Walking a Dog: Good for You and the Dog
A dog-walking intervention helpfully led to increased dog walking behaviour, this study shows.
We all know that owning pets is said to be good for you. One
of the benefits of owning a dog is taking it for walks. And walking – like any other form of exercise – is good for your health.
It surprises me that some people don’t walk their dogs,
because having to go out in all weathers is one of the things I like about
having dogs. However wet and windy it is outside, it’s (usually) not so bad
once you actually get out there. And walking helps prevent canine obesity as
well as human obesity. Dogs that are left on their own in a yard to exercise
are more likely to be obese than dogs that have an exercise regime, according
to a study by I.M. Bland et al in 2009. When dogs are left in a yard, even if
that yard is more than an acre in size, they just don’t seem to do enough
exercise.
A recent study looked at whether people could be persuaded
to do more walking for the sake of their dog. It’s a different approach than
telling people it’s for their own good. In a study published earlier this year,
Ryan Rhodes and colleagues from the University of Victoria, Canada, did a
randomized trial of a dog-walking intervention.
People were recruited for a study on dog-walking, and randomly assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The control group were told to keep up their normal dog-walking regimen, while the intervention group were given lots of literature on the benefits of dog-walking for their dog and tips on a dog-walking regime. Both groups were followed up at six and twelve weeks.
One finding was that simply taking part in a study on dog-walking led to more dog-walking, even in the control group. Perhaps people took part because they felt motivated to walk the dog more.
However, in the intervention group, the amount of dog-walking was significantly increased. One of the nice things about this study is that they took subjective measures (how much time people reported walking their dog) as well as using pedometers to track how many steps people took. Both of these measures were significantly higher in the intervention group, and this is important because otherwise we wouldn’t have known for sure if people actually walked as much as they said they did.
So, if people can’t motivate themselves to exercise for their own benefit, maybe they’ll go for a walk for the sake of their dog.
People were recruited for a study on dog-walking, and randomly assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The control group were told to keep up their normal dog-walking regimen, while the intervention group were given lots of literature on the benefits of dog-walking for their dog and tips on a dog-walking regime. Both groups were followed up at six and twelve weeks.
One finding was that simply taking part in a study on dog-walking led to more dog-walking, even in the control group. Perhaps people took part because they felt motivated to walk the dog more.
However, in the intervention group, the amount of dog-walking was significantly increased. One of the nice things about this study is that they took subjective measures (how much time people reported walking their dog) as well as using pedometers to track how many steps people took. Both of these measures were significantly higher in the intervention group, and this is important because otherwise we wouldn’t have known for sure if people actually walked as much as they said they did.
So, if people can’t motivate themselves to exercise for their own benefit, maybe they’ll go for a walk for the sake of their dog.
How often do you walk your dog? And do you still go out in
bad weather?
References
Bland, I.M., Guthrie-Jones, A. Taylor, R.D. and Hill, J.
(2009) Dog obesity: owner attitudes and behaviour. Preventive Veterinary
Medicine, 92, 333-340.
Rhodes, R.E., Murray, H., Temple, V.A., Tuokko,
H. and Higgins, J.W. (2012) Pilot study of a dog-walking randomized
intervention: Effects of a focus on canine exercise. Preventive Medicine, 54,
309-312.
