I'm not sure if they are going to be "qualified" - my guess is no, My friend just said that they were training a couple of people on short courses who work there ready to have puppy parties and training sessions.

think its a fab idea for educating the general public. how many people has everyone come across who dont know how important it is to socialise a puppy? anyone else lost count?
but for the training it would have to be someone with the appropriate qualifications for my own dogs, but so many people dont even think about taking their dogs to training classes either, and as long as the training is treat based an all about praising the dog and the dog has a good time(the thing i would have massive issues with was if behavioural advice were being handed out by totally untrained individuals but hey you just go to the park and find that dont you?! !!!) and if a dog can do the training in such a distracting atmosphere with the food and the kids and the noise wont they be able to do it anywhere?

Wasn't it at a "Pets at Home" store where a dog was left in a heated cabinet and burned to death in their grooming parlour?

They have a behaviourist at the shop near me but extremely expensive and very dismissive of when I wanted to join a class as said my dog was too old though I explained I just took Cherry to training classes to continue socialising her and she said she is past the critical socialisation period so it's too late. I know what she meant but have found with Cherry that she accepts other dogs after knowing them for a few weeks. That is why I take her to training classes so she can continue to meet and befriend other dogs when appropriate.

I've taken Tess along to our per stores from the start... First on my arm and once fully inoculated she's allowed on the floor, and yes, I've trained her in there to keep her attention on me despite all the amazing smells... But... All that is is training her how to deal with a pet-store situation... And now at 11 months she knows exactly how to behave there... Where did I get my training knowledge? From my trainer where we've been since she was 8 weeks who trains the both of us how to deal with all situations... With all kinds of distractions... In all kinds of situations... Inside and out...

So no, I would never go for only this kind of training... I want a fully qualified trainer who knows what she or he is doing...

And as far as I'm concerned pup training starts with low distractions gradually building up towards high distractions... Starting with high distraction (such as in a pet store) is setting a pup up for failure from day 1... Not something I would put my pup or myself into....

Daisy`s got this thing about Trainers. She tends to make her feelings very plain... and we get asked to leave.

thats the point though isnt it, Its going to be very HARD to learn anything with distractions such as those. Distractions should be introduced AFTER a behaviouris learnt...not before

If only you lived here.. The head trainer at ours goes out her way to help things like this She kept a dog back from the puppy class last week who had problems with other dogs. The owners stayed through the 2nd class while the trainer just kept walking up and down with the dog under control.

My point exactly... To many distrations and everyone will be dissapointed... Owner and therefore pup.. You need to start a pup in an environment set up for succesfull training with good concentration on the owner... A petshop no where nearly meets this basic requirement...

Well, we had an impromptu puppy party in the food aisle of out pets-at-home today as Poppy and I had gone in for a couple of bits and we met a Cocker Spaniel called "Woody" who is 6 months old (and he was with another Cocker Spaniel called "Bilbo"), and an 11 week old Staffie called "Roxie" so they were all sniffing each other and having a bit of a play.

We had more fun trying to unravel the leads while they were just oblivious to everything but each other and having fun!

I'm sure the pups had loads of fun, and I'm all for fun believe me, but to expect to get any serious training out of it? I just don't think so... Let pups have fun anywhere and everywhere... But in order to have fun training them you need to start with few distractions IMO