Sarah Westcott – Head Trainer

Sarah Westcott, CPDT-KSA is the President of Doggie Academy, Inc., a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge and Skills Assessed and co-author of the award-winning book Play Your Way to Good Manners: Getting the Best Behavior from Your Dog through Sports, Games, and Tricks.

Sarah teaches private lessons at the Brooklyn Dog Training Center and online.

Sarah officially launched Doggie Academy in 2007 after working with some of the top trainers in the United States to study the science of how dogs learn as well as how to be an effective teacher to their human companions. In 2009 she earned certification through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers as a Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed, then became one of the first people in the country to earn the Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge and Skills Assessed title.

Sarah is the founder of the Brooklyn Dog Training Center. She has worked as a Trainer for The Good Dog Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to training and certifying dogs for animal-assisted therapy as well as a Behavior Counselor at a multi-location Manhattan dog care facility. Working with rescue groups like the ASPCA, Sarah has fostered several behaviorally challenged dogs including an aggressive Maltese, a petrified Pit Bull and one puppy that was seized by Humane Law Enforcement after being left for dead in an abandoned house. She and her late dog, Charleston, volunteered as a therapy dog team for The Good Dog Foundation. Charleston was a Labrador Retriever rescued from the Humane Society of New York.

In 2019, Sarah & Kate published their award-winning book Play Your Way to Good Manners: Getting the Best Behavior from Your Dog through Sports, Games, and Tricks. It was named the 2019 Best Book in Training or Sports by the Dog Writers Association of America.

Sarah has recently relocated to Pennsylvania and is now available for private lessons in the Lehigh Valley. 

Dog Sports

agility dogs

Sarah enjoys training & competing with her dogs in a variety of dog sports, though agility is her primary focus. Some of her accomplishments include:

  • 2022 SOJAC Premier Cup 3rd Place (Fever)
  • 2022 AKC National Agility Championship Finalist 20″ (Fever)
  • 2021 US Open – 3rd Place Power & Speed, Games Challenge Finalist, 4th Place Clean Run Challenger (Fever)
  • 2021 Cynosport World Games – Dog Agility Steeplechase Championship Semifinalist, 3rd Place Dog Agility Masters Championship Jumpers (Fever)
  • 2021 UKI Kinetic Dog Northeast Cup – 3rd Place Games Challenge (Fever)
  • 2021 USDAA New England Regional – 1st Place Steeplechase Finals (Fever)
  • 2021 USDAA New England Regional – Top 24″ Dog in Team Tournament (Fever)
  • 2021 AKC National Agility Championship – Top Ten 20″ Standard (Fever)
  • 2019 Contact Agility – Biathlon Vice Champion (Fever)
  • 2019 USDAA New England Regional – Top 22″ Dog in Team Tournament (Fever)
  • 2019 US Open – Games Challenge Finalist (Fever)
  • 2019 Cynosport World Games – Dog Agility Steeplechase Championship Semifinalist, 5th Place Dog Agility Masters Championship Gamblers, 6th Place Dog Agility Masters Championship Snooker (Fever)
  • 2017 WCRL Rally Obedience – 3rd in the USA for Level 3 (Hank)
  • 2014 1st Annual Master’s Agility Championship at Westminster – 1st Place Excellent Standard (Hank)

Sarah first got involved in dog sports after she adopted Hank (a Labrador rescue who turned out to be 1/2 Redbone Coonhound). Hank taught her a lot about training challenging dogs. Hank RN AX AXJ MXP3 MXPB MJP3 MJPB OF CGC TKA APD ARCH RL1 RL2 RL3  earned titles in AKC agility, USDAA agility, AKC tricks, AKC Canine Good Citizen, AKC Rally Obedience and WCRL Rally Obedience. He passed away in 2019 and is greatly missed. 

Sarah is now competing with her Border Collie Fever (MACH ADCH Speedoggie Going To Need More Cowbell MXB MXJ XF DN CGC TKA MAD IAC IWAC).  Fever has earned titles in AKC Agility, USDAA Agility, UKI Agility, AKC Tricks, Canine Good Citizen and Dock Diving. Sarah and Fever also enjoy training in sheep herding and disc dog. In 2019, she & Fever traveled to Finland to train at OneMind Dogs International Week and competed in Finnish competitions while they were there. At the 2022 AKC National Agility Championship Sarah & Fever made the finals, ranking 7th out of over 300 teams.

Riddle (Speedoggie What The Dormouse Said OA OAJ XF TKI SSN) is Sarah’s young dog she is just starting her agility career. Riddle is Fever’s niece, but she is a very different dog. Sarah is having to change up her training routines for this little spitfire! Riddle also enjoys Dock Diving and hopes to do more of that this summer.

Sarah has trained with some of the top agility handlers & coaches in the world including Frankie Joiris, Minna Martimo, Jessica Ajoux, Soshanna Dos, Perry DeWitt, Stefanie Rainer, Janita Leinonen, Jaakko Suoknuuti, Timo Liuhto, Tuulia Liuhto, Marko Makela, Rebecca Thrift, Anastasia Egorova, Sabina Šťastná and Elina Jänesniemi. In addition to titles in AKC agility, USDAA agility, UKI Agility, AKC Rally Obedience, WCRL Rally Obedience, AKC tricks and Dock Diving, Sarah has also titled dogs in Barn Hunt and qualified in AKC lure coursing and UpDog Challenge.

Sarah is available for seminars and lessons in all levels of agility. Email her directly for availability. 

Television & Print

Fever & Hank posing for The Body Shop

Charleston filming Law & Order

Sarah also works as an on-set animal handler for film, television and photo shoots. Charleston appeared as a cadaver dog in an episode of Law & Order and Hank has appeared in an episode of The Hunt with John Walsh. Fever was seen in an episode of Blacklist:Redemption in early 2107, in a commercial on Animal Planet that aired during the 2018 Puppy Bowl and is featured in several episodes of the Netflix show Seven Seconds as a shelter dog named Whiskey.

See our Media page for more appearances.

As a sought after dog trainer and behavior counselor, Sarah draws from her extensive toolbox to craft a unique lesson plan for each client based on their needs and goals. She believes that training should be fun for both dog and human so that the journey is just as rewarding as the results.

Services offered