JT has been working with animals -- both domestic and exotic -- since pre-teen years.  As a child, if there was an orphaned bird, it always seemed to find its way to him.  Dogs have always had a fondness for him as well.  "I can remember making money by betting other kids that I could go in with the 'mean' junkyard dog without getting bit," he chuckles, reminiscing.  "In no time, they'd be in my lap, smothering me in kisses."  In his early teens, he literally ran off with the circus, and was responsible for the care of an aging African Lion, a brown bear, and a pair of Chinese monkeys.   During teen years, he began working with a German couple and their Schutzhund-titled German Shepherd dogs, and took to that sort of training instinctively as well.

Being able to communicate with the animals is essential.  This isn't to say that I have some special gift that allows me to do what others cannot with them.  It just means that it comes to me easier, and so I'm able to teach them behaviors without the language barriers that some people encounter.  From there, it's an easy step to showing the owners how to communicate with their pets the same way.

JT's reason for training people and their pets has always been to help both the human and the animal enjoy a happy, healthy relationship with each other.   He feels this is the single best thing that can be done to keep them both out of the homeless shelters.