Animal Behavior at Carroll University

08/05/2026

🎙️ New Podcast Episode: Sniffing Out the Spotted Lanternfly 🐕🪲

What if your pet dog could help fight an invasive species?

In our latest episode, Kayla chats with Melissa McCue-McGrath: dog trainer, author, educator, and one of the people helping explore whether everyday pet dogs can learn to detect the invasive spotted lanternfly.

❓ As part of Sally Dickinson’s PhD research (you may remember Sally from our episode “How Volunteer Conservation Dog Teams Are Making a Difference”), Melissa and a cohort of 22 dogs in Maine are helping test a fascinating question: Can dogs who weren’t specifically selected or bred for conservation work learn to find an invasive species?

🐾 Melissa shares the struggles, adaptations, and creative modifications she and her teams have had to make along the way and what those challenges can teach us about working with pet dogs in conservation.

💭 Melissa also brings a unique perspective from outside the conservation detection world. She’s long used scent work to help open up the world for many reactive or fearful dogs. Her experience highlights just how powerful a dog’s nose can be as a tool for enrichment, confidence-building, and learning.

🚨 And as Melissa has become more immersed in the conservation world, she’s also started asking a bigger question: It’s not only “Can dogs find this species?” but “Should they?” Safety, environmental conditions, target species, and the realities of fieldwork all matter when deciding whether a detection application makes sense.

🎧 Tune in to hear Melissa’s perspective on all of this and more!

Listen on Spotify and Apple podcasts.

08/05/2026

So cool!

Until recently, ornithologists lacked transmitters small enough to safely deploy on hummingbirds while meeting minimum weight guidelines. However, researchers can now answer questions about hummingbird movement thanks to the novel, miniature technology pictured here!

In collaboration together, the Banding Coalition of the Americas (BCA) and Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT) developed and field-tested an ultra-light, solar-powered transmitter (CTT’s BlūMorpho; weighing just 0.060 grams!), making it possible to study hummingbird movement ecology in great detail.

Join EBBA on August 19 at 7 PM ET for a webinar with Dr. Emma Rhodes of Banding Coalition of the Americas [BCA] to learn more about this groundbreaking technology and the research it is making possible. All banding and tagging operations are being conducted under a federally authorized Bird Banding Permit issued by the U.S. Geological Survey's BBL.

Register today on the EBBA website! https://easternbirdbanding.org/

07/21/2026

A little free professional development!

05/20/2026

Have you been following the beagles rescued from Ridglan Farms? What a great joint effort among the animal shelters around Wisconsin! Happy to see some of our alumni helping with these efforts.

John Kolstad adopted Merle within an hour and a half of him being made available by the Wisconsin Humane Society.

04/24/2026

The Animal Behavior program was well-represented at the annual meeting of the International Society for Comparative Cognition in Montreal! The team was led by Dr. Josh Wolf and presented work on both amphipods and cichlid fish.

04/21/2026

Our Animal Behavior program professors don't just "talk the talk", they also "walk the walk."

You, too, can learn how to ethically and cooperatively change the behavior of animals through the Animal Behavior program at Carroll University.

Here is an example of one of Dr. Waite's dog training course students showing off her own training chops with foster dog, Levi: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DRMimW4Su/

04/16/2026

The Applied Animal Behavior Science, Training, and Research Lab still has just one spot left in their crate training study!

Do you have a dog in the Waukesha, WI area who could benefit from crate training? You might be eligible for our research study on doggie crate training! If you enroll, we will come to your home across several sessions and train your dog to go in and stay in their crate using a positive reinforcement training protocol.

In order to be eligible, your dog must:

• Live within 10 miles of Waukesha, WI and be > 6 months old
• Enthusiastically consume treats
• Not be aggressive toward humans
• Not have crate phobia
• Not already willingly and easily enter the crate when cued

Check your eligibility here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/gJcHuUuCDn or contact us at [email protected] for more information

Owners of dogs who finish the study will be compensated with a $20 gift card to Amazon or Petco.

Study Title: Development and Validation of an Efficient, Efficacious, Ethical Protocol to Crate Train Dogs
IRB #2025-045
PI: Dr. Mindy Waite

04/15/2026

Great opportunity!!

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04/07/2026

One of our incredible students, Kaity Berry, is presenting her research on crate training dogs using reinforcement-based methods next Tuesday. Come see her results and earn more about how her protocol works!

These are the incredible things our undergraduate animal behavior students do at Carroll University!

03/28/2026

APPLY NOW! Start circa May 1. Candidates need prior birding experience & familiarity with/ songs & calls of western montane birds, a strong desire to learn more, & willingness to face the rigors of fieldwork w/ good humor. Additional training will be provided. More info here:https://birdpop.org/docs/jobs/Back-country_Point_Counts_in_Pacific_Northwest_National_Parks.pdf