Doug and his wife Lynne obtained their first wolf in 1971 and subsequently launched a career in the animal training business for the entertainment industry. Between educational programs for universities and commercial shoots for television, Doug and Lynne expanded their wildlife menagerie to include cougars, bobcats, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, owls and eagles. But in 1977, they followed their dream and bought a grizzly bear cub from a zoo in Peoria, Illinois. Through their movie work with Bart the Bear and their humane training methods, the Seuses spawned a legion of followers and are considered the premier animal trainers in the entertainment business. With Bart as ambassador, the Seuses launched Vital Ground in 1990 through the purchase of 240 acres of prime grizzly bear habitat adjoining protected land in The Nature Conservancy’s Pine Butte Swamp Preserve along the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains in Montana. For Doug, the joy of working with bears and other animals doesn’t come from teaching tricks or seeing them on screen. It’s about building a relationship with them.