About Us

Our Methods 

Here at Rocky Mountain Dogs Behavior & Boarding we prioritize emotional welfare above all else to design and implement a safety, management, and sometimes even a training plan to facilitate as low-stress of a stay as possible. We use science-based training techniques through utilization of positive reinforcement to create an experience your dog wants to willingly take part in.

If your dog is struggling with fear, anxiety, aggression, or other behavioral concerns our boarding process is designed for them! We are not a doggy daycare but instead operate as a Fear Free boarding facility in a home environment aiming to provide a peaceful, trigger-free stay for your dog while you are away. This means dogs have their own kennel suites just like a boarding facility but they are instead in a home rather than a loud, busy, fast-paced environment. They are offered multiple breaks throughout the day to potty, play, and engage in other enrichment activities as well as offered kennel enrichment to keep their downtime mentally stimulating and relaxing for them. If you have a severely fearful, anxious, or aggressive dog we will arrange training lessons and trial stays ahead of time to get them acquainted with our behavior consultant, the surroundings, and the routine of boarding.

Sarah Zimmer, CDBC, FFCT

Sarah earned her Bachelor's Degree in the Psychology of Animal Behavior and Training from Florida Tech, is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC), and a Fear Free Certified Animal Trainer (FFCT), Veterinary Professional (FFCVP), and Pet Sitter.

She began her career in shelters and working dog kennels implementing socialization programs, puppy raising, kennel enrichment, basic obedience, managing arousal levels, addressing leash reactivity, and working with other fearful and anxious behaviors. She has worked for the Department of Defense training and raising police, military, and private service K9s in explosives and narcotics detection as well as the Veterans Administration training and placing PTSD service dogs with veterans in need. Sarah also has over 10 years of experience working with companion animals and their owners, 5 of those being in Veterinary Behavior, on behavior sensitivities such as fear, anxiety, aggression, compulsive behaviors, and more.

In recent years, Sarah began working in veterinary specialty education, offering the opportunity to work from home and offer boarding full time. Over the course of her career, Sarah has always offered boarding to her behaviorally sensitive clients, which led to the creation of Fear Free BNB - Behavior & Boarding. Given much of her work is from her home or within the surrounding communities, she is able to offer her home and time to caring for dogs with behavior sensitivities that make staying in traditional boarding facilities difficult.