Dog Show 2021 - What a Pawsome Day!

Now that we’ve had a little chance to recover, we’d like to say the most enormous thank you to everybody who helped to make our Annual Dog Show the most successful event we’ve ever had at the sanctuary! As this was not only our first independent dog show, but also our first event following the pandemic, we really didn’t know what to expect, but you amazed us all. We were absolutely bowled over by your support and the sheer number of you who came out – a record number in fact!!

Best Paw Shaker © Georgie Willetts

Thank you to every one of you who came from near and far. YOU helped to make this day so special, a day that we are all still talking about here!

Thank you to our sponsors, the amazing caring team at Home Instead Sandwell & Dudley. They have been as excited about this event as us from the beginning and it was wonderful to finally meet the team (thanks for the goodie bags, sweets, and calming pep talks!). We’d also like to say an enormous thank you to Lillie at Moo Dog Training who sponsored our rosettes, donated treats for our goodie bags, and was with us every step of the way with help and advice – and a surprise puppy visit before the show to make us all smile! We couldn’t have done it without these amazing people.

A very special thank you to Lisa our Judge who kindly volunteered her time for the day to meet all of you and your wonderful dogs. It’s a tough job choosing between them and while we believe they’re all winners, someone must choose – we think she did a wonderful job! We’d also like to thank Nicky who kindly gave her time to help her out.

Thank you to our stallholders; all local businesses, crafters, and charities – buying from these stalls supports local small businesses and this is so important now more than ever. One of our stalls even sold out before the end of the day thanks to your custom, and you also helped the very deserving Little Paws Cat Haven to raise an amazing £443.50 towards their work!

Thank you to Rainbow Mutts Agility for their amazing agility displays and have-a-go agility fun throughout the day. They also kindly raised funds for our animals and the very worthy Kelpie Welfare UK fundraising page. Keep an eye out for more from these in the future.

Rainbow Mutts Agility © Keith McManus Photography

In a first for the sanctuary, Hrafn Vaeringi, our resident Viking re-enactment group invited groups of visitors into their village to proudly show you their hard work behind the scenes so far, a little insight into our colourful history, and what they hope to achieve in the future with your help – there is still much work to be done! These tours of Hrafnsaeti viking settlement proved to be so popular, they ended up having to cancel their planned battle to be able to take even more people around the village. Again, we can’t thank you all enough for your interest and support, and the group – all voluntary, for their hard work!

Our thanks to Alastair of Wild Times Adventure School who was probably the coolest of us all set up in our shady woodland walk, demonstrating some of the woodland/bushcraft skills you can learn with him here at the sanctuary.

Thank you Annice Bradford Photography who volunteered her time for the day to take photos for us – as we were so busy for much of the day we missed a lot of the action and it has been wonderful to look back at some of what we missed. If you took photos, please feel free to share them with us, we’d love to see them! You can see more photos on our Facebook page (look for our Dog Show 2021 Album).

Thank you as well to a couple of our fantastic neighbours, who when our car parks became completely full, kindly let visitors park on their drives - if this isn't community spirit, we don't know what is! Thank you for your kindness and for helping us in your own way.

We’d also like to say a HUGE well done to our amazing team of staff and volunteers who worked around the clock to make this event a success. We have lived and breathed this dog show for weeks and we’re so proud of what we achieved together! While we did have the odd technical hitch, we’ve learned a lot and can’t wait to make our next even better for you – see you next year!

…because most of all, we’d like to thank YOU!! It was a pleasure seeing so many of you here, especially after a very long lockdown earlier in the year. We also can’t begin to say how wonderful it is to see so many happy dogs here. So many breeds, ages, shapes and sizes. As a sanctuary sadly unable to rescue dogs, we love seeing them here. Don’t forget we are a 100% dog-friendly site and your waggy friends are always welcome back.

Thanks again, from the Brockswood Team!!

Lockdown Learning Activities: Happy Chickens

When caring for animals in captivity, it is important that all of their needs are met; this includes making sure they have a good diet, fresh water, company (if appropriate), veterinary treatment when needed, shelter, and safety. One of the most important things we have to consider is their ability to perform natural behaviour and how we can encourage this to make sure that they are both physically and mentally happy; not scared, lonely, or bored!

When we change an animal's environment (their home) to do this, we call it Environmental Enrichment. Enrichment encourages animals to use their natural abilities and behaviours to interact with their environment. To be able to do this we have to first learn about the animal, what their natural habitat is like, and what they would spend their time doing in the wild. We can then use this information to create an enclosure and activities that stimulate their senses and encourage these natural behaviours at the sanctuary too.

Think about the things that make YOU happy. Is it your favourite food? Your family and friends? A favourite toy or activity? Now remember, animals are just the same. They are all different but they will all have likes and dislikes, things that make them happy, things that scare them, favourite foods and foods they don't like, other animals they like to be around, activities they like to do... and they even play!

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YOUR TASKS:

1. Research chickens and what they need to be happy and healthy. What do they like to do? How do they behave? What do they need to live?

2. Using what you have learned, imagine that you have been put in charge of designing a new Chicken Enclosure at the sanctuary: What would it look like? How big would you make it? How would you make sure that your chickens were happy living in it? We’d love to see your designs and why you think they would be good for our chickens! Key Points to remember for your enclosure:

• It needs to be secure so that predators such as foxes cannot get in.

• Our animal keepers need a door to be able to get inside and care for the chickens.

• As well as an outdoor area, the chickens need somewhere warm and dry to sleep and rest in - don't forget some cosy nest boxes for them.

• Sanctuary visitors need to be able to see the chickens from outside - what will you build your enclosure from that they can see through?

• Most importantly, how will your enclosure allow them to behave like a chicken? Think perches, nest boxes, areas to scratch and forage, somewhere to dust bathe, things to peck and play with.

In the videos below you can see some of our rescued chickens at the sanctuary using their dust bath, and scratching/foraging for seeds and insects.

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Due to Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), some of our chickens have been brought inside from their usual enclosures to shield them from contact with wild birds and the risk of contracting the virus and becoming sick, and so enrichment is now even more important to stop them from becoming bored while they’re inside.

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YOUR TASK:

• Using your research, we want you to design or make a toy/activity to help keep the chickens occupied and stop them from becoming bored while they are inside. Bear in mind the things you have learned that chickens like to do. Use your imagination! We’d love to see your ideas and why you think the chickens would like them. Hint: Search "chicken enrichment" and see what other people have made for their chickens. What ideas do you like and why? What do you think our rescued chickens at the sanctuary would like? We might be able to use your ideas here!

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Sometimes the simplest ideas can be just as successful, such as this basic food enrichment - cabbage hung up on a string for the chickens to peck at. As you can see, they loved it!

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We'd love to hear what you've learned about chickens (feel free to ask us any questions you might have) and don't forget to show us your work if you take part in the activities! Send us an email at brockswood@hotmail.co.uk or leave us a comment on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Brockswood.CotwallEnd

2020: A Positive Reflection

2020, a year none of us will forget. It’s so easy to focus on all of the bad things that happened this year, so we are instead celebrating all of the good and hope that you will be able to do the same. Sometimes it’s only a small win, a happy moment or memory, but they shouldn’t be overshadowed by the bad. So here are ours…

We started the year with our new website, which to date has been visited 36,000 times. After a lot of work (we do it all ourselves) it allowed us to not only share more of our work with you, but run all of our ticketing when we were finally able to open. This included almost 17,000 tickets to visit us this year - a record breaking number of visitors to the sanctuary!

We completed work on our on-site charity cabin, which we’ll be opening once distancing is no longer something we need to worry about. We also completed work on bridges and pathways which meant we were able to open some of our back paddocks to you, and a new wheelchair friendly ramp out of the walled garden. We also, with an enormous amount of help from you, our local police, and some the generosity of local companies, had a major security upgrade; protecting our animals day and night.

Including some new animals who joined us this year, such as the poor Pekin ducks (now thriving with us!) found crammed into a tiny crate, in absolutely appalling condition in a garden. We’ve also celebrated some wonderful moments with our existing residents, such as Mumsy the sheep who was given just weeks to live with suspected cancer and shocked us all with a full recovery!

Pekin Duck Rescue

Mumsy fought and WON!

We enjoyed the most beautiful, sunny weather over the summer months and as we were finally able to open in July; we got to enjoy these days with you. The animals loved sunbathing and playing out in their paddocks (and our new CCTV system showed us they’re still playing late in the evening) – while we enjoyed donated ice lollies while we worked, thanks to the kindness of supermarkets that supported our work.

We held our first online dog show, and thanks to funds YOU helped us raise, work is well underway on our Secure Dog Run, which will enable us to also help dogs in need of somewhere safe to run off-lead.

Our team have worked harder than ever, and you’ll remember that some even packed their bags and moved in for some time to make sure they were able to keep caring for the animals no matter what happened. We took on roles we’d never done before and learned new skills, we adapted to the new challenges the pandemic brought with it, we passed our first aid training, and continued studies in other areas so that we can keep improving our work.

We, along with our sister sanctuary Proteus Reptile Trust, have so far survived the devastating effects the pandemic has had on the country, and specifically the animal care and rescue industry. This is all thanks to YOU! You’ve sent us donations, gifts, and kind messages. You’ve brought your friends and family to see and support us. You’ve written letters to MPs, contacted newspapers and radio stations. You’ve shared our social media posts and helped to spread our work even further - we even got a share from Greenpeace. Most of all, you helped us in our toughest fight yet.

While we spent most of this year apart, you certainly came together for us!

Thank you all!