About Sanjana
Founder of Peace Pups Dog Training
Sanjana (also known as Sunny ☀️) is a software engineer turned full-time dog trainer and founder of Peace Pups Dog Training!
She's a true expert in the field of animal training.
Sanjana began her career at age ten, training horses for over 15 years in Pennsylvania, New York, and Boston. In 2020, she began training dogs after adopting her own rescue pup, a husky-shepherd named Ace!
Since then, Sanjana has wholeheartedly dedicated herself to helping owners create peaceful lives with their dogs through the power of play.
Sanjana is a Professional Member of the International Association of Canine Professionals and has studied under professional police K9 trainers. She has helped over 150 dog owners in San Diego build stronger relationships with their dogs through her signature Dream Dog Course.
Her philosophy is built upon 4 key pillars: play, communication, boundaries, and leadership. With this approach to dog training, Sanjana believes any dog can be trained to be calm and confident in any environment.
Sanjana is passionate about giving back to rescue communities. She partners with one of the largest dog rescues in San Diego, Labs and More Dog Rescue, which has rescued over 13,000 dogs in the area. Sanjana hosts monthly pack walks and free dog training seminars for new owners every other month through Labs and More.
Sanjana loves training dogs but is even more passionate about giving owners the tools and skills they need to create a healthy and happy relationship with their dogs 🐾
What It's Like To Work With Us
Sanjana loves to make dog training fun for her clients!
She first discovered the power of play when she was just 17 years old. She was training a horse that no one else could train and turned to play to create a relationship of trust, leadership, and connection.
She learned that not only do children love to play, but animals do as well! When she rescued her dog Ace in 2020, she used the power of play to help him overcome his fear of men and reactivity on a leash.
The two most common clients Sanjana gets are young puppy clients and rescue dogs struggling with reactivity and anxiety.
Regardless, the first lesson for every client begins with play, boundaries, recall, and leash-walking skills. Dogs need both healthy structure and play to learn how to focus on their owners rather than everything around them. Ultimately, this helps dogs learn how to listen in any environment and to see their owner as their trusted pack leader.
During training, Sanjana helps improve the structure in the home and on walks and gives each client a step-by-step playbook for working through each challenge they face. Sanjana has helped every single owner that has crossed her path because she approaches dog training in a clear and simple way that is easy to put into action.
Teaching dogs with both positive reinforcement and corrections is the path to a well-balanced pup.
In Sanjana's spare time, she runs a free meditation and singing community for women called Soul Bird Community, inspired by her teacher Sri Chinmoy. It's a community for women to gather, sing, and experience peace within their hearts. Sanjana enjoys long-distance running with her dog Ace, putting his Husky genetics to work. She also enjoys cooking, hosting sing-alongs, painting, and playing music with friends.
"My greatest reason for creating Peace Pups is to help every owner struggling with their dog know there is a path to a happy, peaceful life with their dogs.
Just like everything in life, sometimes we need a little guidance. Every time one of my clients finishes training with me and can finally walk their pup without stress or invite guests over, my heart swells with joy! I do this 'work' because I love teaching owners how to connect and lead their dog in a new way that unlocks all the freedom and happiness in the world."
Sanjana’s Full Story
Sanjana began her career as an animal trainer when she was just 10 years old. She grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and immersed herself in the world of horse training.
At age 13, within 3 years of learning the sport, she was training with the pre-professional riders, often training other owners' horses to become competition-ready.
Sanjana competed in the Jumpers throughout high school and later went to Cornell University in 2014 to study chemical engineering. She was a Division 1 athlete on their NCAA Equestrian Team and dedicated 10-20 hours a week to caring for, training, and competing with horses in upstate New York.
Sanjana always dreamed of a job that involved animals, the great outdoors, and helping owners live their best lives with their animal companions. During her time training horses, she learned that no animal is untrainable. With the right mindset, technique, and an open heart, every animal can make progress.
After graduating from Cornell in 2018 with a degree in Chemical Engineering, Sanjana began to travel around the United States deploying robotic technology in warehouses, which transitioned her away from the horse training world.
In 2020, everything changed. She was no longer traveling because of the pandemic and decided to take a leap of faith and adopt an 11 month-old German Shepherd-Husky rescue named Ace.
What drew her to Ace was the fact that no other family wanted him and that he truly had a heart of gold. He went from family to family with no luck before finding Sanjana.
Sanjana had always trained the horses that others lost hope in. She decided Ace was no different and plunged headfirst into the world of dog training, taking all her knowledge and expertise from the past 15 years of training horses.
Ace’s Training Journey
Ace came to me with severe anxiety, reactivity, and aggression issues. He struggled to be left alone. He lunged at other dogs. He would bark at men and shake in fear in busy places.
We had a lot of work to do.
The horse training world focuses on leadership, play, and structure, so that's where I started.
After a week of Ace living in fear, I began to make changes. I started to establish myself as the pack leader, played with Ace every day in new places, found the best training collar and leash, and improved the structure of my home.
Quickly, I fell in love with dog training.
We trained at home, on my driveway, and at the local park. Each training session was rooted in play and teaching him to have fun rather than to feel fear.
Once we built a solid communication system, I began to take Ace into environments that would make him gently uncomfortable but environments where he could succeed in.
We then trained in Home Depot, the Philly Airport, Lowe's, Target, and elementary school playgrounds—anywhere that could push his comfort zone. At this point in training, I wasn't looking for obedience; I was looking for engagement! We played tug and had fun in these environments that had once overwhelmed him.
During this time, I spent a lot of time with a dog training center that rescued Belgian Malinois dogs and trained police K9s because I wanted to learn from the people training dogs at the highest level.
After just three months of consistent training, Ace had overcome most of his challenges! We began to travel together for work, staying in hotels and flying from state to state. Ace learned to feel safe and secure with me, his owner, no matter where we were.
I finally had my dream dog! And all it took was structure, consistency, daily training, and play for 3 months.
Within five months of training, Ace's transformation caught the attention of my first client. Since 2020, I've been loving every second of helping owners teach their dogs to be happy, well-behaved family members 🧡
