Meet our trainers

Sunny graduated in 2008 from the Anthony Jerone’s School of Dog Training & Career in New York, earning his professional dog trainer certification. He worked as a full-time private dog trainer for 14 years, specialising in one-on-one home training sessions to help dog owners address behavioural issues, fostering harmony between humans and their dogs, and enabling owners to fully enjoy life with their pets. Sunny also served as an evaluator for the American Kennel Club’s (AKC) Canine Good Citizen® Program. In addition, he worked as a dog trainer at a local animal shelter, conducting behavioural assessments and training for dogs awaiting adoption, significantly improving their chances of finding forever homes.

In 2022, Sunny joined the SPCA, where he is responsible for guiding behavioural training for adoptable dogs, training staff to care for dogs with special behavioural needs, and organising professional training programmes, including volunteer dog handler workshops and owner training sessions. Among his many successful cases, one of the most notable is Tashi, a 7-year-old medium-sized dog. Tashi exhibited severe aggression starting from 7 months old, including severely injuring a poodle and biting a young household member, which resulted in hospitalisation. The original owner considered surrendering Tashi, but after just two training sessions with Sunny, Tashi began adapting to the owner’s lifestyle and learning to stay calm. Ultimately, the owner decided against surrendering Tashi and even brought the dog along to start a new life together in Toronto. Sunny’s mission is to create positive changes in the lives of both dogs and their owners through his expertise as a dog trainer.

Erik first became interested in animal training after adopting a dog with behavioural problems. He went on to study at the Academy for Dog Trainers where he found his true calling for force-free training. He enjoys working with all owners and dogs but has a soft spot for animals struggling with fear and aggression.

Erik’s hope is 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; Erik’s goal is to teach people how to make their dogs happy as well.

Lily completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Animal Behavior Course from the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.

She is fully trained to work with both dogs and cats as a graduate of The Academy for Dog Trainers as well a Diploma holder in Feline Behavior and Psychology from the Center of Excellence. In particular, she earned a Distinction for their iCatCare Advanced Feline Behavior for Cat Professionals program.

Lily enjoys addressing behavioral issues and is a Fear Free Certified® Professional with specialties focusing on stress and anxiety management. This is further enhanced by her training dealing with animal aggression, having completed both the Animal Professionals Course as well as the Advanced Canine Aggression with Animal Professionals Course under Dr. Amber Batson.

Zeke graduated from Animal Science at Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, in 2017 and has been a dog trainer certified by Command Dog Training School since 2020. She is also a member of the Australian Association of Professional Dog Trainers and joined the SPCA in 2022 as an assistant dog trainer. 

One of her most memorable cases is helping an owner whose dog was too anxious to go for a walk, and the owner was exhausted and stressed every time they went out. After a few sessions, the owner took Zeke’s advice and put effort into training the dog to help it overcome its fear. Both of them can now enjoy their lives together and even go hiking.

She believes that reactive dogs can also be adoptable with proper training and deserve a loving forever home.

Starting as a veterinary assistant at the SPCA, Nicolas is now studying Online Professional Dog Trainer Course at Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training & Behavior, aiming to become a certified dog trainer. 

He believes that people who decide to surrender their pets are a result of misunderstanding their dogs’ signals and behaviours. Therefore, he wants to become a trainer to solve misunderstandings and reduce the number of surrenders.

He is now working as a trainee at the Behaviour & Training Department. He had assisted in training a blind dog until it found its forever home and has also demonstrated his skills in some of our major events.