Jamie has been an animal lover all her life. As a child, she often took in strays to care for them. As a teenager, she spent her free time volunteering at wildlife facilities surrounding herself with animals of all types. At 16, while her peers were saving money for cars, she saved her money for a macaw. 29-year-old Kiwi is doing great and will often make appearances when Jamie does live educational videos on social media.
After graduating high school, Jamie attended Moorpark College’s world-renowned Exotic Animal Training & Management (“EATM”) program. This program offers hands-on learning and training of exotic animals and only accepts 50 students a year. Its campus zoo, The Teaching Zoo, is home to more than 250 different species, including pigs, camels, parrots, primates, tigers, sea lions, wolves, birds of prey, lions, water buffalo, llamas, reptiles and much more. In addition to attending school, Jamie interned with Wildlife Waystation in Sylmar, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Santa Barbara Zoo, Sea World San Diego, and Dolphin Quest in Tahiti.
After graduating from Moorpark’s EATM program in 2003 with degrees in Exotic Animal Training & Management, Animal Husbandry, and Wildlife Education, Jamie was hired by Sea World, where she specialized in birds and marine mammals. At the Animal Interaction team, she led park guest education shows and was responsible for public relations (television and studio work) with a variety of animals, including owls and vultures, otters, opossums, parrots, crowned cranes, reptiles, etc. At Sea Lion and Otter Stadium, she performed in shows and educational events, trained otters, sea lions, and walruses, and at Dolphin Stadium she worked with Pacific and Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, and pilot whales for shows and guest interactions.
In 2007, Jamie returned to Moorpark College as an instructor of Zoo Skills for the EATM program. She taught at the college until 2009 when her first child was born. She continued her education with a degree in Applied Animal Studies from Brandman University in San Diego and moved to Kansas with her family in 2012.
In Kansas, she unintentionally became involved in the lost & found and rescue community when a boarding facility lost her dog while her family was out of state during the bitter cold of early December. With the help of a professional K9 tracking and recovery team, Jamie was able to locate and trap her own dog. She will tell you it was the most stressful 10 days she has ever experienced. Jamie became determined to help others find their missing pets and in 2016 became a licensed private investigator with the company that helped her, Lost Pet Professionals. She trained her two dogs, Daisy and Leory, in scent work to track lost dogs and cats. After the successful recovery of a lost Great Dane in KCMO named Harvey, she started a lost and found Facebook group called Harvey’s Lost Hounds which helps spread community awareness for missing pets.
Jamie’s and her lost dog Daisy’s recovery got the attention of many Kansas City rescuers. So many wonderful people were willing to help in any way they could. Many new friendships were forged, and Jamie met Melody Huff, director and owner of The Pet Connection during this timeframe. In 2017, Jamie took a position as a behavior specialist and trainer for the rescue.
Jamie is passionate about educating owners on how to obtain desirable behaviors from their pets in a positive, healthy way. Jamie’s experience with exotics has taught her that it is not necessary to use pain or fear to change an animal’s behavior and that doing so can lead to fallout from your pet. Fallout can include aggression, fear, avoidance, anxiety, panic, distrust, and learned helplessness. None of the exotic animals Jamie trained ever had shock or pinch collars. Most had no collars or leashes at all, yet she was able to train them using trust, motivation, and positive reinforcement methods.
Jamie currently specializes in helping dogs that have severe behavioral issues and are often at risk of euthanasia. Besides her degrees in Exotic Animal Training and Applied Studies, Jamie is certified by the AKC and currently working toward her Ph.D. in Ethology at Bircham University. She has been training both exotic and domesticated animals professionally for 22 years.
Jamie is the mother of two amazing boys, Jackson and Hayes. She has three rescue dogs, Leroy, Roox, and Leeloo. They all play a major role in helping other dogs learn. She is also the mom of to 29-year-old blue & gold macaw Kiwi who she has had since hatched and a 2-year-old bearded dragon, Clover. Jamies passion for animals and animal welfare is inspiring and her dedication and knowledge for helping owners with their pets behavioral problems is exceptional.