Coffee with the Critters

Meet the people helping our wild neighbors.

What does it take to help injured and orphaned wildlife? And what can the animals coming into rehabilitation tell us about emerging diseases?

Join Coffee with the Critters LIVE from the Ohio Wildlife Rehabilitators Association Conference for a conversation with speakers and board members.

Longtime wildlife rehabilitator and OWRA trustee Barbara Ray will introduce the work of wildlife rehabilitation. Dr. Sam Valerius will discuss emerging diseases and rehabilitators’ role in identifying wildlife health concerns. We’ll also hear...

Positive-reinforcement training can be more than a way to teach a behavior. It can create opportunities for animals to:

• make choices

• solve problems

• move and explore

• communicate

• exercise

• interact socially

• learn new skills

• engage successfully with their environment

Lara will talk about why training can function as enrichment, with practical examples across species.

She’ll also look at an especially interesting question:

Why might an animal sometimes c...

I’ll be talking about how positive reinforcement can support animal wellbeing.

When I say wellbeing, I mean the animal’s quality of life.

I’ll reference a newly published study that examined engagement with positive-reinforcement training as a potential indicator of positive welfare. I’ll use that research as a starting point to discuss something that sits at the center of much of my own work across species.

I’ll be looking at things such as voluntary participation, willingness to engage, approach behavior, focus, eagerness, anticipation of the int...

No set topic this week as Lara jumps on and answers questions.

Join Lara for another info packed Q&A about Parrot training, behavior, and enrichment. She’ll discuss what to observe, how to approach training challenges, and practical ways to encourage engagement with enrichment.

What happens when you combine dinosaurs, live reptiles, science, and hands-on wildlife education? You get Dino Buddies.

I’m joined by Tiffany Johnson, founder and owner of Dino Buddies, a wildlife education company based in the Greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area.

Tiffany and her team use live reptile ambassadors, animatronic dinosaurs, fossils, replicas, and interactive programs to make science approachable, exciting, and memorable for people of all ages.

We’ll talk about how Dino Buddies got started, what goes into creating meaningful wildlife education experiences, the...

We pay attention to what animals can see, touch, eat, climb on, move toward, and move away from. But what about sound?

A newly published review examined research on human-generated noise and zoo animal welfare. The findings do not give us a simple rule that noise is always harmful. They do raise an important question:

What changes in an animal's behavior when the acoustic environment changes?

I'll talk about how sound may affect behaviors such as alertness, resting, foraging, social interaction, hiding, enclosure use...

For this special Coffee with the Critters, Lara is joined by:

• Dr. Jason Crean, biologist and Principal Investigator with the Animal Nutrition Laboratory at Saint Xavier University

• Dr. Tatiana Tatum, geneticist and Principal Investigator with the Animal Nutrition Laboratory at Saint Xavier University

• Dr. Jamie Abete, avian veterinarian at Niles Animal Hospital

They’ll talk about avian nutrition beyond simply asking what belongs in the bowl, including nutrition and health, whole foods, wild feeding ecology, foraging, behavior, reinforcement, the avian microbiome, and what current evidence can and...

Lara is joined by Dr. Lauryn Benedict, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. Dr. Benedict studies animal communication and social behavior, including how birds use vocal signals in different social and environmental contexts. She is also part of the Many Parrots Project, an international research team studying parrot vocal learning and cognition.

We’ll talk about what scientists are learning from companion parrots, including recent research examining whether parrots may use names as vocal labels, and how observations from people who live with parrots can contribute to research.

In this episode, Lara discusses a recent study published on target training 48 rats. Target training may support welfare beyond what the food reinforcer alone can.

Join us for a conversation about helping animals participate more willingly in handling, grooming, veterinary care, and other necessary procedures.

Deb will bring her extensive dog-training experience, while I’ll share examples involving parrots, pigs, deaf and deaf-blind dogs, zoo and shelter animals, and wildlife education animals.

We’ll discuss:

Training does not have to be long, complicated, or overwhelming to make a difference. In this episode, we’ll talk about how short, intentional training moments can help prevent behavior problems, modify unwanted behavior, build trust, and give animals clearer ways to get what they need.

Whether you work with animals professionally or share your home with them, the animals under our care are learning from you every day. Let’s make those moments count.

We are discussing animal stress in relation to quality care. This could include veterinary care, grooming, socialization and more.

We are continuing our conversation on empowering animals.

We’ll look at how purposeful enrichment can help animals that find people, proximity, or touch stressful and how confidence can keep growing between training sessions. Join me to learn what hesitation looks like and how to design enrichment that encourages exploration, choice, and success.

Confidence is not something we demand from animals. It is something we teach.

We’ll look at how fear can show up in different ways, why labels can limit what we see, and how training can help animals move from avoidance to participation through clarity, predictability, choice, and reinforcement.

Before we label an animal as aggressive, stubborn, anxious, hormonal, difficult, or “just being bad,” we need to understand what the behavior is doing for the animal and what the animal may be learning from us.

In this live-stream, we will take a powerful look at the definition of a label, and explain why using them hinders changing behavior concerns.

Behavior problems do not happen for no reason.

Before we label an animal as aggressive, stubborn, anxious, hormonal, difficult, or “just being bad,” we need to understand what the behavior is doing for the animal and what the animal may be learning from us.

In this live-stream, we will take a powerful look at why behavior matters, how animals learn from their environment, and why we may accidentally reinforce the very behaviors we are trying to stop.

Lara answers followers questions about behavior, training, and enrichment!

In this live episode of Coffee with the Critters, we’re breaking down what it actually means to build calm behavior, not suppress it.

We’ll explore:

• Why many behavior concerns are actually regulation problems

• The difference between suppressing behavior and teaching calm

• How to identify and reinforce observable calm behavior

• What to measure if you want calm to become reliable

If you’ve ever struggled with reactivity, overstimulation, or an animal that “can’t settle,” this conversation will change how you approach it.

After 20 years working with animals across species, one issue shows up again and again:

Motivation is misunderstood.

When behavior doesn’t happen, people assume:

• the animal is stubborn

• the animal isn’t interested

• the animal “knows it but won’t do it”

But behavior doesn’t happen because we want it to.

It happens because, in that moment, it is worth it to the animal.

In continuation of celebrating 13 years in business, our next episode of Coffee with the Critters will be discussing Reinforcement History.

• Every behavior an animal exhibits carries a history.

• Behavior continues because it has worked before.

• Reinforcement leaves a history.

• That history shapes what animals do next.

In continuation of celebrating 13 years in business, our next episode of Coffee with the Critters, we'll be discussing Data Collection.

People believe they understand behavior.

But very few people are measuring it.

If you’re not measuring behavior, you’re guessing.

When you evaluate behavior, are you collecting data?

Part Two to Lara’s throwback episode from 2023! Listen as Lara delves deeper into Positive Reinforcement.

When you evaluate enrichment, what variables are you actually measuring?

After working with wolves, birds, primates, reptiles, and numerous species for the past two decades, one lesson continues to surface:

Not all enrichment improves welfare.

In this episode, Lara talks about when enrichment increases arousal instead of meaningful engagement.

Busy does not equal beneficial.

Intensity does not equal appropriate enrichment.

Overstimulation does not equal welfare.

In this two part throwback episode from 2023, Lara breaks down Positive Reinforcement.

This week, I am joined by Chrissy Pratt, President of Elephation, a non-profit focusing on compassionate, sustainable solutions to the multiple issues that affect captive elephants, the people who care for them, and the communities in which they live.

Building Strong, Trusting Relationships with Animals

Here's what we'll cover:

-Beginning to strengthen trust through training

-Understanding behavior

-Shaping trust through two-way learning

-Providing functional enrichment

Ready for some live training demonstrations? In this episode, I will be working with Noodle and showing beneficial training for everyday living with animals.

This week's topic: Scent-Oriented Foraging Enrichment

Here's what we'll cover:

• Designed from a behavioral perspective

• Designed from observation

This week's topic: Time Management Q&A for Busy Animal Caretakers.

Here's what we'll cover:

• Tips for Time Management

• Implementation Examples I Use

Time Management Q&A for Busy Animal Caretakers

Here's what we'll cover:

• Reviewing the responses from the questionnaire

• Addressing feedback from last week's topic

• Taking your questions and giving feedback

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"Coffee with the Critters" airs every Sunday at 9:30 AM EST. This is a live-streamed event on The Animal Behavior Center's Facebook page.

Time Management for Busy Animal Caretakers

Here's what we'll cover:

• Identifying Obstacles

• Defining Goals & Mission

• Tips that put thoughts into action

The holidays are a time of chaos, but it doesn't have to be. Visitors teaching your animals to bite, bark, jump, eat junk food, etc. If your traveling for the holidays, how are you keeping your animals occupied while you are gone? Lara answers animal behavior, training, and enrichment questions.

In this episode, Lara will be addressing the important topic of Ethics, especially in relation to owning your own business within the animal community. Many people struggle with ethics, politics, and money and trying to stay true to their mission.

This week’s episode is a throwback from a 2020 interview Lara did with Board Certified Behavior Analyst Samantha Sarin.

In this episode, Lara talks about how we designed and created certain enrichment to modify behavior and create complexity.

In this episode, I'm going to tell you some cool facts about birds and key factors to pay attention to when working or interacting with them.

There are several things I try to never do with an animal. Join me as I discuss one of the most common mistakes made with animal behavior I try to never do.

Lara answers questions that viewers had regarding the last two episodes!

This episode is a follow-up from last week's episode on "Is it really enrichment?" It was suggested that this week, I show the viewers photos of potential behavior concerns due to lack of appropriate enrichment vs what behaviors are seen when an animal IS enriched.