Petsmart Puppy Class

Has anyone had any experience with the Petsmart Puppy Class? I'm trying to decide if I should go with Petsmart or a private training class. I'd love to hear any reviews. It says they start accepting pups at 10 weeks but should I wait until he has all his shots? I'm so paranoid about diseases but they do require all the pups to be UTD on shots and I think the socialization is really important for him. Thanks in advance for any input!

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on March 16, 2009 at 11:09pm

It really depends on the individual trainer, some great, some good. We had three different trainers from puppy class to CGC, go and observe several classes, see which trainer you feel most comfortable with. Also here's a search result from previous disccusions on the same topic

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Permalink Reply by Jenna, Jasper and Cersei on March 16, 2009 at 11:29pm

Thanks Sam! : )

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Permalink Reply by Brenda and Gary on March 16, 2009 at 11:33pm

Our boy Tiki was trained at PetsMart. Far as I'm concerned, we had the best trainer around at the time. She was a dog breeder and trained dogs prior to training at PetsMart. Since then, she has left our PetsMart and I would now go to a private school after seeing the trainers they hired now. I agree with Sam. Stop by and observe first.

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Permalink Reply by Jenna, Jasper and Cersei on March 17, 2009 at 12:16am

I guess it really does depend on the individual trainer. I'll have to do some research at our local store. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by SpartyBuckeye on March 17, 2009 at 12:25am

We took Colby to the puppy classes when he was 12 weeks. IT WAS GREAT! He learned sit, down, stay, drop-it, leave-it, come when called, loose leash walking, and it was great for socialization. Drop-it and leave-it have been invaluable on walks. Also, the classes were great for me and my wife as well, because it made us be consistent with our training (because we were tested every week on what we learned the previous week, plus there is a final exam before graduating). We took the class right around the holidays, and they were great about us rescheduling classes for different times during the week when we were traveling and couldn't make it to our scheduled classes. We had an awesome trainer who came highly recommended from a friend of ours (or else we would have observed a class or two first).

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on March 17, 2009 at 8:22am

We are into our 3 round of classes at our local PetSmart.
The first trainer we had to two classes and she was great..this last current trainer is a different girl and I am not a huge fa. The class do teach a lot and Harry loves them, plus he gets to interact with all other shapes and sizes of dogs, but Sam is right...really depends on the trainer :) I would try one out and see if you can sit in on a class before deciding to check out the trainer...they let us do that before we signed up for puppy classes..