Antonio is a 20-year retired combat veteran of the United States Air Force.  He completed his career in the Air Force as a Military Working Dog (MWD) program manager for twelve military units. His highlights while on active duty include being hand-picked as a Department of Defense MWD trainer, kennel master, unit trainer, pre-deployment senior instructor, and special tactics member/instructor. 

After retiring in 2013, Antonio was employed by various private security firms supporting U.S. Treasury Department and U.S. State Department domestic and international security contracts.  During this period, he was assigned to the following positions: high-threat protection security specialist, emergency response team member, canine handler, kennel master, and training director. 

Following his time in the private contracting world, Antonio was employed by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program (NEDCTP).  During this time, he served as unit canine trainer and supervisor of canine operations for eleven TSA Passenger Screening Canine (PSC) teams at Colorado’s Denver International Airport. 

In 2018, Antonio left federal service to train high-performance canine teams for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. He resigned from his position in the fall of 2022 to launch ORO-K9 Services - a lifelong dream.