Sarah Pennington graduated from The Academy for Dog Trainers in 2013. The entire Academy experience has helped her in ways she never expected. A member of Academy staff since 2014, Sarah coaches students on their mechanical training skills and mentors students with their assignment submissions. She especially enjoys watching new students develop professional-level training skills.
In addition, Sarah volunteers as a trainer at the BC SPCA in Vancouver.
Sarah is happiest when working with people to help them better understand and train their dogs using a blend of compassion and modern, evidence-based training methods.
Sarah works with all types of behavior cases in her business Yaletown Dog Training but has a soft spot for fearful dogs. She tries to bust myths and spread the message of humane training with simple messages on Yaletown’s Facebook page.
Sarah’s nursing experience in an inner-city emergency department and in a police department, working with marginalized clients, has taught her the importance of empathy and non-judgment. She tries to incorporate these qualities into her work with dog training clients who are trying to do the best they can for their pets.
Sarah also works part-time in health care where she is the Project Manager for a variety of clinical trials in cardiac arrest and stroke.
Sarah hopes that one day all animals will be trained with compassion and that the use of fear, pain or coercion will no longer be considered acceptable. Dogs make people happy. Sarah’s goal is to teach people how to make their dogs happy too, especially when training them.
Sarah lives in Vancouver, Canada, with her partner and their two dogs.
