Meet Cassie | AAS Cassie Malina

About Cassie

Awesome Animal Solutions was founded by Cassie to offer the most positive, least intrusive effective solutions to anyone looking to help their animals reach their fullest potential. All animals are unique and awesome creatures, with inspiring behaviors and adaptations. Whether looking for guidance with a companion animal or training animals or staff for educational programs, AAS can meet your needs.

Cassie Malina has been training people and animals professionally worldwide for over 25 years.

After graduating with High Distinction from the Pennsylvania State University, Cassie joined the animal training team at Natural Encounters, Inc. During her 22 years with NEI, she produced and performed in free flight bird shows across the country. She performed in free flight bird shows at Disney's Animal Kingdom since the park's inception through April 2020. As the Director of Staff Development, Cassie grew a community of animal trainers and caregivers. She has instructed on the art and science of animal training at numerous workshops, seminars, webinars and conferences across the country and abroad. Cassie has consulted on animal programs across the US and abroad as well. She has been coaching pet animal caregivers independently since 2000 and was Parrot Kindergarten’s School Counselor for the first two years of the program, beginning April 2021.

Cassie maintains her CPBC certification from the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) since 2015 and her CPBT-KA certification from the International Avian Trainers Certification Board (IATCB) since 2013, and she completed Dr. Susan Friedman, Ph.D.'s Living and Learning with Animals (LLA) Course. Cassie has been an active member of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (IAATE) since 1998 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her 20 years of Executive Board service in 2020.

Cassie grew up in the Hudson River Valley in New York. She was an only child, her best friends being two Afghan Hounds she grew up with as well as the cats in the neighborhood. Her most cherished memories always involved animals and animal behavior.

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Conversations with Cassie

Meet Cassie

People are talking

"I've known Cassie for 22 years as an animal behavior specialist. She is kind, extremely dependable, trustworthy and so very patient. Cassie is trained to read animal behavior and that can be critical to your animal's health and well being. Her love for the natural world can be seen with her respectful interactions with all animals. Dogs, cats, birds, reptiles are just a few species she has worked with in her professional career. I would recommend Cassie highly as a person you can count on to care for your animal with respect and compassion."

DonnaSue Evans, CHRO Natural Encounters, Inc.

"Cassie's presentations are outstanding. Her speaking, her slides and the content she selects are spot-on perfect. The passion and authenticity with which she share's her deep knowledge and experience always leaves me with a happy glow. This is honest heartfelt praise, I really enjoy and value her classes."

Barbara Bingham, CPBC, CPBT-KA, Harmony Animal Behavior

"I reached out to Cassie with Awesome Animal Solutions one week before facility renovations required me to move our entire collection of animal ambassadors. As a small non-profit with a newly established education program, newly acquired ambassadors and limited staffing, hiring Cassie as a consultant was the best decision I could have made. I came to her with 7 birds, 5 different species, some of which had never voluntarily crated, none of which had ever moved while crated. Within one week with her help on everything from reworking diets, altering enclosures, modifying crates, and of course being available for live training sessions via zoom, all of our birds not only willingly crated on the day of the renovations but returned to their crates for daily training the very next day! The best part of working with Cassie is the encouragement and feedback she provided whenever I needed it and on anything that came our way. She never hesitated to uplift me as a trainer, encourage my growth, listen to my opinions, and guide me through decisions that will lead to the long term success of the animals and the program. All the forums, groups, webinars and workshops I have taken so far in my career could not compare to the one-on-one services that Cassie provided. I will definitely be utilizing her services again!"

Miranda Adams, G. M. Sutton Avian Research Center

"Cassie is incredible! I have a very smart and sassy green cheek conure son, and Cassie has been helping me learn how birds like to communicate and learn! The first lesson we had my GCC went from only knowing how to step up to actively target training and flying from cage to target.
Cassie is personable, patient, kind and able to explain things in multiple ways for you to understand better. If you're a large organization in need of consultation or just a bird parent like me, you can only benefit from hiring Cassie to help you understand and work with your feathered friends!"

Robin F., California

"Cassie is a true animal expert. She really understands animal behavior and seems to know just what to do given whatever the issue. I've referred many of my dog-owning friends to her to help them make their pups the best pups they can be! Besides being great with animals, she's a great human too. Patient, understanding, and a great listener. She's the kind of person who wants to make the world a better place--starting with humans and their animals."

Amy S., Florida

"Cassie came highly recommended and her credentials are impressive. In working with her with my Amazon parrot, Abby, within a short time I found that her reputation is very well earned and deserved.

Cassie quickly, thoughtfully and intuitively understood the difficulties we were facing with Abby, as well as understanding the whole family/ flock dynamic in our household. (We have 4 parrots)

Over zoom, (and that it worked remotely is testament to Cassie's training power) I learned how to gain our Abby's trust. Although I was nervous, I was amazed how quickly we were able to make progress.

I am a PA state licensed wildlife rehabilitator with 15 years experience handing wild birds, and over 20 years experience keeping parrots, so not a total beginner. I know all the theory about operant conditioning and positive reinforcement. But Cassie was able, patiently, to turn that theory into practice with a parrot who loved my husband not me! We've gone from this bird attacking me to me being able to give her treats, target her in and out of the cage, and step up on a perch for me. My husband was astonished and thrilled when I demonstrated to him all the things Abby and I learned to do together.

If you have a pet bird issue I recommend Cassie enthusiastically. Call her! You won't regret it."

Michele W., Pennsylvania

"As the “School Counselor” here at Parrot Kindergarten, Cassie is an inspirational and empathetic behavior trainer. She not only intimately understands animal behavior, she understands the challenges of being a “pet parent” – with all the chaos and busy-ness of life, the raw and hurt feelings that can come when we feel we are failing our little animals. She is a part of the Parrot Kindergarten family, and is an invaluable “counselor”/expert behaviorist for everyone who has little pets they want to help be happier."

Jennifer Cunha, Founder of Parrot Kindergarten

"Balinda and I are bird trainers at a rehabilitation center in Phoenix. We have gotten to know Cassie through IAATE (International Association of Avian Trainers) and were delighted when we heard she had started Awesome Animal Solutions. The timing couldn't have been better! We were in the middle of training a Eurasian Eagle Owl and a Harris' Hawk to free fly.

Like any profession, there is a need for feedback, and expert advice about what you are doing right and wrong, especially when you are doing an advanced procedure for the first time.

Cassie was able to help us via Zoom meetings and written email exchanges through the most difficult parts of that training! You aren't a real trainer till you have experienced the exhilaration of watching your animal fly free and do his/her trained behaviors on cue. But the anguish and self-searching for anything that might not be perfect before that first free flight is pure torture. Cassie talked us down and convinced us that our bird was ready, we were ready, and coached us through the steps - both small and large - to confirm that. It worked!

Since then (Thanksgiving of 2020) we have flown the Eurasian every morning over increasing distances, to novel perches, and even over a small pond. He is amazing to watch and thrilling for everyone who sees him go by, including the occasional ducks that happen to land in the pond! He flies over them focused on his cue and lands literally inside his travel crate for the trip home. Stellar. Every day we think about Cassie and her tips, and her encouragement.

We have seen Cassie's shows with parrots, raptors, and species from around the world. She is a great trainer of animals, and a great trainer of trainers. If you have the need and the opportunity to work with her, do it!"