# Has Anyone Used Petco For Obedience Training?



## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

We do have a a trainer that specializes in german sheperd terrors, but he is sooo costly. I was wondering if anyone had used Petco for Obedience training? Did you find the trainers qualified, and were your dogs better off for the experience? I have never used obedience training, so I am looking at all the options.


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## GrannyCarol (Mar 23, 2005)

I think each Petco just hires their own trainer. It would be up to you to sit in a couple of classes and see if what they do makes sense. Overall classes are good for puppies, you get the socialization and group setting to train in and ought to learn techniques and have someone to help you with an problems. I thought the trainers in our local Petco seemed to know their business and teach a basic Obedience class, but that probably doesn't mean much to YOUR Petco. You could get lucky, or not. You'll have to just check it out. It could be really helpful to you.

Edit: Look to see if there is a local club that puts on dog shows, they will often have people that train Obedience and hold classes too. I'd expect a good level of quality there. Look for a trainer that is gentle, kind and positive. Treats are probably ok, depending on how they are used. A good clicker trainer is an asset, shoveling treats in without dealing with mugging you for them is not. I went to a trainer who used a lot of treats, but she first trained the dogs to sit and wait for them and to behave themselves.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Way overpriced. You can find a good positive reinforcement obedience class for half that and you can get a membership at most training facilities for as many classes as you want for a year for slightly more than that. Some shelters run their own training facilities if you want to avoid the akc and show crowd.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

I found Petsmart does six-week puppy classes for $110. The local dog guru charges $750, but that's for the life of the dog. Saturday dog meetups, weekly classes, really tenacious trainer. 

I looked into what it takes to be a petmsart trainer and it's a couple weeks of classes, from them, their method, and the trainer is limited by liability from deviating from the Petsmart standard. 

That said, I am fine with the more relaxed atmosphere of Petsmart (we move enough that lifetime training does us no good) and consider anything the dog actually learns as bonus. 

Go sit and watch one some evening and see what you think. 

If your girl is an older puppy and a handfuol and a hlaf, I think you might find yourself being stammered at by a nineteen year old girl who has never handled anything beyond "The chihuahuah won't sit when I tell him." I dunno. Go see. You might also get somebody who knows their stuff. 

What's Ms. Troublepants doing, anyway?


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Very experienced trainers here run $60 a 6-8week class and less than $200 for a year with nonstop classes back to back except a break over the holidays. You don't need a dog "guru". Just a good small training group with a few near volunteers and everyone doing their part so there aren't insane fees for cleanup and maintenance. Some of the akc clubs ask that each member devote so many days a month to helping clean the building in place of higher fees. Sometimes you can get even more opinions and experience from those situations than you can from some specialists that charge a fortune.


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

I don't know about Petco but the Petsmart here is over priced, and the trainers are really not qualified for the jobs they do and the area they use is too small to really use. We have several dog training clubs in the area that charge half of what Petsmart does, have well qualified instructors and train at many levels. If you join the club the classes are even cheaper and you can work to whatever level you want. The people are friendly and helpful, they are really interested in what they do and if you have a problem they know how to get help if you need it. Why don't you look for a local dog training club an see what they have for classes. You may find them not only cheaper but a whole lot better.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

Petco trainers vary wildly. Some are GREAT.....some are pretty much people who walked off the street and applied for a job. See if you have an obedience club in your area. Most larger cities do. I know our club has classes going on all the time!


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## dbarjacres (Feb 2, 2004)

We had Remy and Phoebe in PetSmart a couple weeks ago (we normally take them to the Purina store, but they were closed, so this was their first trip to PetSmart). There were too many dogs and Remy was excited, Phoebe was terrified by all the kids and people.

Remy was being naughty and barking at every dog he saw, so the "trainer" came over. Now, Remy and Phoebe both know SIT! Remy knows SHAKE! The stupid trainer lady was trying to sign us up for classes at $110 each for each dog. The trainer couldn't get Phoebe to sit. Here's why....she held the treat up, about waist height, and kept saying "put your butt down, put your butt down", of course Phoebe had no idea what she meant, so she just stood there looking at her and then the trainer gave her a treat. We were so impressed! Not!! lol We also saw one of their classes in progress as they had the dogs walk around the store. Waste of money in my opinion.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Thanks for the input, I might contact the Angel K-9 guy again since he specializes in GSD.

What is she doing...HMMMM...

Jumping on me that I cannot stop and I have tried EVER method known to man. As soon as I convince her to stop and try to reward her with praise when she has all four paws on the ground, she jumps right back up. Misplaced hyperactivity. Trust me, if you think of a solution, I have tried it to no avail.

Pooping indoors. Yes, I have her next to me at all times now, at least in the same room with me. She won't do it near me, but if she gets alone for 10 seconds she runs off and poops. I take her out and stay with her, she will NOT poop outside. As large as she is, a crate is out of the question (no room for such a big crate) and the other dogs drive me nuts because they don't think she belongs in there.

Runs off now if not in the fenced in yard.

New food aggression with my chow. I am trying to keep her place as "bottom" dog by the order I feed, treat, pet, greet etc but she cruises from one bowl to the next. Duke actually lets her eat with him, the chow is not so fond of it.

I can handle the chewing, though we estimated with counter surfing etc she has destroyed about $500 worth of shoes, gloves and kid's toys. She is so long that nothing is out of her reach. I blame that on those who leave stuff on the counter or laying around, she is still a puppy. She has never gotten anything of mine, cause I am just a little smarter than she is, lol. 

I am aware that every porblem she has is because I have never dealt with a dog with her personality traits. I heve NEVER had a puppy who couldn't housebreak, who jumped, who barks to her hear herself bark, who has no regard for gates as far as just knocking them over or climbing them to go wherever she wants. Never had food aggression. having a chow, the roaming is something I am used to but never expected from a GSD, Duke NEVER did any of these behaviors. He was born perfect :halo:.

I figure I need some professional intervention to train ME to deal with her. She is way too hyper for any reward systems...as soon as she does something right, when I try to reward her with a praise or a pet, she is back up being silly again.

I had thought of rehoming her to someone with more time. She really REALLY is a sweet dog with a big heart and WE are failing her. At 6 months, she is still salvageable. Whenever I suggest rehoming her, DH insists no, and DD melts down completely. Most of you know my home life is...errr...not ideal as far as the workload, so I am expected to deal with this somehow. I was so p.o. last night...all three of us and Brandy were in the office together on computers. brandy was laying over near DH...and destroyed one of DD's shoes. Right next to him. And he didn't notice. i took the shoe told her firmly "no" and redirected her to a toy. She went back and found a different shoe under his desk, and destroyed that. Next to him. While he sat there, unaware. Again, I took the shoe, firm no, redirected to toy. Then I had to go make dinner, so left her gated in the office with both him and DD. No one seemed to notice that she knocked the gate over and came upstairs; now I had to gate her into the kitchen with me, trying to make dinner, while she and Cricket had battle over food bowls (I had tried to feed him seperate while making dinner). Now I am burning biscuits, splitting up fur flying...can't put her out of the room because she will go poop.

At the same time, as much as I am beginning to give up on our ability to "fix" her issues, she has chosen ME as her human bond. Go figure.

She sits on command, sometimes. When she feels like it.

All of her problems are caused by OUR lack of knowing how to deal with her; WE are failing her, and I admit it. I have had many puppies in my life, but she is a personality all to herself. The biggest issue is she is all about Duke and Cricket; I need to learn how to get her to focus on ME.

I figure I need immediate professional intervention or I will have to rehome her, and dang it, that is not fair because it isn't HER fault. In the spring I plan on getting DD very involved with her, walks, frisbee, fetch, etc. In fact, with her personality and agility, I think some agility training might be in her future.

I have combed the net incessantly and tried every trick in the book to learn to handle her better, and everything is failing. Again, I freely admit this is OUR fault. But having a multi-dog household has always been the way with me/us; she is a unique individual.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Actually she just sounds like she needs something to do. When she wants to jump instead of stopping and trying to reward, make her get off you and then go throw a toy or again get her off you, have a leash or light check line already on her if you can't get her calm enough to put it on after you get home at first, and immediately go for a run outside. It is VERY important to do that step of making her get down on the floor first though since the energy is her reward for doing so rather than praise or treat because energy usage is what she wants. Then ask for calmness after awhile. Shorten the high energy time as she learns when energy and no energy is needed until you no longer need to do anything. Teaching puppies to go from play, play, play, bounce, excited to calm, still, wait is something you should practice. Get all energetic and after a few moments ask for a few seconds and eventually a few minutes of calmness then continue with building all the energy you can.

When she wants to counter surf, preferably before, get a big old bone that takes hours to chew down or a stuffed large size black kong. If you can't keep her off other bowls and you feed meals then she gets kicked out of the feeding area. If Haru cannot stop from annoying Zami when Zami has more food since she needs 4 times the food Haru gets to eat in the hallway. The doorway becomes the dividing line and not a paw goes over it until Zami is done. Of course Zami could discipline Haru herself and I'd be fine but sometimes she's lazy about food and will starve herself below ideal condition for the silliest reasons so she doesn't always protect her food despite being dominant. Being removed from the packs' various areas is the ultimate punishment for a dog. Occasionally it required tying Zami to the table or something and listening to her scream but they quickly learn that to stay in the pack areas with the pack they have to behave or banishment.

However I disagree with your attempts to keep her at the bottom of the pack. Very few people can successfully run a pack that way. If a dog wants to be dominant all your attempts to counter it will do is lead to fights eventually as the dog escalates things to try to get it's point across. You can make a dog below you and should but controlling the entire pack order is usually beyond one person. It's beyond an alpha dog or wolf. The alpha does not bother with the level and arguments of the lower ranked members. Only themselves and whether the members all obey them. Everyone else finds their own place.

Make sure you are not punishing for pooping inside unless you catch the act and then make it something short. Just a short quiet not overly forceful no or something like "uh uh" and then go outside. Punishing a dog for accidents inside only makes them not want to go in front of you so they refuse to go on a leash and try to sneak off thinking they will get punished outside in front of you as well.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Great stuff, Akane, thank you so much!!!!  I know I messed up with her housebreaking by getting upset when she pooped and I found it, which is, of course, a HUGE no no. I am trying to peel the anger back and just go pick it up; at this point, shame on ME for letting her go long enough to do it to start with.

Such a sweet heart in her, though. *sigh. I will take the advice noted above and give it a shot, for sure! Thanks again!


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

When I had a dog that was too big to crate, I put a steel eye bolt into the wall and hooked a cable to it, so she had to stay in her bed. The kind of cable I am talking about is those coated tie-out cables, shortened way up. She can't chew through that and it wont mess up the wall like a short chain would. This forced her to stay in bed, not giving her a place to poop unless she wanted to mess her own bed up. Some may disagree with this, but it's really no worse than crate training. It did work too....she is 100% reliable in the house now. As far as chewing and pooping during the day, you may need to leash her to yourself. She goes everywhere with you and is never allowed a second alone to mess up. She goes outside only on a leash and has to poop before ever being allowed to play. She may not poop for a while, but she will at some point and that's when you lavish prasie on her. Until then, repeat over and over "go potty" or whatever command you want to use. This WILL work. She is a smart dog and will soon figure out that there is NO play time until she's done as you ask. Never ever give her a chance to mess up in the house.


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## Patrick (Sep 13, 2011)

> All of her problems are caused by OUR lack of knowing how to deal with her; WE are failing her, and I admit it.


You've won half the battle, acknowledging where the problem lies. The other half is now doing something about it. Go to Petco if you must. It's better than nothing. You'll get some basic training advice, but IMO your money would be better spent with a real trainer rather than some pimple faced kid who is following the company line, but who would basically works there because she gets to hug puppies all day. The important thing is to start doing something with this dog, learning how to turn her aound. No trainer is right for everyone, but you'll learn something and get some ideas from each one. There's no harm in switching around until you find someone who has the advice and methods which work for you, just be aware that what is best for you and the dog may not be what you want to hear. If you don't want to put in the effort, IMO it's best for both you and the dog to giver her to someone who will.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Thanks, guys! Patrick, trust me, I don't want to give her up and am willing to do whatever it takes. You are talking to someone who spent $600 to have a gecko's leg amputated and nearly $1300 to save a pet rabbit, and who regularly lifts her massive GSD up the steps to compensate for damage done by DM. Giving up is not an option around here!!!  I would also be worried that she would take her behaviors into someone else's home and end up in that horrible dog recycling circle. 

I have already put some advice to use. Today, when she came in from outside and started jumping, I immediately gave her a sit command which she ignored, of course, and jumped again. I calmly put her back down and reissued "sit." After about 4 tries, she DID sit, and I got on her level and immediately backed it up with "paw." You could see the brain turning as she processed the command; she did give me her paw and immediately jumped on me again. I repeated the process, calmly, and I saw a wheel click in her big bubble brain. Instead of just issuing her a "no jump" command I gave her something else she could do instead, something she could do to please me. Now she will undoubtedly forget this, but I think I am on to something and hope to replace the jumping with an immediate sit response. I also plan to let her in from outside with a toy in hand to immediately redirect her. It would help if I could get the family to help a little for consistency, but hey, like I said before and someone else seconded, if she gets to something she shouldn't have, shame on the person who left it there. She hasn't gotten anything of mine yet. The leash trick will stop that, anyhow.

I know thre are many people here who know my home life who have been shaking their heads in a silent, "We told you so." I nod in agreement to you all and reply, "Yup, you sure did." I am confident that I CAN fix this with a little more patience.

How could SHE be so "evil" when Duke, also a purebred GSD, was such an angel?? Sure, he was hard to housebreak and ate a couch or two, but totally different than Brandy! Of course, Duke has achieved sainthood around here and I really don't recall that he has ever made a mistake in his whole life.


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## BarbadosSheep (Jun 27, 2011)

lol....sometimes when someone says "I told you so" all you CAN do is agree and move on from there! I know I have heard "I told you so" a few times myself. She is a big disobedient puppy right now and will be for some time to come. It will get better though. Just get a plan and be consistent.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

I know, they all warned me when I was getting her, and I honestly thought the family would be more pro-active. You think I would have learned, lol. What can I say, I am a sucker for a sweet face. I told DH the other day that it was our fault she isn't turning out the way we had hoped; he didn't want to hear it. I hear that a year might be the turning point...massive doses of tranquilizer should help between now and then. For me, not her.


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## MARYDVM (Jun 7, 2004)

Do I remember correctly that she comes from working dog breeding? Many of the things she is doing are things a ScH breeder would want to see in their pups. 

Knocking down a baby gate to get what they want - good, not touch or noise sensitive.
Barking a lot - good for training the bark and hold.
High energy, jumping = high drive, another desired trait.

ScH dogs often get rewarded for focus and obedience by being allowed to bite a tug or chase a ball - all very active rewards. 

Not sure where the house breaking issue fits in, but a fair number of European ScH dogs are kennel dogs only. They can be tough to live with if you don't have the time to burn up all that energy.

Do not go to Petco with this puppy. Go to the Shepherd expert, or a local ScH club for advice from a trainer with working dog experience.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Hmmm...you are right, Mary! She did come from ScH lineage, a completely different ScH line than Duke's. Hmmmmmm again. So the first instinct is right...this puppy needs a job. She does love fetch, just like her older "brother," but he is soooooo laid back and relaxed compared to the hyper yiper here. You guys are reallly providing me with a lot to think about in handling her. Thank you!


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## Molly Mckee (Jul 8, 2006)

My DD has ScH dogs- she walks them 3- 5 miles every day. And she also does obedience and agility with them. They really need a job.


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

GSD's are WORKING dogs, she needs a job to wear her butt out. I've grown up with shepards...one of the biggest tricks in training them is if you give them a command, they MUST obey it every time. So, unless you intend to enforce the law, don't mamby pamby give her a command and let her get away without obeying you. You'll never get this dog trained at that rate.

Go to a trainer that is experienced in working with GSD's. Going to a Petco etc is an exercise in futility.

As far as housebreaking. Take the dog out to go to do her business. Stay out there with her until she does it...even if it takes her an hour. As soon as she's done, give her a treat. Don't come back into the house until she does it. The first few times might be a trial, but so is cleaning up dog crap in the house.


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## jen74145 (Oct 31, 2006)

Working and pet-type lines are a whole different world. Spring for the GSD trainer. Call her breeder for help. Really, call the breeder. She'll know whether she needs maturity and time or if this is going to be her for life.

Honest to goodness, you're going to have to live with her another 10+ years. Feed the oblivious husband sandwiches to free up time to train her, and don't feel guilty about it. 

Do you run? Do you have a safe fenced area to tire her out with a couple hours of fetch/spot to set up hurdles?

She does sound like she needs a job. I might explore rehoming her to a GSD literate home- not saying you aren't, but in the same breed you have soft dogs, hard dogs, and harder dogs. She might be "harder", I don't know.


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## beccachow (Nov 8, 2008)

Thank you all for your thoughts and input!

I guess there are different traits within ScH as well; I thought since Duke was so good, Brandy would be too. Or, maybe Duke would have been a lousy ScH dog, lol. Both pedigrees were well established and well known; both had sires imported, I forget where Brandy's came from, but Duke's was Austrian. With my chow experience, you get one of two: sweet natured and loving, or timid and reserved, but basically as far as training etc they had the same traits.

After reading all your wonderful thoughts, I think I will be figuring out how to get her into agility. I am not sure, with her hyperness, if she would be a good S&R pup; time will tell on that. But hurdles, poles etc...she would be great. I can get DD to help and she would love it. I am thinking bundling up against the cold and LONG trail hikes daily, too. My wheels are spinning. I might have to save up a few $$, but you guys are right, I should go to the GSD trainer, I KNOW he has dealt with "Brandys" before.

I can't give up on us, when she curls up and lays her head on my feet to sleep, when she looks at me with that sweet expression, when she wedges herself into a tiny corner just to have physical contact with me; I know she isn't beyond hope, and I don't think we are, either. This is just a different personality than I have ever dealt with before, doesn't make it bad, just means that what I know isn't working.

You have all taken the frustration out of this and given me new hope, lots of ideas, and tons of support. Thank you!


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