Fitness with Fido: A healthy pastime for dog owners

—CAROLINE J. CEDERQUIST, MD
Researchers in Australia, where 40 percent of households have dogs that are prisoners of their owners’ sedentary lifestyles, say that no amount of furry fervor seems very effective at getting the owners to walk those dogs, even though it would be good for everyone involved.

The investigators from the University of New South Wales wrote that the fitness impact of dog walking “has been ignawed by researchers. Hence, this report cuts to the bone and unleashes an incisive public-health argument for increasing dog walking.”
They think their argument would apply to Americans, too. Here’s what they found: Of almost one thousand randomly sampled adults in New South Wales, the researchers reported that less than half achieved the U.S. surgeon general’s recommended 150 minutes of exercise weekly to achieve some “health enhancements.”

Most dog owners in the sample (about half had dogs) were actually less likely than the non-owners to get their 150 minutes of exercise, either with or without Fido at their side. Most spent less than an hour a week actually walking with their dog. Fully 59 percent said they never walked their dog at all! Some 26 percent said they walked the dog up to 2.5 hours over a week, and only 15 percent said they spent at least 2.5 hours weekly on “walkies,” as the Aussies call that doggie duty.

There is abundant data that show much diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even some cancers could be avoided altogether if only people were more physically active. With that in mind, the dog-walking researchers went on to establish some comically weighty—though scientifically legitimate — concepts about the “dog attributable fraction” of disease that might be prevented if all dog owners were to get their pups out for that 2.5 hour standard.

The Australian researchers figured that if all down-under dog owners paraded their pooches 150 minutes a week, then 71 percent of the total Aussie population would be getting enough exercise! And they estimated savings of about $175 million a year (Australian) in reduced costs for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and colon cancer.

We know that a nutrition-and-fitness program can turn things around for both pets and their people, but all the tail-wagging and enthusiasm in the world won’t do any good unless the people in charge turn the knob and step on out.