Sarah has been working with dogs professionally for over twenty years and is the owner of Blue Dog Training and Behavior in Madison, Wisconsin. She was one of the first Certified Professional Dog Trainers through the CCPDT and was also one of the first Certified Dog Behavior Consultants through the IAABC.
Sarah graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, studied comparative cognition between dogs and dolphins through the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was a member of the Lab’s humpback whale research team.
In addition to her work with dogs and marine mammals, Sarah was a docent at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, where she gained experience with a variety of animals, including fostering and raising black bear cubs.
Sarah’s professional interest in dogs may have been predestined: her father invented the original Pooper Scooper in 1957.
Sarah is on the board of the Companion Animal Sciences Institute, is recognized in the state of Wisconsin as an expert witness in dog training and behavior, and has run a dog rescue organization for over twenty years.
A popular public speaker since the release of her Language of Dogs and Am I Safe video series (available on DVD and streaming), Sarah has given more than a hundred seminars across the U.S. and internationally to dog training organizations, veterinary schools, dog breed clubs, and rescue/shelter groups.
Sarah was the first force-free trainer to speak at the IACP training conference. Her presentation chronicled her personal evolution as a trainer: from using traditional methods based on compliance to using science-based methods that start with an understanding of how animals think and learn and that center the building of a positive relationship between dog and trainer.
Sarah and her husband Andrew, an engineer, work together with their six dogs to create training tools for professional trainers and dog owners. The most well-known of these tools is the Dog Safe Hands-Free Leash System.
Learn more about Sarah on her website, Facebook, or Instagram.