Primal Canine Trainer Mike Jones

About this video

Mike Jones, owner of Primal Canine, recounts his childhood growing up in East Side San Jose in a violent household with a single mother, an alcoholic grandfather, and aunts struggling with drug addiction. Jones describes how he began associating with street organizations as a young teenager, facilitating drug deals and doing “muscle work” to earn money, while also caring for his younger half-sisters. He credits finding a puppy and getting into boxing at 16 as turning points that helped redirect his life, though he was in and out of schools and eventually moved out on his own as a minor.

Key takeaways

• Jones grew up in an abusive East Side San Jose household where his family members struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction, leading him to witness and participate in violence from a young age.
• Jones became involved with street organizations and drug dealing as a 14-year-old, facilitating deals and doing collection work to support himself and his half-sisters after their father abandoned them.
• Jones attributes finding a stray puppy and starting boxing at age 16 as key factors that began steering him away from his destructive path, though he had already been expelled from multiple schools and was living independently as a minor.

Episode details: published May 27, 2024 · 11.2K views · 2:21:01 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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