Though she now spends her days among the island’s pooches, there was a time when South Whidbey dog trainer Jan Naud interacted with a more dangerous clientele.

Naud spent the earlier decades of her life raising and training wild animals – some of her own, some for wild animal parks and others for traveling circus shows. She has stood underneath big cats, led elephants around by the trunk and delivered food to a herd of wild buffalo that could have easily trampled her.

“I raised zillions of baby lions and tigers and bears and wolves,” Naud said. “I was actually quite a famous baby raiser because when I raised cubs, they always lived.”

Apart from a bite to the back from a leopard and a bite to the arm from a baboon, Naud has relatively few scars to show for it. She credits reward-based tr

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