Kathy Santo's love of dogs started at an early age.  By the time she was in her late teens, she was training and competing nationally in obedience trials with her golden retriever "Opal".  Within two years she had risen to the top of the sport, winning national tournaments and regularly topping the annual rating systems and teaching competitive students across the U.S. and Canada.

Eventually, the trophies and ribbons felt hollow, and she decided to focus her training talents on making a difference in the lives of dogs and their families.  By changing her training school from competitive to basic "home" obedience, Kathy knew she could greatly reduce the number of dogs that were placed in shelters because of easily fixable behavior issues.  

Teaming up with a shelter in South Florida, she volunteered her time temperament testing dogs before they were put up for adoption and started a therapy dog program for local nursing homes.  In return, the shelter agreed to let her use their parking lot for her basic obedience programs, which would be free to adopted dogs.   For the next 10 years, that parking lot grew from 5 dogs a week to the 100 that she sees now.

After moving to NJ, Kathy wanted to continue offering dog training, but also loved the idea of being a stay at home "working" mom.  Her husband, a chiropractor, had his office in their home, and if it worked for him, then she felt it could work for her, too.  The minute she envisioned training dogs at her home, the calls started pouring in. 

By her one-year anniversary of moving back to NJ, her student list had grown to well over the 100 dogs a week mark, strictly by word of mouth.  Her children, now 14 and 8, are frequently attending classes with their own dogs or assisting in beginner classes.  

Recently she started a program for children with autism.  By utilizing basic obedience and agility commands, Kathy found that she could create a relationship and bond between the child and their dog, where previously there had been none.  Her vision is for this program to be worldwide, pairing the talents of dog trainers with families of children with autism.

In 2006, tired of recommending products that were "almost effective", and wanting to combine her family's holistic lifestyle into a line of effective behavioral aids, she created Kathy Santo's Hip Pet Organics. 

Teaming up with a master formulator - also a stay at home mom! - Kathy and Andrea combined their talents and came up with a line of products using the finest organic ingredients.  That meant that the products are not only effective and safe for people and their pets, but for the earth as well.   Used in conjunction with a training/behavioral modification program, these products can help families achieve the happy and healthy relationship they've always wanted with their dogs.

As her mission statement says: Kathy Santo Hip Pet Organics goal is to help pets stay with their families and out of animal shelters.  A portion of all sales is donated to various animal charities.