Episode 232: Hey, Wolf - Choose Your Own Adventure! (with Khaz Brooks, Roger Williams Park Zoo, and Ryan Talbot, Wolf Park)

The TEC Talk Podcast: Presented by Natural Encounters, Inc.

Want to know more about what control can look like for the animals you work with? This is the episode for you! Ari and Chris are joined by Khaz Brooks and Ryan Talbot to talk about the work they did with (what they learned was) assent training at Wolf Park. They share how research into ABA and control gave them new language for giving their wolves a stronger voice in their training, how higher level training isn't as "magical" as it sometimes looks (it's about effort!), the joy of giving animals new skillsets, and the value of finding your fellow nerds.

If you have a shout-out you’d like us to share, a question or a topic you’d like us to discuss, or a suggestion for a guest we should have on the show, let us know at [e-mail]!

References from the episode:

An Introduction to Cooperative Care for Canines - Big Bad Rescue Network

Foundations of of Preemptive Compassion: A Behavioral Concept Analysis of Compulsion, Consent, and Assent (Linnehan et al., 2023)

Can There Be Compassion Without Assent? A Nonlinear Constructional Approach (Abdel-Jalil et al., 2023)