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GFF 2009 Week 1
Week One! We are so excited to get Go Fetch Fitness 2009 underway! We have a great group of motivated people and such fun, motivated dogs to keep us moving! We have four teams: The Pavement Pounders, The Fantastic Four-Footers, The High-Low Steppers, and The Wagging Wonders!
On Day One we introduced ourselves, chose the team names and discussed what it means to determine our pet's Body Condition Score(BCS) which ranges from 1-5. A BCS of 3 is ideal, at 4 the pet should lose 10%, at 5 the pet should lose 20%. This helps us determine the pets target weight. We introduced the book, Fitness Unleashed, by Marty Becker DVM and Robert Kushner, MD. Thank you Petco for donating fecal baggies for all of our participants.
On Day Two we determined what each dog's resting energy requirement or RER was. This helped us determine each dog's maintainence energy requirement or MER. It is important to look at each dog individually when calculating his or her energy requirement. We have two participants who weigh almost the same, but one is a 10 month old youngster and one is a 12 year old. They have very different energy requirements. On Day Two we also discussed the benefits of Hill's prescription food, r/d for weight loss. This food has been proven to help pets lose up to 22% of their body weight in 2 months. Go to www.hillspet.com/get25to obtain a $25.00 coupon for Hill's food.
On Day Three we discussed tidbits from the first three chapter in the Fitness Unleashed book. Chapter three is important because it starts to help us - the people participants- examine our eating habits and become aware of some patterns that we can begin to change and move toward healthier eating habits. We also talked about a few tips to help teach our dogs not to pull so hard on the leash.
Our trainers from the YMCA helped us establish some SMART goal setting. Next week we will further fine tune our goals. Chapter 4 in Fitness Unleashed will be discussed and we will increase our walking time from 20 to 25 minutes.
We were blessed with beautiful weather this week.
Next week we will introduce you to our teams individually.
Happy Trails from Your friends at Go Fetch Fitness
GFF 2009 Week 2
The days are flying by so fast! The weather was the most unusual part of week two. We went from winter to summer - cold on Monday to really hot on Friday. By Friday we all watched Sophie, Carol's beautiful Golden Retriever bound in and belly flop into the Cedar River. She was loving it and we could all tell.
See Sophie swim, See Sophie shake, see Sophie have acupuncture due to too much swimming in freezing cold water. Sophie was a great sport on Wednesday as we talked about acupuncture at GFF. She graciously "volunteered" to be the demo dog for the group. Sophie had knee surgery last fall. She has made a great recovery, but she is at risk for arthritis and bounding into freezing cold water is probably not the best thing for her. Acupuncture will help restore circulation to the affected areas, decrease inflammation and give her some pain relief. She did a great job and she seemed to enjoy her treatment. Thanks Sophie!
Mondays are "Carrot Days" at Go Fetch Fitness. Mondays are also weigh-in days. To take the edge and anxiety off of weigh-in day, our sponsors have provided some wonderful "carrots" in the form of gifts to make this day more fun. On Monday, April 20, we drew names for great prizes for everyone! It is so much fun to give out these motivational gifts - huge heavy duffle/luggage bags from the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association, a pedometer, t-shirts and caps from Scheels and some great coffee from our friends at Starbucks!
We spent time discussing our personal eating habits as well as the habits of our pets. We took a personality quiz from our book, Fitness Unleashed by Marty Becker DVM and Robert Kushner, MD. Based on the outcome of the quiz we could determine if we were a Meal Skipper, a Steady Snacker, a Hearty Portioner or a Swing Eater. Generally, we may lean toward one of these categories, but most of us overlapped. Ali and Jeremy from our YMCA gave us advice on how we can address our individual eating habits. I knew that it was best to write it all down in a food diary, but I had never considered placing all of the food that I ate in one day into a giant zip lock bag. Think about that! Wow, that would be an eye opener.
On Friday we were so lucky to have Dr. Jim Young join our group. On Friday we discussed one serious consequence of obesity and that is diabetes. Diabetes occurs in pets and people and obesity greatly increases the incidence in people and pets. Diabetes occurs when the beta cells in the pancreas do not produce insulin any more. Once this happens, the sugars from food enter the blood stream, but there is no insulin to help the sugar get from the blood stream to the cells of the body where it is needed.
Dr. Young urged everyone to be active to stay active. Do now what you want to be doing in 10,20 and 30 years from now. He gave a big "atta boy " to the Go Fetch participants for taking upon themselves to be proactive about their health. So good job everyone and thank you Dr. Young!
This picture of Maisy and Alivia shows the reason we all Go Fetch Fitness. One more day to sit and swing with your dear friend.
GFF 2009 Week 3
Friday, day 9, we had a great day at Go Fetch Fitness. Our discussion topic on Friday was Hypertension, the Silent Killer. We were very lucky to have Teresa, a local home health nurse, who works with Novartis and Allen Hospital, join us. Teresa answered questions and took everyone's blood pressure. There were some surprises even in our small group. So...no matter how young or old you are or whether you happen to have two feet or four, it is important to see a doctor for a regular physical exam at least yearly. Our pets would do well to see a doctor twice yearly since they do age much faster than humans do.
  
Our very own Dr. Taylor joined us and showed the group how veterinarians take our pet's blood pressure. He reminded us that animals have high blood pressure due to a disease process, such as renal or kidney disease. They do not just have high blood pressure alone like many people do.
Our Friday walk was brisk and beautiful and we were able to see one tiny nest of spring's glory right downtown in a window box on Mainstreet. Proud Mama duck and her brand new ducklings.
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