Animal Behavior at Carroll University

06/15/2025

Please keep your cats indoors!

Scientists have identified that habitat loss is the biggest overall driver of bird declines. When habitat disappears, all the birds that live there lose their homes. Habitat loss occurs when land is converted for agriculture, development, resource extraction, and other uses.

What are the other causes of bird declines?

Aside from habitat loss and degradation, other human-caused threats to birds come from cats, window collisions, vehicles, power lines, communication towers, and wind turbines.

Courtesy of 3 Billion Birds

06/12/2025

One of our professors is speaking at the second annual Animal Trainers Retreat (Sept 20-21).

Want to see some incredible training presentations this fall, either virtually or in person? CU professor, Dr. Mindy Waite, will be speaking alongside Dr. Keira Moore, Kiki Yablon, Eileen Anderson, Laura Monaco Torelli - Animal Behavior Training Concepts, and several other amazing presenters.

Attendees may choose the virtual or in-person conference option. In-person attendees will meet in Brattleboro, Vermont, where they can get hands-on training opportunities across multiple species at Lemon's Hope Sanctuary.

Link to register in first comment.

05/19/2025

PUPPIES!! Two Animal Behavior majors are serving as puppy raisers for our partner, Leader Dogs for the Blind, over the coming year and the puppies made their first visit to campus this weekend. Carroll's partnership with LDFB is not specifically an Animal Behavior program, but we are excited for the opportunity Lexi and Brianna will have to raise and train these pups over the coming year. We are also excited that ANB Alum Audrey Biolette is serving as our puppy counselor this year. Carroll University

05/09/2025

Congratulations to all of our ANB majors who are graduating tomorrow!

04/22/2025

Our very own Dr. Mindy Waite was featured with our Humane Animal Welfare Society - HAWS of Waukesha partners on a podcast by the Ellenbecker Investment Group, where they discussed the animal behavior program at CU, the Carroll University Dog Training Program, and animal behavior research at Carroll University!

Tune in Sunday to hear EIG Director of Community Relations, Jill Economou, speak with this week's featured nonprofits:

Humane Animal Welfare Society - HAWS of Waukesha
Open-admission, no-kill shelter
Jen Smieja & Andres Garcia

Carroll University
A learning community
Mindy Waite

Episodes air each week on News/Talk 1130 WISN, Sunday at 10am. Miss a show? Past shows can be heard online at ellenbecker.com/radio or as podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.

04/17/2025

One of our Animal Behavior students, Melodee Shaker, presented her team's research on Calming Caps for reducing dog reactivity at Carroll University's Celebrate Carroll day!

Our students do incredible research to improve the behavior and welfare of animals and their people. Congratulations, Melodee!💜🥳

04/11/2025

Did you know that April is ? Canine Fitness Month was created as a reminder for dog owner’s to prioritize their dog’s physical health and to encourage being active with your dog everyday! 🐶

In the spirit of this, we wanted to share a study being conducted by our friends at Auburn University! They are actively looking for dog owners to participate in an online study focused on measuring your dog’s fitness! 🐕💪🏻

The data collected will be used to help determine a baseline scale to be used when assessing dog fitness. Video examples of the required exercises will be provided, so no experience in canine fitness or conditioning is required! All you need is a happy, healthy dog over one year old! Participants can be located anywhere inside or outside of the United States. 🏋🏼‍♀️✨

Here’s the link to learn more about the study and how to participate: https://coedu.catalog.auburn.edu/courses/fitness-testing-for-dogs?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6BsYnr-wwAssQGUfZ_nTN8Xr7xLzV4HxybvjLPNRAJ63NipKRDPQ456h3Xmg_aem_y6AETrvu4pTVvEKium3KhQ

04/08/2025

A new paper, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is a collaborative effort between scientists at Powdermill Nature Reserve (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Toledo, Cornell College, and Ohio University.

Are fancy-feathered friends studied more than drab and distant birds? We show that about half the variation in research effort on 293 bird species in the US and Canada is explained by just three factors: 1) visual appeal, 2) range size, and 3) number of universities within ranges.

Read the paper here!
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.2846

04/05/2025

One more CU foster program dog is up for adoption! Check out Tucker 💜

04/05/2025

Janice is up for adoption! Everyone loves this girlie. https://forms.office.com/r/NmkmJFhSHd

04/04/2025

Tristan is one of our CU/HAWS program foster dogs. He's been training under two students at Carroll University and learning all sorts of skills. You want a dog who can sit, down, stay, wait, loose leash walk, etc? Tristan is your boy, and a testament to the incredible work of our CU students!

Adopt him!

03/15/2025

Cool research coming from Auburn University!

Training detection dogs to alert to an odor requires precision in the timing and delivery of stimulus presentations in order to condition a strong association between odor and reward and to train a desired alert behavior that communicates the presence and location of the odor source. Marker training...