In the past I have taken a training course at Petsmart (with a previous dog, a Beagle) and although I thought the training was great at the time, there is no comparison to the trainer London & Preston are going to. Our trainer is CPDT & APDT certified, and most (if not all) Petsmart trainers are not certified other than their little "Petsmart certified" program which is likely nothing more than a few hours of on-the-job training.
The thing is, is that with Petsmart it will really depend on who you get as a trainer as far as which methods they use, etc. They have a general guideline, but each trainer tends to do things their own way. Some use clickers, some don't. In fact, when I took classes at Petsmart, we started with one trainer but then a different one subbed in and used different methods -- it was a mess.
Price-wise, I am paying $60 for London & $50 for Preston's classes, which are 6 weeks long (6 1-hour sessions). So for both dogs I am getting a certified trainer for $110. I would search for a certified trainer on the APDT website,
Dog Trainer Search which is how I found my trainer.
Let us know what you decide!
