PetSmart

jamie8dc · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:18 pm Post subject:

LOL no kidding. Screw engineering... puppy college professor here I come!

sterlingsmom · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:42 pm Post subject:

Anne, The place we are taking Sterling sounds incredibly pricey (I REALLY had to do my homework to justify the price!) but this guy runs a training facility, has trained and shown Weims for 20 plus years and owns six of the MOST WELL BEHAVED WEIMS I have ever seen. His 8-month old litter mates act better than most 10-year olds that I've seen. It is three straight weeks of every day all day interaction and training. He does boarding and daycare, but only for dogs who train with him...great idea, since they all are trained with the same commands. I visited him one Saturday, and he had 60 dogs at his facility....NOBODY was barking. They are split into small groups and not allowed to just run around like crazy. he has two "pack leaders" assigned to each group. Even when he boards, he has an open slumber area where he places several dogs in a pack to sleep at night. NO CAGES. They train, train and more train, do a DVD of the training and work with the owers as well. It does include letting the dog stay at night too, but I won't leave Sterling. I thought about doing it also to help my JRT's chill out a little bit, as they are a little (well, the boy A LOT) paronoid about her at the moment. They will teach her bit inhibition and how to "play nice" with smaller dogs, no jumping, countersurfing, how to walk on a lead properly...everything. the best part: he offers a 100% money back guarantee in writing. The other people around the bay here who have Weims have raved about this place for a long time. He's got the best reputation in town for being able to train weims.
I'm excited about it...even if it will break our bank roll for a bit Very Happy

anne · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:46 pm Post subject:

Let us know how it goes! Always good to know of good trainers. So is it basic training then?

sterlingsmom · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:54 pm Post subject:

They do some more advanced stuff if the dog is ready for it. Sterling has pretty good manners and already knows some intermediate stuff...she has a fantastic recall off lead, but yes, I guess it would be considered basic training. He says he treats every dog individually and doesn't make promises he can't keep. He does, however, expect every single one of his "students" to leave there knowing all the basic stuff with ONE command ONE time. The only negative he will use with the weims is "time-out," which sterling HATES and understands all too well, so she should do really good. My main concern is teaching her how to play nice with the smaller dogs so we can have a fully integrated house again. I feel so bad for my little JRT's having to stay in the bedroom most of the day Crying or Very sad

Beth · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:16 pm Post subject:

Can you PM me some of the details, I'd like to see if there's anything like that around here...

anne · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:18 pm Post subject:

Someone I sold a pup to has an older girl bred by one of our "known" breeders (less-than-reputable) out here, who has a pretty difficult temperament. She sent her dog to "doggy boot camp." If you are interested, I'll pass on the info. With your dogs history, I would be VERY careful about who I send her with...

PS - melissa, there is no membership meeting wiht the club until Jan so won't be able to get anything to you until later this month.

sterlingsmom · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:25 pm Post subject:

yes, please pass on the info. I do want to be VERY careful who I send her to. I've lost so much sleep over this whole thing, especially because seriously, all she wants to do is play with the smaller dogs. She just won't take being bullied and bitten. I'm aware we're also going to have to do something with my male Jack to be able to have them co-exist...rehoming isn't an option...even if I have to spend my life savings on training them all to play nice or to at the very least, stay away from each other.

anne · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:27 pm Post subject:

Oh I'd be happy to pass on the info to you, but I was addressing Melissa because she's in So Cal and this trainer is in So Cal too....

sterlingsmom · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject:

oops...but I'd still like to see it...I like to compare, I guess Smile

anne · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:32 pm Post subject:

Sure!
Gimme a few days, I need to get the info. Smile

sterlingsmom · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:42 pm Post subject:

Thank you! You are so kind.

Ellinorianne · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:11 am Post subject:

We got very lucky with our PetSmart training. It's a good time to start it for one thing. There are only two other dogs in the class, so rather than 10 to 15 dogs there are only 3. I think the big issue is the trainer. Maybe go meet them.

I just went and signed up, our trainer is in Vet school and she's great, she just owned Sophie in minutes, just really had a great way with each of the dogs and was very easy to understand, lots of attention and patient with the people (who are really the ones getting trained).

Maybe take your dog to meet the trainer who will teach the class or ask to and just see how they interact. There was a couple with their dog who had gone to meet this woman and she gave them so advice and convinced them to take the class.

sterlingsmom · Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:12 am Post subject:

you DID get lucky with Petsmart. We went to check it out, and there were a bunch of kids teaching...didn't like they way they were greeting the dogs either...like they didn't understand dogs at all...
Probably fine for socialization (puppy) but Sterling's at the point where she needs something really intense, I guess. We do like Petsmart though...they have those big scales where we can weigh our dog on a weekly basis since we can't do it at home anymore Laughing