# Agility classes at Petco?



## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

What will they think of next???

I was just at Petco picking up some food and noticed a great big sign advertising AGILITY CLASSES at the front of the store. I'm thinking ???!!! What in the world? I wouldn't even take my dog there for basic obedience classes, let alone agility. 

I stopped to read the sign carefully to make sure it was really what I thought it was. At first I thought it could be Petco advertising for a more legitimate agility instructor/facility. Alas, no. They're going to hold classes right there in the store.:crazy: I'm temped to go back and take a picture, just so that I have proof, cause no one is gonna believe me.

*Sigh* The REAL agility place in this area is going to have a field day with this.:doh:


----------



## Shaina (Oct 28, 2007)

Umm...I want to ask HOW but...yeah I'm guessing there is no logical explanation...

Yikes.


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

They can barely have room to do obedience, how in the world are they going to do agility? Unless this is a super petco. I bet they will train cashiers to teach this too.


----------



## GottaLuvMutts (Jun 1, 2009)

ChaosIsAWeim said:


> I bet they will train cashiers to teach this too.


Or worse, they won't even do that! Without a qualified instructor, I shudder to think what bad habits these dogs are going to pick up there. The person who runs the real agility classes in town is going to choke on her morning coffee when someone walks in and says "Hi, my dog took an agility class at Petco and I want to continue with you."


----------



## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

I once saw a person in Petsmart that looked so frustrated with her weimaraner puppy, wouldn't even say anything to me when I said the puppy was cute. As I got to the end of one isle, I figured out why she was so frustrated with the puppy, she was taking puppy classes there. No wonder her puppy was all over the place.


----------



## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

GottaLuvMutts said:


> Or worse, they won't even do that! Without a qualified instructor, I shudder to think what bad habits these dogs are going to pick up there. The person who runs the real agility classes in town is going to choke on her morning coffee when someone walks in and says *"Hi, my dog took an agility class at Petco and I want to continue with you."[/*QUOTE]
> 
> Yeah I have a couple of places near here that does 'fun agility' and when their students come here wanting to get serious or learn more to compete........they are upset when I tell them they have to start at the beginning because they have no contact criteria (they don't even know what that means), typically they can't have their dogs off leash because they have done everything on leash etc etc. And these people actually think they are doing agility and have enough skills to be in advanced classes etc. Good grief.


----------



## agility collie mom (Jan 26, 2008)

What are they going to do hurdle bags of food (after the student has purchased it) in the aisle way. Let's see DW could be the shelving in the store They have tables in the grooming salon. lol Seriously a scarey thought. Anything to make money and sell product.


----------



## Charis (Jul 12, 2009)

wow. that's all I've got to say...wow.


----------



## MissMutt (Aug 8, 2008)

I do think Fun Agility classes are a nice way for people to do something fun and motivational with their dog.. as long as they are done safely. Who I am to judge if someone doesn't want to learn crosses, directional stuff, distance, etc. and just wants to use the simpler agility obstacles (low jumps, tunnel, chute, table) as a way to bond with their dog? Petco's not the right environment for it, obviously (totally a money ploy and I would guess that the people running it have no experience with agility), but I don't think there's anything inherently wrong about doing non-competitive work with the agility obstacles if under the supervision of someone with some experience.

That said, we do run into a pretty significant problem at my club when people in the Fun Agility class want to start real agility, simply because there is not enough room to accommodate all of those people is foundation classes (especially when the reality is that most of them will not continue with foundation training past the first or second session). We try to make it *extremely* apparent that the Fun Agility does NOT cover foundation skills at all, and that training for competition agility is something totally different. Most people do not have a problem with this. We try to re-route them to other classes (since Beginner OB is a requirement at my club for Rally/Comp Agility, that's usually where they go after Fun Agility).

We have started to make our Fun Agility class in to a sort of hybrid tricks/basic OB/obstacle course class. Some people are unhappy with this because they want more time on the obstacles, but a lot of dogs are really enjoying learning how to hand target, target a yogurt lid with their nose, figuring out the basics of clicker training, etc. We have 2 or 3 dogs and handlers in particular that have made some really cool strides in their training.


----------



## dcetrtic (Feb 22, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxWeeV1hzBs


----------



## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

GottaLuvMutts said:


> Or worse, they won't even do that! Without a qualified instructor, I shudder to think what bad habits these dogs are going to pick up there. The person who runs the real agility classes in town is going to choke on her morning coffee when someone walks in and says "Hi, my dog took an agility class at Petco and I want to continue with you."


Then that prospective handler will probably choke when having to do real agility skills and wonder why their dog isn't keeping up after their prior training.

Or if the Petco class is disregarded and this dog has to start from scratch, the person would probably be all like "why do we have to start at the beginning? It's all just agility. And we did this at the Petco class."


----------

