Sarah Kim
Founder/Head Trainer
As a child, Sarah had a strong connection with animals, mainly dogs. However, it was apparent that her relatives had cultural differences that formed their opinions on how dogs should be raised. Since most of Sarah's extended family’s dogs were used as guard dogs and always kept outside, the idea of having a dog as part of the family was a new concept for her parents.
Sarah took matters into her own hands by researching dog behavior and training methods to rescue a dog for her and her family. She rescued an adorable Pomeranian named Milo from a traumatic past of abuse and neglect. After many months of rigorous training and shadowing of other dog trainers, Milo became the intelligent, sassy dog that every dog owner would dream to have. After that, Sarah became a friend to call for training advice and support.
During her undergraduate studies, Sarah pursued medicine while continuing her passion for dog training. Throughout college, her growing love for studying dog behavior encouraged her to rethink her medical career path. And so she decided to pursue her dream to become a professional dog trainer. She has shadowed other professional dog trainers for a few year and used all the experiences to build her own methodology of dog training, building a strong relationship between dog and owner.
Sarah has shadowed many different dog trainers in the past to learn more about different styles of training, to develop her thoughts on dog training. She recently received her Bachelor of Science in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from the University of California, San Diego.
Sarah now lives in the Bay Area with Nova and Clover, a golden retriever and Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, and is working her dream job where she builds relationships between dogs and their owners in the best way possible! She is working to get her AKC hunt titles and Working Title for Clover. While continuing her education with seminars and next big goal is to attend NePoPo Silver School.
Catherine Yu
HEAD Trainer
Cat has always loved working with animals growing up and had planned to attend veterinary school before she found her passion in dog training. She had worked at Lindsay Wildlife Hospital and Ohlone Wildlife Center rehabilitating injured and orphaned animals during her high school and undergraduate years. While she was working towards Veterinary School, she also worked at University Veterinary Hospital in Berkeley.
When Cat adopted her dog Azuki, a shy and anxious Shiba Inu, she went on a journey to rehabilitate Azuki when all conventional dog training methods have failed them. Cat’s second dog, Kirby, an overexcited and reactive street dog adopted from Korea, sent Cat farther to learn about true rehabilitation methods that’s not based in suppression or distraction techniques. Cat has worked for and been mentored by some of the best dog trainers and dog behaviorists in the dog training industry.
Cat holds a Masters in Biostatistics from UC Berkeley that helps her read peer review papers currently available on dog training.
Cat is also very involved in dog sports. Both Azuki and Kirby are Canine Good Citizens and AKC Trick Dog Novice. Currently, she and Kirby are working towards titles in scent work, agility, tricks and obedience.
Ashley Danner
Dog Trainer
Ashley's love for training started with horses back home in Hawaii, where she trained in both Western and English horseback riding disciplines and learned horse husbandry and dressage at Hawai'i Preparatory Academy.
After moving to San Francisco to pursue a degree in International Relations, she spent her free time volunteering at San Francisco Animal Care and Control and adopted Mana, a South Korean rescue dog. After almost a year of 'winging it' as a new dog owner, she connected with Raw Pawtential to help solidify his recall and obedience, and more importantly learn how to work with a sensitive dog. Working with Sarah to reset their obedience and engagement caused a major shift in her view of responsible dog ownership and how to meet her dog’s needs, and Mana is now a stable, engaged and obedient demo dog that assists with training other dogs and CGC tests.
Between 2017 and 2023 she and her partner helped train and foster 50+ dogs, many of which were sensitive international rescues from Taiwan and South Korea. Her experiences working and living with primitive breeds in particular were invaluable and inspired a particular interest in understanding and training dogs that struggle to "fit into" our modern society.
Ashley is a certified Family Dog Mediator®, completed Cheri Wulff Lucas' Train the Trainer program, and is committed to continued growth and learning as a dog trainer and boarder. Her current training goals include attending NePoPo Silver School and continuing to participate in AKC and NASDA sports with Mana.