The videos showed him trying to learn to walk on his prosthetics. Tyler had had 14 surgeries over the course of a year and a half. They just need the right training and-most important-the right trainer. I’d trained just about every type of animal there was by that point, from rhinos to cockroaches, and I’d come to believe every animal can be trained. “Can you send me his number and some videos so I get an idea of what he needs?” Is it possible to train a service dog for him?” “A friend of mine named Tyler Jeffries was hit by an IED in Afghanistan. One day in 2011, one of my buddies, a retired Army officer, called. I wasn’t exactly making a fortune as an animal trainer, but I felt fortunate to be making a living doing something I loved. It was supposed to last nine months, but I kept getting more work in Hollywood. Just as I was about to sign my enlistment papers, my uncle convinced me to take a temporary gig helping him train animals for a movie. Kind of like a German shepherd, except a grizzly weighs 800 pounds. They are highly intelligent and train extremely well. I had tigers, elephants, primates and bears.
BRANDON MCMILLAN DOG TRAINER PROFESSIONAL
My father and my uncle were both professional animal trainers. Military life would be totally different from how I grew up. I’d even planned to enlist as soon as I turned 18. Because of Grandpa, I had a deep respect for the military. If he dropped his keys, he’d have to grab onto something and practically do the splits to pick them up. He’d lost a leg fighting, and he wore an old-school prosthetic, a locked leg that couldn’t bend or move. One that went back to my grandfather, who’d died when I was 11. What if all that work had been for nothing? What if I was wrong and there were some dogs who couldn’t be trained? What if I’d failed to teach Apollo to do the most important job I’d ever trained a dog for? I’d taken on this project as a favor to a friend, but there had been a personal meaning to it as well.
We’d spent months preparing for this moment. I didn’t want him to sense my tension, though as smart as he was, he probably picked up on it.
I made a conscious effort to hold Apollo’s lead loosely. Everyone I passed stared at the massive Doberman at my side. I asked a nurse for directions, trying to ignore the knots in my stomach. It was like making my way through a maze. The hallways at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center all looked the same to me.
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