I just got a 4 mo. old beagle puppy and i was wondering if anyone knew about training at petco or petsmart? Are they any good? How much do they cost?
I just got a 4 mo. old beagle puppy and i was wondering if anyone knew about training at petco or petsmart? Are they any good? How much do they cost?
I doubt there is much difference and Im sure if you checked resumes the trainers have probably worked at both places.
I brought my dog to the PetSmart training….I loved it. My dog had a great time to.
It is a wonderful way to socialize and train your dog. You get little homework assignments each week to practice. I live in the NJ/NY area and it costs about $100-120 depending on the petsmart for an 8 week session.
I went through the 3 level –puppy, intermediate, and advanced. I would definitely recommend it. The trainer we had was great and all the dogs in the class loved her.
For a great DVD on how to train your dog, you should go to PetsIncredible.com! They are backed by the Humane Society and their videos are really wonderful! The videos are also cheap and go into great detail. Hope this helped!
i’m sure both would do a good job – all trainers are certified animal trainers before they are hired. Furthermore, the sessions like are like once a week right? it’s more of getting the concept down and training the pup urself – really depends on how much you work with the dog on ur own.
Petsmart is the best..
You are just as well off slipping a 20 to a bum in an alley to train your dog.
The people that train at those big chains dont need any experience to get a job training. All they need is a 2 week reccomended course. You are strictly paying for the floorspace it takes up when you go there for “training”
I would highly reccomend searching for a local trainer who has made it their life to train dogs. You will be more than satisfied with the results. Also, your vets should know of some good trainers,
Every store has a different trainer, so –it depends–.
I don’t like either of them, myself. If you are lucky to get a trainer at one of them who’s been through a certified behavioral program (San Francisco SPCA, for example) you’re lucky.
Try a local dog shelter, humane society, SPCA, dog training club, breed club or agility club.
One of my agility instructors is a certified behaviorist (SFSPCA) who teaches for Sirius Dog Training. I’ve been very happy w/ their methods (positive reinforcement).
Good luck.
nevermind
deffinattly petco. petsmart costs a lot more!!!
I used PetSmart, never liked petco for anything.
I thought it was okay. I was mostly being taught, and not my dog, but maybe that’s the way it is everywhere. I took the beginner class and I’m pretty sure it was somewhere around $125. My mom wanted something cheap, and that was the cheapest we could find. And they use positive reinforcement, which is very important.
I don’t think all their methods are correct, but I don’t think they’re wrong either. I thought the trainer we had sort of didn’t know what she was doing concerning other questions I had, but I learned the basics. I will not go back, and I will teach my dog everything else by myself from now on. I think it’s a nice place if you just want something basic. If you want anything more, I’d suggest you go somewhere else.
By the way, I know that some people don’t like PetSmart because it’s with a group of other dogs. They think their dog would get distracted, but I personally thought that was good because it helped my dog develop the skills to learn and do things with distractions around. Also, it gave my dog some social skills and some of the really skittish dogs in the class were transformed by the end of the class.
Just my two cents, I know other people hate it, but I think it was good start for me and my best friend (my dog).
Strongly suggest you look for a REAL training club and skip both Petco and PetSmart.
Petsmart > Petco > any other trainers