm sure you'll choose the best decision for yourself and boxer. Good Luck!

 

[MartyJohnson]

I guess at this point I would just be happy with some socialization for Fawn. Due to my location their are not a lot of places to do that. I check some of the AKC trainers in the area. If the training part does not go well, I will look into that.

 

[johann]

I guess at this point I would just be happy with some socialization for Fawn. Due to my location their are not a lot of places to do that. I check some of the AKC trainers in the area. If the training part does not go well, I will look into that.

If you decide to look elsewhere after this class, I'd look for trainers associated with APDT because they are usually positive reinforcement based. In my experience, the traditional AKC obedience trainers often use punishment based methods (may just be my area though).

If you're worried about the germs- wipe her paws off after you leave the store. Johann always goes to petstores with me, so that wasn't a concern of mine.

 

[kcttiger]

We just finished the beginner class with Peyton, 10 months, fawn. Bob, at our local petsmart here in Grand Junction was awesome. Couldn't have been better. So well, that we signed Peyton up for the intermediate class. Nothing is worse than an illmannered boxer!!

Good Luck.