Do you truly have a talent working with animals?

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Any animal. Horses, dogs, cats, dolphins, wild animals, mice, etc.

I've noticed many people say they are good dog trainers or have a lot of horse sense, but I see something else in their training that makes me think otherwise. Myself, I adopted one of the most unwieldy, obnoxious dogs that I saw at the animal shelter, and trained her to be a therapy dog. This Border Collie/Pit Bull mix was not aggressive, but would jump on people constantly, mouth too hard, jump on tables and eat what she wanted, chew up things, bark and whine nearly constantly, and so on. She was almost ready to be euthanized probably because no one wanted a dog like that. Because of this and my past successes, I consider myself to have a talent for working with and training dogs.

Some people think that being kind, showing lots of love, feeding them, and taking them to a vet in a timely manner is having a talent for animals, but these reasons alone do not mean a person does have a true talent with an animal.

A talent could include competent training (obedience, tracking, flyball, etc.), competently diagnosing health problems, quality breeding, a strong empathy and understanding of the animal, etc. What is your special talent, if any?

Never made contact with a dolphin.

I've always had a special way with animals, but it never occurred to me to work with them.

I like to think I do. Without my friends help, I got his dog to stop jumping on me. He still jumped on him, though.

I like to bump heads with cats, too. If I put my forehead close to the cats 'forehead' and he/she makes contact then its a wicked cat.

Asides from that I have no idea, never had a pet

I think I do have a special bond with animals, its such a shame that during childhood I loved them but was very concerned that they may bite so I approached them with fear. I have relaxed a bit now and find them loving and more predictable than humans.

I'm also talented at eating them

I seem to be good with them! I hand-feed tiny newborn critters all the time and am one of the few at work trusted to do so!

I get along with animals better that I do with most people. I am the one that some ones pet will come up to and the owners say he/she never does that with anyone. I have an affinity with all sorts of animals dogs, cats, horses, cows and others.

My kitties are like children. I don't have an especially special talent for dealing with them, but cats love me.

I'm not sure where "good with animals" ends and "special talent" begins... Understanding animals is my forte, anyway, especially body language. I suppose if I were to train that ability, I could be solidly in the "special talent" category within a few years.

Same here as most others... Animals seem to like me, they get familiar with me quicker than with most others, but I've never thought about becoming a trainer.

I wonder, though, if it isn't because if I'm with people somewhere where there's an animal, I'm usually WAY more interested in the animal than the general conversation. Said animal will sense this, feel more comfortable, and act more familiar towards me...? Just a thought.

I understand animals' body language well and I know most of the new training literature, all of the old literature, and essentially have a phenomenal mental database on dogs. However.

When it actually comes to training? Well, I solely handled my younger dog in his training classes. I made as many mistakes as anyone else there. I did well, because I practiced working with him, but there wasn't a clear 'best" in the class. I was the youngest person handling a dog in both classes, but then I was also the only teenager in any of the dogs' families. When it comes to socializing him, I made a lot of mistakes. (I suspect it's because I get nervous being around strangers and he picks up on it.) I do have a gift for understanding dogs, and certainly I was able to teach him new things very quickly (although this might be because Oliver is an intelligent, highly food-motivated and persistant dog rather than because Sola is the next great trainer), but I wouldn't call myself truly gifted until I could train a dog and not make so many mistakes.

I'd also like to point out that when we got Oliver as an adolescent ex-stray, he exhibited many of the same behaviors that your BC/APBT cross did (although he is smaller; Oliver is probably a Border Terrier/Corgi cross): nipping, mouthing, jumping on furniture [by this, I mean end tables, not couches] to get to things he wanted, jumping on people without asking permission, pulling on lead, barking constantly in public places, and to top it off he was only partially housetrained. Working largely by myself, I've gotten him to the point where he's mostly given up most of these behaviors, and I was also planning to train him for therapy work but haven't managed to get him to give up entirely on mouthing. So hey, maybe I'm not doing too badly.