Healthy Walking

Dog Walking Calculator

Walking your dog not only keeps your pooch healthy and happy, but also helps YOU maintain good health and proper weight. Need more motivation? Calculate your calorie burn on this web site and then grab your dog and GO! [MORE]

Who’s walking whom?

Video tips for training a dog from MSNBC.com can be found on their web site [HERE].
Trying to keep your pooch on a tight leash? Dog behaviorist Tamar Geller offers advice on keeping your pet in step

• Indiana’s obesity rate ranked 10th in the nation, with a 27.8 percent of Hoosiers classified as obese. More than one-third of U.S. adults — over 72 million people — were obese in 2005-2006. This includes 33.3 percent of men and 35.3 percent of women. The figures show no statistically significant change from 2003-2004, when 31.1 percent of men were obese and 33.2 percent of women were obese.
  Reported – November 28, 2007 – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• People who walked their dogs walked 18 minutes/week more and were more likely to meet physical activity recommendations then those who did not own dogs.
  Bauman AE, Russell SJ, Furber SE, Dobson AJ. The epidemiology of dog walking: an unmet need for human and canine health. Med J Aust. 2001 Dec 3-17; 175 (11-12): 632-634.
• Dog owners also accumulate significantly more walking then either cat owners or adults without pets.
  Serpell J. Beneficial effects of pet ownership on some aspects of human health and behavior. J R Soc Med. 1991 Dec; 84(12): 717-720
• In addition, a recent study found that dog-related physical activity accounted for about two-thirds of total physical activity in overweight and obese dog owners.
  Kushner, RF. Jackson, D. Baltes, A. Shanda, V. et al. The P-PET study – people and pets exercising together: the role of a companion animal as social support for weight loss and weight maintenance. 2004 Nov. Presented at conference Las Vegas, NV.
• 80% of individuals who own a dog walk it once a day for at least 10 minutes and 42% of dog walkers accumulated at least 30 minutes of walking for at least 10 minutes each.
  Ham, S. and Epping, J. Dog Walking and Physical Activity in the United States. Prevention of Chronic Disease, 3(2) Apr 2003. A 47.

According to a recent study, one-third of America’s dogs are overweight — an estimate that closely matches the percentage of overweight U.S. adults. So why are our pups packing on pounds? Researchers believe dogs inherit the lifestyles of their sedentary owners. To keep your pet’s weight from creeping up, follow the experts’ advice:

Learn about the best exercise for your dog from DogAge.

More soon…