Sara Carson is a celebrity trick dog trainer and dog mom of the Super Collies—a doggie family made up of three border collies (10 year old Hero, 7 year old Marvel, and Hawkeye, who's 2) and an adorable golden retriever puppy who's the youngest of the bunch: 8 month old Archer. Carson's passion is training her dogs and teaching them new tricks, and she trains dogs on everything from cool tricks to dog sports and basic puppy foundation skills.
Carson is wonderfully excited about her work with dogs, saying it's really gratifying to watch them learn new behaviors. She tells Daily Paws that she "absolutely loves just watching a dog's brain work. Seeing them go from zero to 100 with a behavior is really fulfilling for me, and I think it's so much fun." We'd have to agree! And with tricks like theirs, it's easy to see why Carson gets so excited when she can teach a dog something new.
Each of Carson's dogs has their own strengths and tricks they prefer—and Carson says she lets them take the lead when it comes to finding what they love to do. Hero loves to dance, Marvel placed eighth in a worldwide Frisbee competition, Hawkeye trained to do a walking handstand in five days (she says the same trick took Hero three years!), and Archer is a happy-go-lucky pup who's still figuring out his thing.
"I train them all the exact same things, and I just let them show me what they prefer," Carson says. "We've competed in pretty much every dog sport."
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The first dog Carson trained was Hero, who actually came into her life as a service dog to help her with her scoliosis, hypoglycemia, and social anxiety. Hero was Carson's devoted service dog for seven years—and they performed tricks together for years, making appearances on shows like Late Show with David Letterman and America's Got Talent.
Hero retired after he received a diagnosis of valley fever and a heart murmur. Now, Carson is training young Archer to be her service dog.
Together Carson and her dogs live in Lexington, Ky., but they travel full-time in a 26-foot RV working and performing across the country. So far, they've traveled about 36,000 miles and visited 46 states, hitting up as many roadside attractions as possible along the way.
Carson says that her work as a trick dog trainer has changed her life. "It kind of gave me a purpose," she says.
"I think I'm better together with my animals because every single day they just remind me of unconditional love and just that every single experience can be a new experience," Carson says. "Dogs are very forgiving, they experience life like it's the best thing in the world. They remind me of that every single day."