Functional Animal Enrichment Workshop

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This workshop sets enrichment in a wider context, considering its direct impact on fitness, physiology, and musculoskeletal health, and not just behaviour.

Enrichment is a vital part of captive animal management. This course explores the latest underpinning science, helping attendees select devices and protocols that support long-term health and encourage activity that isn’t detrimental to health and welfare.

Professional memberships

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Key Learning Outcomes

The workshop combines theory, classroom activities, and practical sessions to cover:

🧬 Physiological impact: how physiological adaptations and musculoskeletal health affect movement and gait
🐾 Fitness and behaviour: how natural animal behaviour and repetitive captive movement impact overall fitness and health
📝 Enrichment selection and creation: understanding common enrichment categories and how fitness and health limitations (e.g., osteoarthritis, age) impact the appropriate use of enrichment devices
🔨 Practical design and creation: physically creating and providing enrichment specific to animal case studies at the collection
🧠 Behavioural factors: how behavioural factors and stress influence inflammation, long-term pain management, and the use of enrichment

“Amazing course, second we’ve done with Shackleton Vet Physio, and they are incredibly informative and interesting.” – Yorkshire Wildlife Park – 2024

Booking and Certification

This workshop runs over one day. Contact us to arrange a bespoke workshop for your collection. Upon completion, attendees receive a CPD certificate.

Reptile Enrichment Workshop Video:

Who we have worked with

Enrichment Workshop - Reviews

Really good information from angles that are often missed or dismissed towards animals, especially reptiles. Really, really important step in the right direction for animal keeping. 10/10 would come again’

Today's workshop was really interesting! Very informative, relevant and well-presented in a way that really made sense and gave plenty of context. Everything ran smoothly and the practical section was fun and useful. Thanks a lot!

An excellent day of cpd, learning about reptile enrichment. From a veterinary nurses view this was a good mix of theory and practice and made you think about all aspects from the animals point of view, from learning new ways to keep them busy, to what works for them and also thinking about its welfare.

The event was incredibly insightful and gave a great overview on a range of topics. Even as somebody with a fair amount of knowledge on the topics at hand, I learnt a lot and gave lots of great thoughts for me to take home and onwards. Excellent day and really impactful.

I came in with a rough idea of the content but it was so much more detailed and effective, not just in my previous role as a keeper but definitely as student vet physio! The info was invaluable and I am so glad I made the long journey here for it.

An amazing workshop which does a deep-dive into enrichment for specific animals, taking into consideration the animals life stage, any disease and specific adaptations. Matthew was very knowledgeable on animal anatomy and the physiology side of providing enrichment and exercise for animals of varying taxonomy groups. The workshop allowed us to put theory into practice with some of the animals at Crocodiles of the World, which we were able to monitor and reflect on the effectiveness of the enrichment provided.

Happy Clients

Sophie Armitage

My Springer, Dash, has undergone two surgeries on his front legs, and Louise has been instrumental in helping him rebuild his muscle, strength and fitness. Dash absolutely loves Louise, and it’s clear how much care, patience and understanding she puts into every session. Her handling and attention to detail throughout his rehabilitation programme have been amazing. The detailed reports after each session and the tailored exercise plans have been invaluable, giving me something positive to focus on and a clear plan to follow during what has been a really difficult and worrying time. Louise has not only helped Dash physically but has supported me, too. Watching your dog go through surgery and rehabilitation is incredibly stressful, and I was so worried about everything! Having Louise’s knowledge, guidance and reassurance along the way has made such a difference to both of us. Thank you!

Joanne Smith

Very happy with the service have seen massive improvement with my dog, has helped when ever I have asked for advice. Has guided me through all the exercises and movements to improve my dogs life, I am very happy with everything would highly recommend

kate hughes

Matt has being seeing us with our dog after a spinal disc injury. From the beginning , he has been very professional and super knowledgeable about the condition of our dog. We have had online support and messaging facility on what’s app between appointments, which has been enormously helpful. We have been given targeted exercises to do between sessions and our dog has been accessed at home at each session and a report sent through to us each time . Our dog received laser therapy at each session and I believe this helped greatly as well. We have seen an huge improvement in our dog’s condition and the advice we have been given has been invaluable. We would have no hesitation in recommending Shackleton veterinary Physiotherapists

Jelly Ellie

After months of our 5 yr old Labrador limping on and off following a deer chase, and different diagnoses/solutions from different vets a chance recommendation led us to Matthew. I was a bit sceptical at first but after a six session exercise and lifestyle plan the limp has gone and we can all enjoy normal doggy life again. The information provided by Matthew and on the website is excellent and easy to follow. The instant availability of support really helps. I can’t recommend Shackleton Physio enough. It was a pleasure to meet and work with Matthew. We’ll be continuing with the exercises as part of ongoing play and interaction - both our dogs love the ‘games’. Thank you from Sue and Rue

Ebony McKay

The team at Shackleton Veterinary Physiotherapy have helped my rabbit regain his quality of life after getting a head tilt, from laser sessions to enrichment suggestions and of course physio, my boy is now much more sound and able to manoeuvre with stability and confidence. Honestly an amazing service that I reccomend to people at my place of work, and even to my in-laws!

E Hay

We have a 10 yr old Lurcher who has some behavioural issues (anxiety and reactivity). A few people have suggested a pain assessment as hidden pain might be contributing to her reactivity, and in addition as she is aging we are noticing a few changes in her movement. Matthew visited the house where he could do a physical examination, ask some lifestyle questions and see her in her own environment. This also enabled him to see if we can make any changes at home to make her more comfortable. The assessment took just over an hour an a half, was very detailed and left us with a couple of choices for next steps, including a possible physio referral and fully supported exercise program

Sally Kemp

We can’t thank Matthew enough for his support and advice with our 3 year old dog and her sciatica. Matthew is supportive and very caring remaining in touch between sessions, this offers reassurance and clarity to keep on track. The rehabilitation programme provides holistic support, with advice and guidance not only for Rosie but also environment factors in the home and how and where she walks. The programme helped us to measure Rosie’s progress and make adjustments with practical solutions offered at each session. Having access to the online video information has been really helpful. They are informative and clear offering extra reassurance. The programme, has offered us a step by step approach backed up by Matthew’s extensive knowledge and support for which we are grateful.

Louise Murtagh

Olive's agility trainer guessed that she had a couple of problems and suggested her being checked out by a physio. Within 10 minutes of arriving Matthew diagnosed the issues and we started our rehabilitation programme. A couple of months in and she's made such good progress. She's acting like a giddy puppy in the training arena and it looks like her pain has subsided. Can't wait to start strengthening exercises soon.

Mallyfairclough Mally22

12 weeks ago we thought our dog would never walk again after a spinal stroke, now he is walking on his lead and running round the garden. Matthew was recommended to us by a friend and his guidence and advice has been the catalist for Stans recovery. Matthew has provided a physio schedule for Stan that had delivered results that we didnt dream possible and his friendly and polite manner is second to none. I would highly recommend Matthews physio services to anybody who has a loved pet that is struggling with mobility.

Lisa Lisa

Absolutely fantastic. The work both Matt and Louise have done with my dogs is outstanding. It’s rare to find people truly passionate about what they do and they genuinely care about their clients. I can’t thank them enough for the continued support for Toby koda and Rosie and I’m sure the others will have their turn too. I truly can’t recommend Shackleton veterinary physiotherapy enough.

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