Hi Brie,

My point wasn't to wait until 10 weeks to start training. My point was a puppy kindergarten class is really beneficial for socializing your puppy and from the places I looked at, you can't join one until after the dog has its second round of shots. My local SPCA doesn't offer a puppy class. I did look at a few places, but Petsmart happened to be the only one that fit into my timing and my main goal was socialization, not training at that point. And My goal of having a more confident puppy was achieved, so I give kudos to Petsmart. I'd pay'em the $89 again in a heart beat.

As for the actual training, I had a very positive experience at Petsmart, where that was concerned too. The class was small, so I got a lot of one on one with the trainer. She only taught positive reinforcement techniques, so I never found myself in conflict with what she wanted me to do with Oz. She also runs her own dogs in agility, of which I'm very interested. So I got lots of information from her about the local agility clubs. The only complaint I had was due to lack of space, because of it being held inside the store. Having a puppy as big as a Collie, this was an annoyance, but I was mainly there for socialization and the store was great for that, so the positives outweighed the negative.

For Basic Obedience, I did switch to a local training facility. I loved all the space to work in, but I was in conflict with some of their training ideas. I also didn't find the trainers as approachable as the one at Petsmart. Overall Petsmart was a more positive experience.

Bottomline, I've now got an 8 mo old Collie, who's confident, friendly with people and other dogs and is an absolute joy to have in my family. My local SPCA will never have to worry about him showing up on their doorstep. And just maybe that's more important than the fact that I used an evil corporation for a puppy class.

Let me finally add that my local SPCA contracts with Petsmart for using their store for weekend adoptions. hmmmm...

Par...