Puppy class at Petsmart

[Jagersmom]

I was thinking of enrolling my little guy in Petsmart puppy kindergarten for socialization and maybe pointers on training. Hopefully by the time he is able to start (10 weeks) he will know a few things? Has anyone done them and do you recommend them or is it a waist of time?

[Laura]

I wouldn't say that it's a waste, but I think that it does depend greatly on the trainer. I would probably go watch the trainer for a couple sessions and get a feel for him/her.

[Tanya]

i love puppy classes but they are far from equal. ask to see a class with that trainer beforehand see how they handle the puppies and very importantly how they ensure the safetly of the puppies (is it a seperate area from teh store, are puppies allowed to walk thru teh store adn into the area? puppies don't have all their shots so while socialisation is CRUCIAL you need to do so safely). Some good trainers can be found at petsmart but many also just get their basic petsmart training which is very little.

The benefits of a puppy class grow exponentially based on teh knowledge and experience of the trainer and staff giving the class. I always prefer going to "dog schools" that are properly trained and experienced and encourage a postiive training philosphy (which is NOT to say they lure with treats all teh time cuz that is no good either). A good pupppy class is worth it's weight in goal. And not just socialisation to puppies, but working on what "proper play" is and how and when to intervene as a human - socialisation to OTHER PEOPLE, socialisation to things and objects and smells and textures.

[rochie427]

I currently go to Petsmart for training of my 6 month old Rosie. Right now we are in the Intermediate class. We completed the Puppy class in December. Where I am they take no more than 8 pups in a class. The area that we train in is not very big but big enough to train and practice. We also walk around inside the store to practice loose leash walking, heeling, greeting people, sit, wait and watch me. The trainer we have right now is the same one we had for the puppy class so she is already familiar with my pups issues.

I would go find out when they have classes and observe the trainer and other dogs to see if it would be the right for you.

[Woodrow_Woodchuck]

I took Sunshine to them here, mainly because there were no other puppies around for her to socialize with. It turned out none of them there wanted anything to do with her either! LOL!! In the free play sessions the other pups spent their time trying to avoid her. Even in the training parts, the other pups kept an eye on her as we sat in a FAR corner (My choice to do so) while she struggled, grunted, wriggled, rolled and squirmed. And this was after having spent an hour or two at the lake free running and swimming before class to try and tire her out.

Our instructor was good. She relied way too much on treat training, which I do not use. She picked Sunshine as the example to show how to teach a trick, mainly because Sunshine already knew them all. But also because once she saw that treat, she was at attention!

Anyway. I felt the classes were more to teach people HOW to train their puppies rather than training the puppy. Sure, we learned the basics, but the people learned much more.

[POPTOP]

I've used PetsMart twice. The first time with Melody and met a fantastic trainer. She has since left there and is working with another trainer - that's were I do now.

The second time was a complete bust and after a couple of classes, I did not return.

Go and watch the class, see how the trainer is and how he/she works with the dogs.

NOTE: This was not puppy training but basic obedience. I have seen the puppy classes and they looked fine but every trainer is different. PetsMart has set rules for the trainers that they cannot vary from.

[sarah]

I'm not familiar with puppy kindergarten at Petsmart, but we did take the puppy class there. We had a couple of issues with it. Firstly, we were the only ones in our class and we had been hoping to have Sam be able get in some socialization (this was his first puppy class and he was around 4 months). That wasn't really Petsmart's fault though, it just happened that way and we did end up getting more individual attention obviously.

The other thing was that our trainer was really really chatty. She would start off every class asking us what 'issues' had popped up that week. Well since Sam is our first puppy ever, we had tons of questions and several times we spent almost the whole hour talking and not doing much training. She even gave us a free class at the end because we talked the entire hour one time and didn't do a single minute of training. While she did seem like a good trainer in what little we did do, we didn't feel like we got enough out of it for the money we paid.

We ended up going to our local humane society for training classes after that because the trainers were great, they had a ton of classes available and liked that the money went to the shelter.

[ZoeysMommy]

Puppy classes are for fun and socialization. Petsmart is perfectly fine for that if the class is full and the trainer has half a brain. For further classes you will want to put more thought into the trainer.

[Jagersmom]

I'm not familiar with puppy kindergarten at Petsmart, but we did take the puppy class there. We had a couple of issues with it. Firstly, we were the only ones in our class and we had been hoping to have Sam be able get in some socialization (this was his first puppy class and he was around 4 months). That wasn't really Petsmart's fault though, it just happened that way and we did end up getting more individual attention obviously.

The other thing was that our trainer was really really chatty. She would start off every class asking us what 'issues' had popped up that week. Well since Sam is our first puppy ever, we had tons of questions and several times we spent almost the whole hour talking and not doing much training. She even gave us a free class at the end because we talked the entire hour one time and didn't do a single minute of training. While she did seem like a good trainer in what little we did do, we didn't feel like we got enough out of it for the money we paid.

We ended up going to our local humane society for training classes after that because the trainers were great, they had a ton of classes available and liked that the money went to the shelter.

I do do believe I was referring to the puppy classes at Petsmart.
I really hope we are not the only ones. Like you said it had its ups and downs. The humane society around here offers nothing but spay/neuter clinics once a year and adoption programs. They are very much underfunded to offer something like classes. There is a place where I can send him for classes but I am very apprehensive about doing that.

Thanks all all for the advice, I am looking at the schedule and I am going to pop in on one of those. We have two petsmarts and if I do t like that one, I will try the other.

[barry581]

I agree with what others have said. A lot depends on the trainer, and I would definitely watch a few classes before I signed up. I think they are expensive for the level of training. That said, I did Petsmart intermediate and advanced with Sophie, and really enjoyed the classes, the instructor was really good. I did puppy with Bruce, he was four months, and I wasn't as happy. We had a different trainer, and she was borderline incompetent. I found another local trainer for CGC class, and was very, very happy with her. No matter where or what class, it's the trainer that really makes the difference.

The thing I really benefited from was all the mistakes I made with Sophie, made me much smarter when Bruce arrived. I'd been through a lot with her, and had learned A LOT from this board, which made training Bruce a whole lot easier. I started training Bruce day 1 when he arrived at 10 weeks old. When he started puppy class at 16 weeks, he could sit, stay, down, recall, and leave it. All at a very basic level, with zero distractions, but he could do it. Two or three quick 5 minute training sessions are all you need to get started.

I wish you the best of luck!!!!!!