They say NEVER WORK WITH ANIMALS...

'I TRAINED PIGEONS FOR PADDINGTON IN PERU'
Jill Clark, 66, from Lincolnshire, is the founder of animal talent agency 1st Choice Animals, which she runs with her son Dean, 43.
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I was running a dog-training club when I was asked to audition my Border collie Jacy for a Post Office advert. The agency told me what was needed, so I trained Jacy up to grab hold of the postie’s trousers and spin him around perfectly. The audition went well and, before I knew it, other shows and films were approaching me to train animals. This led me, 37 years ago, to set up my own animal talent agency.
I’ve trained everything from cats and dogs to parrots and budgies on EastEnders, and farm animals for All Creatures Great and Small. I even trained pigeons for Paddington in Peru! I had to teach them to tap on a window, which was hard, as the usual method is to feed them, but obviously the glass was in the way. We trained them up with a pane of glass and a platform to land on, so I could feed them around the side. I then had a second trainer on set to treat them once they had flown to the window with me and tapped it.
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Training for shows is very different to classic obedience training, as we need it to look like the animals belong to other people, not us. It can also be tough getting actors to fully engage with them if they're not really an animal person, but treats always help.
Of course, sometimes it goes wrong. I once trained a cat to come out of a top-floor building and run down some metal stairs. All was going fine until my very tall assistant fell down the stairs just after he let the cat go. He came clattering down and scared the living daylights out of her. My assistant was bruised, but the cat was fine and did the action perfectly the next day – however, I was a nervous wreck!
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The best part of being an animal trainer is helping the animals grow into talented actors. They really do love learning, which makes them a joy to teach. It beats a nine-to-five job any day.
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'HORSES SENSE PEOPLE'S EMOTIONS'
Dr Loes Koorenhof, 40, runs equine therapy charity Equilore in West Northamptonshire, where she lives with her husband.
Growing up I loved horses, and adopted my own at 27. After studying psychology, I did a year’s training in equine-facilitated psychotherapy, which led to setting up Equilore in 2018. We now have six horses, and offer group and individual therapy for people who might have experienced trauma or are struggling with anxiety, emotional regulation and depression. We get referrals from schools, social services, charities and government.
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Our clients don’t ride the horses – therapists observe them while they interact with the animals and debrief with them about their experiences afterwards. It’s so moving when someone struggling with grief enters the field and the whole herd quietly draws around to stand with them. The horses seem to sense people’s emotions and move to support them.
It’s incredible to watch chronic school refusers finding connections. One young client saw horse Zekie having a bad day, neighing loudly and getting bitey with other horses. Observing this, she started talking about how she too lashed out and ran away when under stress. After a few sessions, we identified her triggers and worked on strategies to keep her in school.
Some horses, like Elsie, are brilliant at exuding calm; whereas others – like gentle giant and ex-eventer Gerry – are like cuddly teddy bears and love being around children. I feel so lucky I get to work with these wonderful animals.
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'BEING A ZOOKEEPER WAS MY DREAM JOB'
Roslin Talbot, 52, is a zookeeper at Edinburgh Zoo. She currently looks after 82 chimpanzees and monkeys.
Being a zookeeper is my dream job. I love working with everything from penguins to chimpanzees, wallabies to capybaras. A memorable moment was when a pair of tigers I was looking after, Sasha and Yuri, successfully mated, having a litter of three cubs. Often, male tigers need to be kept separately from the mother and cubs after birth, but Yuri was so gentle that he staye...