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PetSmart Training Class
Hi guys. I've been lurking here for about a month or so and enjoying
the discussion. I'm posting for the first time with a specific question. I enrolled in a PetSmart Basic Plus training course. I did not have faith in the instructor prior to enrolling in the class, so I understand my current frustration is all my own fault, but I decided to enroll anyway because I was new to the area and frankly, just looking for a reason to get out of the house to interact with people outside of my job. Please note that this is not a slam against all PetSmart classes. I think the trainers vary quite a bit and have had friends who had wonderful experiences in different cities. I am hoping that Leah might see this question and weigh in with her experience since she works with Petsmart. In the very first class, I got turned off by this guy because he answered a simple question from the other dog owner pretty badly. She had asked how to get to having a reliable command without treats and rather than explaining how random reinforcement works, his answer was to always treat the dog. Since it was his class and he's the professional, I just held my tongue and pretty much decided then that I wasn't going to be asking any in-depth theory questions of him reasoning that this could still be a good experience seeing as how it was a structured training period with good doggy distractions. But it hasn't turned out that way. The class is poorly paced and very boring. Again, I don't think its a structural flaw of the class design but more in how he implements it. Since we are now three weeks in, and the dogs (it's a two-dog class) did pretty well this week, I had asked him if we could try the agility portion off-lead for the next class. I knew it was early but was desperately seeking any reason to come back to this class and thought trying off-lead might do it. His answer was a flat "no". I tried to suss out why and he eventually explained the dogs weren't ready. I agreed this might very well be true, but asked what would be hurt by a 5-minute experiment. If the dogs couldn't be lured and it wasn't working, then we could go back to leashes. No harm, no foul. He said a flat "no" again. I can't explain why this annoyed me so much, but it really did. I think primarily because I was thinking this might be my salvation, my one reason to look forward to returning to the class, and his response basically leaves me with nothing to look forward to. My ideal outcome would be to just drop the remainder of the class and get half of my money refunded. I know there is probably a "no refunds" policy so I'm not sure if I even want to raise this with him or the store, but I am just so frustrated right now that I really don't want to spend the next 5 weeks doing this monotonous class. It's not the money. Well, it's partly the money, but I can live without it. It's just that I am so frustrated. It's not a bad class for the dog. She's OK with it and he's mostly OK with the practical side of stuff (though not so good with the theory). It's just that I think both the dog and I should enjoy the class and right now, I'm really not. |
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On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 20:49:06 GMT, Handsome Jack Morrison
wrote: One of the reasons you said you took the class was just to get out and meet people, right? Well, just go with the flow then; as you yourself admit, your DOG is getting something out of it, and that's the most important consideration, right? Well, I meant the dog was doing OK. But, she's a good dog and does OK tons of places. While this trainer wasn't helping me very much, I also don't think he was hurting the dog and her training. But, she's not really getting anything more out of it than she would with a dedicated hour by myself (which I've been doing anyway). Actually she'd probably get more out of a dedicated hour, because I like to keep tighter pacing to my sessions than he does. Recommendation: Grin and bear it, finish the class, and have a much better reason for enrolling in any future classes (than getting out and meeting people). Doesn't really seem like a bad reason to me, but it really wasn't the ultimate reason. Obviously, I wanted to have fun training my dog, which is why I chose this over underwater basket weaving. But I do think I jumped the gun too quickly on picking a class. I had looked a few months before when I first moved here and coudn't find any recommendations or resources online. So when I realized that I wanted a more structured program for my dogs and yes, also some non-work interaction especially on weekdays, I kind of jumped into this class. I'm currently branching out a little into the community to see if I can find someone with whom I'm more compatible. |
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The size of the class should have told you something.... grin The
local PetsMart here, plus the other chain store, have been unable to hire and keep even inadequate trainers... I WAS a Petsmart trainer. I quit this week. I've been with the company since they started the new program. Good program, bad management, at least in my area. We got a new training supervisor who not only has never taken a class but knows NOTHING about training or even the Petsmart program in general. She started making changes to the detriment of the program that I simply could not deal with and some of her comments "Trainers are a dime a dozen" and "I hire on basis of personality, NOT experience" drove me nuts So I'm done there. As for classes, my classes averaged 8-10 dogs. I teach puppy, basic, advanced (CGC) and clicker. My store is the pilot store for agility classes in my area. The other trainer and I make over 1,000 a week for that particular store.. Our sales are awesome. And we are treated like dog **** by the very people we make money for. . Now, with that ridiculously tiny training "pen", Isn't that a joke?? Luckily we were allowed to modify ours and had quite a large area to train in. At any rate, from what I have seen in my area, Petsmart still does not take dog training seriously. It's up to the individual instructor to make the store. Petsmart is retail, after all, and one is just a number there. Dogstar716 Come see Gunnars Life: http://hometown.aol.com/dogstar716/index.html |
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(Jo Wolf) wrote:
The size of the class should have told you something.... grin Not necessarily. My classes were averaging 3-4 dogs, and this summer it's down to 2-3. And yet my boss is thrilled because I enroll more dogs in that particular store than any other trainer they've had there. A lot depends on the demographics of the area. Many of my students are referrals from past graduates, or I'd have even less and smaller classes. PetsMart Pet Trainer My Kids, My Students, My Life: http://hometown.aol.com/dfrntdrums/m...age/index.html Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m. |
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"DogStar716" wrote in message ... This, I bet, is a major reason why they have a hard time getting decent trainers. Nope. They have a hard time getting decent trainers because they hire people Actually when I wa looking for a second job I was told that I couldn't work for them beause of the non-competetion clause, as I was teaching agility (unpaid) for the local kennel club (of which I was not a member). I ask if they offered agility and was told they weren't. Of course at this time I had trained dog through CDX and AX and AXJs, taught agility at all levels for a couple of years... And I got the feeling that they could have cared less about any credentials... -- Melissa S. Frye Skyrocket cockers www.mfrye.com/skyrocket/ |
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"DogStar716" wrote in message ... The size of the class should have told you something.... grin The local PetsMart here, plus the other chain store, have been unable to hire and keep even inadequate trainers... I WAS a Petsmart trainer. I quit this week. I've been with the company since they started the new program. Good program, bad management, at least in my area. We got a new training supervisor who not only has never taken a class but knows NOTHING about training or even the Petsmart program in general. She started making changes to the detriment of the program that I simply could not deal with and some of her comments "Trainers are a dime a dozen" and "I hire on basis of personality, NOT experience" drove me nuts So I'm done there. There is a saying about the Army - "The only times the Army gets better is when a good soldier stays in or a bad soldier gets out". Petsmart training just got worse.. Thinking about branching out on your own? -- Melissa S. Frye Skyrocket cockers www.mfrye.com/skyrocket/ |
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In article ,
Melissa S. Frye wrote: Actually when I wa looking for a second job I was told that I couldn't work for them beause of the non-competetion clause, as I was teaching agility (unpaid) for the local kennel club (of which I was not a member). I ask if they offered agility and was told they weren't. Wasn't it Tara who referred to them as "McTraining?" Anyway, no-compete agreements are very common in technology hiring, although they're pretty much ignored in practice. Mind you I think it's a big mistake to sign a contract you don't intend to honor and I wouldn't recommend it. I figure most stuff is negotiable, though, and if they're having problems finding trainers they might be willing to modify their no-compete clause to allow teaching agility and competitive obedience outside of PetSmart. -- Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis - If you don't understand how things are connected, the cause of problems is solutions -- Amory Lovins |
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