We adopted Flaca, our year-old Shepherd/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix from a no-kill shelter, and her first act was to throw up in the car on the ride home. We decided she’d benefit from “socialization,” so we took her to the dog park, which she seemed to love…until she started picking fights, and she became the dog that made other dogs leave the park.  We took her to puppy training class, where she lunged and barked at every other dog and terrified their owners, while we pulled back and apologized.   She got ejected from doggy daycare because she turned Mike Tyson on us and tore another dog’s ear.  That’s when we found Sarah Owings and Bridges Training.

Sarah’s approach is multi-dimensional.  She pays attention to the dog’s reactions as well as the owner’s behavior, and she demonstrates techniques to train you and your dog to develop the behavior you want.  She also sends video clips, recommends reading materials, and provides handout sheets.  She is unfailingly patient and upbeat, and her creative approach makes your desperation mellow into hope—if the first “solution” doesn’t work, her flexible and innovative tip helps you figure out what will work.  She translates your pup’s body language so that you can understand what’s going on, and how to curtail bad behavior by encouraging good behavior.  She encourages feedback via email or telephone, and even when your frustration seems to overwhelm your optimism, she’s able to point out the positive advances that you’ve overlooked. 

Flaca has become calmer and doesn’t drag me around the neighborhood anymore.  She doesn’t  lunge and threaten to kill every dog she sees.  She comes when I call.  We’ve progressed to being able to walk calmly past most dogs, and we are working hard on learning how to demonstrate to aggressive dogs that we aren’t a problem. I’m relieved to know that she’s not crazy, and she’s not aggressive because she’s threatened—Sarah has shown me that Flaca is so enthusiastic about the world that she needs to learn how to slow down and be calm. I’ve learned that this isn’t something that will happen overnight, and that’s just fine, because I am confident now that I have the tools to help Flaca understand what “good dog!” really means—and how to encourage her to want to be that dog.  --Ellen, Ciaran & Flaca

"When my Boston Terrier Butch picked a nasty fight with another dog, I knew I needed help. My friend Lili recommended Sarah Owings, who had been working with Lili's own reactive BT. From the very first email exchange, I was impressed with Sarah's knowledge and compassion. Her analysis of Butch's behavior was amazing and insightful  and the customized lesson plan she created targeted his specific issues perfectly. Over the course of our sessions, she taught me not just to "control" Butch's actions, but to communicate with him, to understand him on a deeper level and feel more bonded. She has also given us the tools to continue exploring and learning together on our own. Thanks, Sarah!" 

--Christa and Butch

"Sarah has been a tremendous help to us and our 2 year old bull terrier, Fitz.  He came to us from a rescue and we were told he has a bit of leash aggression.  "A bit" turned out to be a lot.  Our walks used to be miserable.  He would pull, lunge, and bark at sounds and sights of other dogs.  When he gets worked up, he will even bark and pull towards people passing by.  My hands used to be red after our walks.  I felt really helpless.  Sarah was recommended to me by a posting I placed on a yahoo group named PositivelyBTs.  She immediately recommended the right gear and linked to me to many useful video links.  She taught us the effectiveness of the clicker and positive reinforcement training.  Sarah showed us many fun games to play with Fitz to  teach him to think more and act less on impulse.  As time and lessons passed, Fitz has gotten so much better.  He definitely responds to the sound of the clicker and will offer more desirable behaviors to get that click/treat.  Before, he used start his walks with angry barks through my courtyard and stir up all the other barking dogs.  Now he is able to hear a dog bark, then turn to me for a click/treat.  Fitz even advanced to properly greeting another dog on leash on our last session.  It was a great revelation to see him so close to another dog without jumping or barking.  Now I know he can be a more stable dog with continued training and the knowledge that Sarah has instilled in us.  Thank you Sarah!"

--Karen, Patrick and Fitz

When we brought our little rescue puppy home, we had no idea what was in store for us.  We were told she was a lab, but after Sarah saw her in our first training session at 8 weeks, she told us Lola was a bully mix.  Since Sarah is an expert in this breed we took her advice very seriously.  She set up play dates with stable adult dogs that Lola could socialize and learn not to be so afraid.  Yes, she was a frightened little thing in the beginning.  She also told us to get Lola out and about.  See different people, cars, city streets etc.  The 2nd training session, Sarah wore a big floppy hat for Lola to consider.  Those early days of socialization have worked wonders with our little bully mix.  Lola certainly isn't afraid of anything now which makes aggression out of fear a non issue.  

The next really amazing thing we learned from Sarah at Bridges is clicker training.  Holy cow what an eye opener!  We've seen people do this before and it really didn't make sense to us.  But for us, with a new little puppy we really wanted to communicate effectively with her and to make everything as clear as possible.  Actually, we didn't know that's what we wanted until we learned how precise and clean and obvious it is for a puppy like Lola.  She is extremely stubborn, head strong and smart.  Sarah came in on the first training session and we couldn't believe the level of communication between her and Lola.  Lola was learning so quickly!  Wow!  What an awesome dog!  What an awesome trainer!  

Whenever we have a question or a new bothersome behavior, Bridges is just a call or an email away.  We always get a quick response/answer AND and education.  Between video links, articles, blogs etc, that Sarah sends, she gives such an array of information that it has helped us to be the kind of dog owners we want to be.

-Laura, David & Lola

I was desperately seeking a trainer for my very reactive Boston Terrier, Boogie. He had lunged at and bitten people and I was always nervous to walk him, take him anywhere or introduce him to new people. Life was very stressful. I met Sarah via a dog training-related Yahoo group and contacted her for a consultation, after which we worked together for a few months.  I cannot recommend Sarah highly enough! Not only is she highly knowledgeable about dog behavior, her passion is infectious and Boogie absolutely adores her. I love the fact that I can ask Sarah anything and she always had a very intelligent, practical and compassionate solution. Boogie and I have learned so much. Today, Boogie is a changed dog. He is much happier and more relaxed and he responds to me and checks in with me. I now feel confident taking Boogie anywhere because thanks to Sarah, I have learned to read him, teach him new behaviors, and I now know what to do to keep him stress-free. You can read more about Boogie's training adventures on his blog http://boogiebt.wordpress.com  Thank you, Sarah! We love you!

- Lili & Boogie

Our family has come to know Sarah through her work with children at The Oaks
School. When we learned she was also a dog trainer, we knew immediately who
to go to when we got our new puppy, Rosie.  We signed up for a few months of
sessions and had no idea how fun and interesting training our dog would be.
Since her method of training is based on positive reinforcement, it allows
Sarah to teach your dog through respect, loving kindness and gentle
guidance.  Not only did Rosie learn quite a bit, but so did our entire
family.   In fact, it is because of Sarah’s skill and wisdom that we live so
happily and peacefully with our once-wild Rosie today.  Working with Sarah
was a gift to our family.

-Robin, Charlotte, Ella & Rosie

Until I started working with Sarah, I didn’t know how to help my reactive border collie, Pilot, deal with all his environmental issues and anxieties.  Competing in agility was becoming more and more difficult, with Pilot barking and lunging at the ring crew, other dogs, and even growling at a judge.  I wasn’t having fun anymore, and I know he wasn’t either.  Sarah recognized that all his reactivity was fear-based, and that Pilot needed to be taught how to relax and learn that when “stuff happens,” that’s a good thing.  After just one session, I knew that Sarah was the right trainer for us.  She is extremely knowledgeable about dogs and dog training, and she taught me how to help Pilot relax and to read his body language.  Our sessions with Sarah have been very helpful because she is so positive, patient, and dedicated to teaching me how to help Pilot not be so afraid of sounds and movements in agility as well as everyday life. Sarah provided written articles and summaries of our sessions, and she always followed up with an email after reflecting about how it went.  She is definitely a very caring, conscientious, and professional trainer.  I still have a lot of work to do with Pilot, but thanks to Sarah, I’m on the right track and know more about what to do to help him.   

-Gabriele & Pilot

Sarah totally turned our dog, Edie, around.  Edie was found on the streets and was a bit wild when we first got her.  Now, we can always get her attention with the training methods that Sarah taught us. She's a very smart dog and loves to please us,  and she's much calmer knowing what we want of her. 

   Sarah has continued to send us helpful training videos on areas we wanted to work on in the future with Edie.  She's such a gifted and patient trainer and absolutely adores her "students".

--Nora, Susan & Edie