Karah Wilkes, CPDT-KA

Director of Training

Karah Wilkes, CPDT-KA

Certified Professional Dog Trainer and behavior-focused educator

Karah Wilkes is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer with nearly a decade of training experience and two decades working with animals in other fields, including veterinary clinics, shelters, and daycare. She has a passion for helping dogs and their humans learn to communicate clearly and build positive relationships with each other.

She especially loves working with puppies, setting a strong foundation so that the transition into adolescence and adulthood goes smoothly. Fostering a strong, positive relationship between dog and human, and protecting the physical and mental health of the dog, are her priorities in training.

At ABCs Puppy Zs, Karah works to educate and support clients, providing expert advice and personalized training plans for basic puppy concerns as well as more challenging behavior issues. She develops written and video resources to help guide dog guardians through the training process and provides quality assurance by monitoring training sessions and offering feedback for improved results.

Additionally, she helps ensure that training facilities are safe, clean, and properly equipped by staying informed about industry standards and communicating changes to the team. Her active enthusiasm for learning about and working with dogs is apparent through her continued education via conferences, workshops, and extensive reading.

Karah has worked extensively with pet dogs, shelter and rescue dogs, and working dogs in a wide range of behavior areas, from basic obedience to service work, as well as fear and aggression issues. She is especially skilled at designing customized training programs to meet the individual needs of each dog and their human, while maintaining support to ensure consistency and effectiveness.

One of Karah’s favorite parts of the job is public education. She has partnered with many organizations and businesses, including local rescues, Chewy, Inc., and the city of Dallas, among others, to provide information on positive reinforcement training and dog behavior to the public in hopes of making as many dogs’ lives as possible more enriched and enjoyable.

When she’s not working with dogs, Karah loves spending time with her family and her horse, Duncan, and learning to train horses with positive reinforcement. She is also an avid reader, especially when it comes to animal training and behavior.