Tag Archives: Pittsburgh

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 39:23 Enhance Your Dog’s Quality of Life

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Labrador Lesson for 9/29/23:

Enhance your dog’s quality of life.

We all want our dogs to live long, healthy, happy lives. Here are 3 simple tips for enhancing your dog’s quality of life: 1. Keep your dog at a healthy weight. This calls for a combination of portion control and movement. Consult your vet or a dog trainer if you need guidance in formulating a plan. 2. Keep your dog active, ideally on soft surfaces with a healthy dose of hills to utilize more muscle mass. 3. Be present with your dog, who may not make good/safe decisions when left unsupervised.

Move more. Move often. Move with your dog. Get outside and enjoy hoodie season.

 

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 38:23 Make The Outdoors More Pleasant for All

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Labrador Lesson for 9/24/23:

Make the Outdoors Pleasant for All.

The Labs have 3 recommendations for dog owners to help everyone (with or without a dog) enjoy spending time outside this Fall. 1. Pick up after your dog. No one wants to see 💩 on the trail (or field, or playground…). 2. Obey the leash laws. Keeping your dog on a leash in public places allows others, who may be afraid of dogs, to enjoy being outside. Leashing your dog also helps keep your dog safe. Left to their own devices, dogs may make bad decisions…like running in front of a car, chasing a wild animal, or eating something dangerous. 3. Even if your dog is on-leash and friendly, not everyone wants to meet him/her, so for the comfort of all involved, keep your dog close when you’re around people you don’t know.

Move more. Move often. Move with your dog. Take a tip from the Labs: do your part to make the outdoors pleasant for all. And keep your dogs close to keep them safe.

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 37:23 Make Movement a Priority

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Labrador Lesson for 9/16/23:

Make Movement a Priority.

Major life changes, even positive life changes, create stress and disrupt our regularly scheduled activities. The Labs suggest that when life gets busy and/or stressful, you find a way to make time to move…especially if that movement includes walking your dog(s). Regular movement may help manage stress. Movement also provides mental and physical health benefits.

Move more. Move often. Take a tip from the Labs: when life gets busy/stressful, make time to move and play!

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 35:23 Why the Labs Are Excited About Fall

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Labrador Lesson for 9/1/23:

Why the Labs are excited about Fall.

The Labs have noticed that humans sometimes get sad about the end of Summer. So they wanted to share 3 things they are looking forward to once Summer is over. 1. Cooler temperatures make walking in a fur coat much more comfortable. 2. Fall foliage. They love to crunch through fallen leaves 🍁 and munch on the occasional acorn or wild apple 🍏. 3. Once the temperatures get cold and the grasses die down, they can spend more time hiking in the woods with less concern about ticks.

Move more. Move often. Don’t be sad that Summer is ending. Get excited that Fall is coming!

 

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 34:23 Create a Movement Routine for Your 4-Legged Friends

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Labrador Lesson for 8/25/23:

Create a Movement Routine for Your 4-Legged Friends.

Whether you’re a human or a dog, having a movement routine makes it easier to make movement part of your lifestyle. When “Life” disrupts a scheduled movement session, an established routine makes it easier to get back on track. One tip for sticking to your movement routine: keep your movement tools where you are going to use them (shoes by the door; leashes in the Jeep).

Move more. Move often. Create a movement routine to help make movement part of your lifestyle.

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 33:23 Leash Your Human

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Labrador Lesson for 8/18/23:

Leash Your Human.

When we take our human staff out for a walk, we keep him on a short leash…for three main reasons. 1. He tends to make bad decisions, and we don’t want him dumpster diving or chasing squirrels 🐿️ . 2. We don’t want him to wander off and get lost…especially because he’s not microchipped. 3. We actually enjoy hanging out with him, and a short leash keeps him close by for frequent petting and water breaks.

Move more. Move often. For the safety of dogs and humans, keep each other on a short leash.

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 32:23 Make Every Day Spoil Your Dog Day

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Labrador Lesson for 8/11/23:

Make every day spoil your dog day.

Yesterday was National Spoil Your Dog Day. The Labs have proposed that EVERY day should be spoil your dog day, and they have 3 tips to help you spoil your dog. Tip 1: Spend time with your dog(s). They like being with you! Tip 2: Move with your dog(s) on most days. This will help your dog (and you) live a long and healthy life. Tip 3: Give them healthy treats. The Labs love blueberries and carrots, but there’s nothing wrong with the occasional pup cup!

Take home message from the Labs to all the dog owners out there: Make every day Spoil Your Dog Day (in a healthy way).

 

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 31:23 Why We Love Being the FitLabPGH Labs

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Labrador Lesson for 8/4/23:

Why We Love Being the FitLabPGH Labs.

Today’s Labrador Lesson is a combination of Friday Fun and weekly gratitude. Three reasons we’re thankful to be the Labs of FitLabPGH. 1. We get to move most days, and we love to move. 2. When we move, our humans make it all about us (our pace; shade; soft surfaces; water breaks; and leashes to keep us safe). 3. Our humans (a.k.a., The Staff) know we’re more than walking buddies, and we’re not just accoutrements…they treat us as part of the family.

Our take home message to the dogs out there: Move more. Move often. Be thankful for your humans, just as they’re thankful for you.

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 30:23 Protect Our Paws

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Labrador Lesson for 7/28/23:

Protect Our Paws.

As Labradors, we enjoy moving outside year round. We’ve mentioned that we prefer walking/hiking on soft surfaces, especially during the Summer because soft surfaces usually stay cooler than hard surfaces. We don’t want to burn our paws! One disadvantage of soft surfaces? It can be harder to spot dangerous debris (glass, thorns) on soft surfaces. So our request to you is to be alert. Watch where you’re walking…especially if you’re walking with dogs who aren’t wearing shoes. We’d like to avoid having a piece of glass (or a thorn) stuck in one of our paws. Even though you probably wear shoes, broken glass can hurt you too…so be alert, and do your part to keep trails and parks free from broken glass!

Whether you’re a human or a dog, get outside and move more this Summer…and when you do, be alert, watch for dangerous debris, so that you and your dogs can keep moving safely through the Summer.

FitLabPGH Lab Lessons 29:23 Summer Safety Tips from the Labs

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Labrador Lesson for 7/21/23:

Summer Safety Tips from the Labs.

As Labradors, we enjoy EVERY opportunity to move…but we know that moving through the Summer requires certain safety precautions. Here are our top 5 tips to keep your dogs moving safely through the Summer heat.

1.Get moving early (avoid mid-day heat). 2. Seek shade to reduce radiant heat. 3. Seek soft surfaces- easier on the joints + soft surfaces stay cooler, offering some paw protection. 4. Move at the dog’s pace. 5. Bring plenty of fluids. The Labs enjoy @berkey_filters filtered water in their own @nalgene bottles.

Whether you’re a human or a dog, get outside and move more this Summer…and when you do, follow simple precautions to keep you moving safely through the Summer heat.