A dog trainer based in Irvine, Calif., now faces a conviction for the deaths of 11 dogs.
A jury convicted Kwong (Tony) Chun Sit, 54, on 11 felony counts of animal cruelty, seven misdemeanor counts of attempting to destroy evidence, and one misdemeanor count of destroying evidence, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced on Wednesday, June 17. He faces a maximum sentence of 13 years and 11 months in prison.
A jury also convicted Sit’s girlfriend, Tingfeng Liu, 24, of one felony count of accessory to a felony, one misdemeanor count of destruction of evidence, and two misdemeanor counts of attempted destruction of evidence. She faces a maximum sentence of four years.
Sit operated Happy K9 Academy, which advertised a variety of boarding and training services, training sessions between one and four weeks, and priced from $999 to $3,399. Authorities arrested him in June 2025 after one of the dogs’ owners alerted them, reporting that Sit texted him that his dog had died in its sleep and had been “lovingly cremated.”
“There were no signs of pain or struggle, and it was truly unexpected. I am deeply saddened by this loss,” Sit continued his text on June 18, 2025, per the D.A.’s office.
The Irvine Police Department’s Animal Services Unit immediately launched an investigation and recovered the bodies of multiple dogs at different crematoriums. Someone dropped off the first dog on June 12, 2025, and dropped off the other 10 on June 18, 2025.
Investigators discovered that two of the dogs had been cremated, and they could not reveal the cause of death for those two because the cremation happened before authorities learned of the case. Heat stroke killed eight of the remaining nine dogs, and blunt force trauma killed the ninth dog.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer condemned Sit and Liu and said in a statement, “The greatest fear dogs have is that you will never return when you leave them behind, and because of the unbelievably cruel actions of Mr. Sit and Miss Liu, that fear became a tragic reality for 11 dogs who will never have the chance to reunite with their families.”
“There is a special place in hell for someone who abuses animals, and there is an extra special place in hell for someone who could beat a puppy to death and then feign being heartbroken over her death knowing full well that he is the reason that puppy died such a horrific death,” Spitzer said. “The abuse of animals will never be tolerated, and their abusers will be held accountable under the full weight of the law.”
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