Bobbi Colorado and her husband Ken Beggs watched as their sly raccoon protégé crept across the room just as they had taught him. Having reached the whirring treadmill's power source, he yanked the cord out of the wall, sending actor Brendan Fraser flying over the top of the machine mid-sprint. The raccoon—who filmed this scene for 2010's Furry Vengeance —is just one of many animal actors mentored by the husband-and-wife team, who have been training domestic and exotic critters for more than 35 years through their business The Wild Bunch.

Often disappointed by the kennels they visited to find dogs for their projects, the pair decided that they would open a better one themselves. They soon set up Bobbi Colorado's Canine Camp on their 10-acre property, building six spacious tree-shaded play yards and large sleeping quarters. The camp is designed to be "a safe, fun, happy place, so when you go away, it's your dog's vacation too," says Colorado. During stays, canines play together outside or nap in the sun while under 24-hour-a-day supervision. The staff members also post photos and videos of the frolicking pooches online so that their owners can check up on them. In addition to boarding, the camp also offers training classes to teach dogs basic obedience or train them for work in movies, commercials, and print ads.

Besides their pet boarding business, Colorado and Beggs' love for animals drives them to train rescue animals for roles, often saving them from euthanization. For the movie Secondhand Lions, for instance, Colorado recruited pigs from a slaughterhouse, and afterward sent them on to work with autistic children through an animal-therapy program.