A Siberian husky, yellow Lab and brown-miniature dachshund - all puppies - sit and listen intently for further instruction while a pit bull pup sniffs the floor, rolls under chairs and licks anything within reach at Layton's PetSmart.

Tania Rogers, a pet-training specialist, chooses Dan and Rob Sears' husky pup, Gage, to move from the sit to the down position. She cups a treat in her hand, brings it to the floor and awards it to Gage when the husky gets down on all fours.

"Rogers is truly a dog whisperer," says Cindy Jensen, owner of the miniature dachshund named Emi-Lu.

After hearing about Rogers, Jensen drove from Eden during the winter just to see the trainer.

"She has this way with animals," Jensen says.

Rogers' way with animals keeps her busy. She juggles training owners and their dogs, managing her pet's modeling career and saving the lives of baby birds. She's always loved dogs and other animals.

"A lot of it is who you are," Rogers says. "You can't make people like dogs."

Growing up in England, Rogers had an eye for animal behavior early on. She spent time volunteering at an animal shelter, as well as walking and training neighborhood dogs. When she was 17, she even trained her veterinarian's dog.

After finishing school, she continued her study of animal behavior at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, where she earned a certificate and learned about horses through the Equine Research Facility there. In 1992, she began training dogs and passing on her knowledge about animals to other pet owners and trainers.

"The animal-behavior part is knowing why a dog is doing the behavior so you can treat it more effectively," Rogers says.

She points to barking dogs as an example. If all a dog must do to make people go away is bark, she says, then it has established a negative behavior. Owners unwittingly reinforce the behavior by yelling at and punishing their dogs.

"There are ways we can fix it," Rogers adds. "We make them have a good association with people, not a bad one. . . . If you didn't like me, but every time you saw me someone . . . gave you 50 bucks," you'd learn to like me.

Rogers aims to help owners understand their dogs' language, know the characteristics of different breeds and learn the benefits of positive reinforcement.

Most "dogs turned in to animal shelters [have] behavior issues," Rogers says. "That's not the dogs' fault."

Owners often become exasperated when training their dogs, especially when the pets won't do what is expected of them. Roger says this is usually due to "operator error."

"The owners are in a really tough situation. It's like learning to read and teaching your kid at the same time."

Rogers observes many owners complicate training by using voice commands instead of watching what they are saying with their body and hands. For instance, many people lower their body and back away.

"The voice is saying 'stay,' but the body is saying 'come to me.' The dog doesn't [stay] because we're giving mixed signals. . . . When the [proper] communication is there, the dog is quite happy to" obey.

During the summer, Rogers and her pets hit the road - to libraries and schools to teach children how to safely approach and pet dogs. Her canine friends love meeting patients at nursing homes and hospitals.

Rogers beams as she holds up a box of Western Family dog biscuits that bears a photo of her Bernese mountain dog, Zach.

"He went for another photo shoot a couple of months ago," Rogers says.

Besides training and modeling her pet, Rogers rescues baby birds for the Ogden Nature Center and helps get them ready for later release back into the wild.

"Starlings and magpies are my favorite," she says.

The center keeps 55 volunteers and takes in 800 birds a year.

Rogers "is an excellent volunteer. She goes the extra mile," says wildlife specialist Dalyn Erickson.

For more information about animal behavior, call Rogers at 801-543-0217.