I have a 7 month Shepherd/lab mix who I found wandering the streets. She has been “diagnosed” (by the vet)with fear aggression and it was suggested (by the Petsmart people) that I get her into some puppy classes. I am just leary of what kind of actual training these people have had working with dogs that have behavior issues? Does anyone have any positive or negative experiences with the Petsmart training classes?
Thank you
I took my puppy to Petsmart for training but I would not recommend this for you. You need a more professional trainer with years of training in order to deal with fear aggression. The busy climate in Petsmart could trigger your dog to have a fear aggression attack. You don’t want your dog attacking someone or another dog if its scared. These trainers aren’t equiped to deal with this problem. I would search around for a better more educated trainer.
No it is not a good place to work with your dog. They mostly want to sell you stuff they have in the store and their trainers only use the bribe and beg method which does not work. Plus, they usually do not have very knowledgeable people instructing classes so they are ill equiped to help with most problems. Your dog needs a more knowledgeable instructor and one that knows how to deal with aggressive dogs (fear based or whatever) I suggest you go to a breed club in your area(many accept mixes) and join because there are many knowledgeable people that will be able to help you.
Depends on the trainer.I had a good one but I have seen others that were not worth it.
We took our rescue dog to Petsmart training classes when we got him and the trainer, (a middle-aged lady in our case,) was absolutely wonderful 🙂 Our dog, (a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix,) learned a lot there. 🙂
I definitely would recommend Petsmart’s dog training services. 🙂
I THINK ITS A GOOD IDEA AND ALSO NOT EXPENSIVE , MAYBE IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY A PRIVATE WILL BE BETTER FOR YOU BUT IN GENERAL ITS GOOD FOR YOUR DOG BECAUSE HE WILL BE SOCIALIZING WITH OTHER DOGS AS WELL, AND REMEMBER TO BE CONSISTENCE IN TRAINING HIM AT HOME, GOOD LUCK
You’d be better getting a monkey to train your dog than going their. They are probably trained in petsmart but from alot of things ive heard and from my college training it isnt the best type of place to go for that. I think you’d be better off going to someone who specialises in dog training.
You are there with the dog, working with him, so this would be a good idea.
Try it, it can be very helpful to socialize your dog and train him at the same time.