Sam Johnson
Client Care & Enrichment Specialist
Animals from day one.
One of the earliest memories I have is “walking” my own plush dog into the vet’s office for a checkup, alongside our family Shih Tzu, Beau.
I have explored important niches on my journey in dog training. I have worked as a pet sitter, a shelter kennel tech, and teching for spay/neuter surgeries after being trained by the ASPCA’s Spay/Neuter clinic in Asheville. I have bottle-fed puppies, watched a pittie have the time of her life in the river after months behind shelter fences, had the privilege to help the most shut-down dogs get adopted.
I understand the true joy of a dog – and that’s something I believe every person deserves to feel too.
When I was 8, my parents got our Golden Retriever, Kramer. The bond I had with him for his 16 years shaped everything I know to be true about dogs. They feel just as deeply as we do (if not deeper); their wants and needs are just as justified as ours are, and the love they give is more innate and organic than anything I’ve ever known.
I help bridge the gap between people and dogs, and to say I hold that work as a true responsibility would be an understatement.
Meet My Pets
Cricket:
Rat Terrier & Chihuahua
Cricket is two. He is the biggest buddy in the teensiest body! Favorite tricks are spin and sit pretty.
Hobbies: fetch, judging you from afar, full on WWE smackdown with his sister cat, and sleeping under the same blanket as mom.
PJ:
Scottish Fold
PJ is 3 years old & you’ve never felt so judged by so few remarks.
Hobbies: using mom’s head as a landing pad when I miss the window sill, eating treats, and mewing in the crack of the door so it acts as a megaphone.