Irvine dog trainer on trial for deaths of nearly a dozen canines in his care

An Irvine dog trainer attempted to cover up the deaths of nearly a dozen canines under his care by trying to quickly get the animals cremated and lying to their owners that the pets had peacefully passed away in their sleep, a prosecutor told an Orange County Superior Court jury on Monday, June 1 at the start of an animal cruelty trial.

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The owners’ quick outreach to police resulted in officers preventing most of the dogs from actually being cremated, and resulted in the trainer — Kwong “Tony” Chun Sit — and a woman he lived and worked with — Tingfeng Liu — facing felony charges.

The deaths of the dogs and arrest of the trainer and his associate drew widespread news coverage, as shattered families emotionally described the loss of their beloved pets. Sit is facing more than 20 felony animal cruelty and abuse charges, along with eight misdemeanor charges of attempting to destroy evidence. Liu is facing a felony charge of being an accessory after the fact, along with three misdemeanor destroying or attempting to destroy evidence charges.

During opening statements Monday morning in a Santa Ana courtroom, prosecutors did not specify exactly what happened to the 11 dogs that died under Sit’s care, but told jurors that Sit was directly responsible for the deaths, and that Liu helped him try to cover it up.

“This case is not about an accident,” Deputy District Attorney Danica Drotman told jurors.  “Eleven dogs died because of a series of deliberate and intentional choices made by defendant Sit.”

The defense did not dispute that the dogs died under Sit’s care. His attorney, Kate Corrigan, acknowledged that “unfortunately, things happen, it happened very quickly.” But, the defense attorney argued, those “panic acts” after the deaths didn’t mean Sit was actually responsible for the dogs dying.

“One bad decision after another happened,” Corrigan told the jurors. “Whether that rises to the level of a criminal conviction, I would ask you to think about it.”

The owners of the 11 dogs had turned the pets over to Sit — who ran the “Happy K9 Academy — for training that lasted up to several weeks at a time. One of the dogs — Shadow — died on June 12, 2025, according to the attorneys, while the others — Ziggy, Miko, Rosie, Theo, Puffin, Cody, Zoe, Luna, Bang Bang and Saint — died on June 18.

Sit and Liu reached out to four different pet crematoriums across Southern California and split up to drop the bodies of the dogs off, prosecutors said.

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Meanwhile, the owners were all sent texts claiming that the dogs had passed away peacefully during the night, that it was unexpected, that Sit was saddened by the loss and would refund their training fees if they wished and that the dogs had been cremated.

Owners called police. An officer spoke to Sit at his apartment and saw his van, which was full of dog carriers and according to the prosecution smelled of bleach. Police picked up the bodies of the nine dogs that hadn’t yet been cremated.

Eight of the dogs were found to have died of heat stroke. Another died from blunt force trauma. The prosecutors told jurors that some had blood on their faces, fur or paws.

“These dogs did not die peacefully in their sleep,” Drotman said. “These dogs did have signs of pain and struggle, unlike what Sit told the families… they suffered prior to their death.”

Liu’s attorney, Frederick Fascenelli, denied that Liu, who was 23-years-old at the time, was in a romantic relationship with Sit, who was 53. Liu was in the country on a Visa and had sought Sit out in order to learn from him about training dogs, the defense attorney said. She was unaware that any crime had been committed, Fascenelli added, a requirement for an accessory after the fact conviction.

“Should she have known something?” Fascenellig asked. “Maybe. Did she choose the wrong person as a mentor? Maybe. Should she have asked more questions? Maybe. But that is not what the law requires.”

The prosecution contended that Liu was aware of how the dogs had been treated and was an active participant in attempting to get them cremated.

“She could have kept her distance, walked way, called someone,” Drotman said. “She did none of those things.”

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The trial is expected to last two or three weeks.