My male Yaggo won't take a treat from a cashier at petsmart ,so the cashier says to me "you should take our obedience class here it would make your dog more social"
I didn't know what to say to that except laugh

Aye. There seems to be an increasing number of people who think they are dog trainers because they can say "positive reinforcement" and "operant conditioning." Half of 'em can't even give you the correct definitions for those two phrases. The increase is especially prevalent among the no-correction set. They are among the worst when it comes to obeying the dog's handler (but that just might be because there are so many.)

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Anyone who has taught their dog to sit for a hotdog thinks they are "dog trainer" now days...

Aww shucks, so I'm not really a dog trainer?

THAT'S FUNNY. I HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME AND MY FEMALE GSD KIMA. THIS WAS THE LADY THAT DOES THE TRAINING AT PETSMART. SHE WAS WALKING AROUND THE STORE GIVING OTHER PEOPLES DOGS SIT COMMANDS AND CLICKING HER LITTLE CLICKER. SHE TRIED TO TELL KIMA TO SIT BUT GOT NO RESPONSE. THEN TOLD HER DOWN AND AGAIN GOT NO RESPONSE. FINALLY SHE REMARKED THAT I SHOULD BRING HER TO TRAINING. I WANTED TO LAUGH BUT I DIDN'T. I GAVE HER A PLATZ COMMAND AND THE WOMAN CLICKED HER CLICKER AND TRIED TO GIVE HER A TREAT WHICH KIMA REFUSED. WHEN MY DOG LOOKED AT HER LIKE SHE WAS CRAZY FOR CLICKING THE CLICKER SHE ASKED WHY I DON'T GET HER SOME TRAINING. SHE WAS VERY ADAMENT ABOUT THIS TOO. I HAD TO EXPLAIN TO THIS WOMAN THAT FIRST OF ALL I JUST USE A WORD "YES" INSTEAD OF A CLICKER, SECOND OF ALL HER COMMANDS ARE IN GERMAN SO SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT THIS WOMAN IS SAYING, AND FINALLY THAT SHE WAS NOT EVEN A MEMBER OF HER PACK SO SHE HAD NO REASON TO TAKE ORDERS FROM HER. SHE THOUGHT I WAS NUTS BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO TELL HER THAT THAT DOG WAS FAR MORE OBEDIENT THAN ANYTHING THAT CAME OUT OF THAT CLASS OF HERS.

People like that will never learn. I just say "thank you" & walk away, or pretend I don't speak english.

 Quote: angelique cadogan

My male Yaggo won't take a treat from a cashier at petsmart ,so the cashier says to me "you should take our obedience class here it would make your dog more social"
I didn't know what to say to that except laugh

That is priceless.

I had a petsmart trainer point at my prong collar on Cujo one day n tell a customer to buy one of those. I talked to him in complete amazement that he wasn't anti-prong.

If I socialize my dogs in PetSmart I don't buy anything. If I need to buy something I will put my dog in the car n go back into the store dog free so I don't get caught standing in line with a dog around other dogs or cashiers offering treats.

I don't take my dog into Petsmart to socialize to begin with, He comes with me ,to simply hang out with me.We rarely go on the week-ends because it is packed with the foofoo dogs that always want to come over and say "Hi" and so on.So we always go when I know it's quiet.I am surprised that anyone at petsmart would recommend a Prong,for a while they would not even sell them in there own stores here.They are crapy anyways,I'm surprised those cheap prongs have never had a law suit.I remember a member giving me a prong to borrow one night(years ago) at training, and when my female pulled hard on the prong the prong came right off.Thanks goodness it was a long tug she wanted..

I have a dog who needs alot of exposure to people, not neccesarily make friends with everyone but at least become less concerned by them, so I walk her thru wherever I can take her as often as I can, bring a tug, do some focused heeling thru the aisles. On the training field we have 2 people stand on either side of the decoy when doing her hold & guard so she learns to ignore them and focus on the decoy etc. Her eyes tend to wander a little, PetSmart is a good place to get that exposure, slick floors, inside a building, with lots of people. What more could ya want?

Well today I brought our puppy back to the vet for his 2nd round of shots. I had delayed them due to the diahreah and occassional vomiting, but as he is gaining weight, acting alert, has lots of energy, I figured it was time to get him back on track with the vaccination schedule.

Well the last time we were in, my son fed treats non-stop and Buddy never knew he was even getting a shot. Today, when she and I were talking, I explained to her that Buddy is OFF WHEAT, and his current food is chicken and rice, and the only treats he is getting is occassional fruit or something that I will make myself. She was quite understanding, so today Buddy just got a toy to play with during his shots.

We didn't finish our puppy class at Petsmart because it is very Treat Heavy, and Buddy LOVES his treats, and everyone elses too. Since we are training treat free now, how fair would that be to keep bringing him into that environment.

Pet Peeve at Petsmart, is the Carob Cookies for Dogs. Dogs cannot have chocolate, so they make a chocolate chip looking cookie? Who for? the dogs or the humans? Out in the parking lot again.

In regards to "clicker", I've been using the word GOOD along with the command that he has responded to "GOOD SIT" and lots of praise, and excited voices and petting. Sure training is going slow, but he's a smart dog and he'll get there eventually.