The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permits qualifying employees of certain employers with up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off to treat a serious medical condition or to care for an immediate family member with a serious medical condition.
One of the differences about having a pet in a classroom vs. at home is that a classroom is noisier and the pet must become used to many people. This can be stressful on some animals, and we want to keep stress on our pet to a minimum.
I have taken a class at a PetSmart and I also worked there as a trainer for a bit (I quit because of scheduling reasons, not because I didn't like training there). The trainer I took classes from was not my cup of tea (though I didn't know it when I had her).