Dogs Help Children to be More Active

Improving fitness plus being best friend

Claudia Kawczynska | September 27, 2010

As dog lovers we know that our dogs are important to both our mental and physical health—our dogs with their daily “walkathon” needs induce us to be more active, for one. In 2009, researchers from the University of Missouri found that walking dogs makes people not only more consistent about regular exercisebut those who walk with a dog showed greater overall improvement in fitness than those who simply walk with two-legged companions! Another study found that dog owners actually take 25 percent more steps per day than do those without dogs. Both studies looked at adults, excluding the younger family members. So recently, researchers in the UK set out to discover if dogs also increase the level of physical activity in children. They based their study on 9- to 10-year-olds, from 78 schools across the UK. The young participants wore activity monitors for a week (a small instrument that was worn over the left hip on an elasticized belt). Only 10 percent of the kids had a family dog—but they recorded the most “overall activity count, counts per minute, and steps compared with non-dog owners.” Finish the article here

National Walk Your Dog Week

The First Annual National Walk Your Dog Week Has Officially Kicked Off With Community Walks Around The Nation
This vital pet holiday was founded by Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Rescuer Colleen Paige, to bring awareness to the ever increasing problem of canine behavior issues and canine obesity in America.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) October 4, 2010

National Walk Your Dog Week has officially kicked off with community walks around the nation. This vital pet holiday was founded by Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Rescuer Colleen Paige, to bring awareness to the ever increasing problem of canine behavior issues and canine obesity in America. Sponsored by Animal Miracle Network, it aims to improve the health and well being of America’s dogs and sends the message to unchain your dogs!

"With more and more people becoming sedentary and gaining weight due to a lack of exercise, say's Paige, dogs don't get the necessary outlet they need to stay physically and mentally healthy. I feel that part of the overpopulation of dogs in this country is hugely associated with our growing waistlines. Generally, the less a person exercises, the less a dog exercises. Having trained thousands of dogs in the last twenty years, it's my estimation that at least 75% of dogs in shelters are there due to a lack of exercise, which has thus resulted in serious behavior issues such as aggression, destruction and separation anxiety issues. Often, dogs run away from home because they're kept sequestered all day long in a crate or a small yard, says Paige, which only exacerbates a dog's destructive, aggressive or anxious tendencies. This, coupled with too much fatty food, leads to obesity, as well as medical issues like pancreatitis, diabetes, heart disease and the number one killer of dogs – cancer. October is a beautiful time of year everywhere to get outside. Walking your dog on a daily basis not only increases the endorphins in both human and canine brains but it improves the bond between the two”.



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Enrichment Toys An engaged mind equals a happy dog By Karen B. London, PhD

A great many dogs today live lives of leisure, and even dogs who are physically active often lack opportunities for mental exercise. That understimulation can result in the boredom that is the enemy of the happy, well-behaved dog. Dogs evolved to solve problems, and a life of lying on the couch while the rest of the household is at work, and then taking a human-paced walk around the neighborhood, doesn’t present many interesting problems. Which is where enrichment toys come in. Making dogs work to get treats (or even all of their food) by solving the puzzles offered by enrichment toys is a natural fusion.

The Swedish toys from Nina Ottosson’s Zoo Active (see Bark's article) line are some of the highest quality and most original enrichment toys I’ve seen. Each is a puzzle that the dog must figure out using her sense of smell, reasoning abilities and dexterity in order to get the reward. Besides the food itself, the dog benefits from mental stimulation; problem-solving practice; the opportunity to develop dexterity, coordination and balance; and last—but definitely not least—the fun of facing and succeeding at new challenges. The complexity and variety of the toys’ designs heralds a new era in enrichment toys for dogs.

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For the best exercise, get a dog!

Jim Hillibish: You don’t need a gym, get a hound dog instead
I had a heart bypass last summer. Our dog took it personally. As many of you know the hard way, bypasses are fairly easy.

The killer is the rigorous and highly therapeutic permanent exercise they require afterwards.

“It’s one thing to get the blood flowing again. It’s another thing to keep it flowing.” Physical thera-pests are trained to say that.

I had to sign off on the therapy program, a contract that included swimming and thrice weekly visits to the torture chamber, I mean gym. The manual was 84 pages of hell.

I did not buy the track suit, no Nikes for me, but a year later I am in great shape. My most recent inspection revealed I have the “heart of a younger man.” (They gave me a transplant?)

“Congratulations, your blood’s flowing in the right direction.” That was the conclusion of my echo-cardiogram.

When I got home, Lily, our mini long-hair Dachshund, did her appropriate welcome dance, then pointed to her leash. She has me trained. Exercise time.

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10 (More) Easy Pieces to Liven Up Your Dog’s Meals Surprises from the grocery shelf By Roschelle Heuberger, PhD, RD

In part one of this article, we asked the rhetorical question: “If you’re going to feed your dogs ‘people’ food, shouldn’t you feed them something that’s actually good for them?” and answered it with a list of 10 healthy, easily obtainable options straight from the shelves of your local market. As promised, here are 10 more “easy pieces” for your consideration. (Part One can be found here.)

As before, we urge you to keep a few cautions in mind: None of these items by itself constitutes a “complete and balanced” meal. If your dog has health or weight issues, check with your vet before adding any of them to your dog’s food dish. And, as always, start with a small portion and introduce gradually.


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Ten Commandments of Veterinary Office Visits Become an advocate for your dog By Nancy Kay, DVM

How much easier it would be if vets had Dr. Dolittle’s ability to talk to the animals—when we took our pups in for a check-up, they could speak for themselves. Since that’s not the case, our dogs rely on us to act as their advocates in the exam room. In Dr. Nancy Kay’s ground-breaking book, Speaking for Spot, she provides us with the tools we need to do just that, relayed clearly and with gentle humor. We’re pleased to offer our readers a sample.

Here are 10 tried-and-true secrets to making every visit to your dog’s veterinarian exceptional for you and the entire office staff. They also directly benefit your dog’s health—and nothing is more important than that.

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Social Networking for Dogs Online or on the ground, 21st-century technology provides options By Peter Bronski

Proper and regular socialization is an important aspect of life for any pup. My dog, Altai, is no different. He’s a Korean Jindo, and a highly energetic, loving and sociable one at that. He’s a lover and a licker, and put simply, he needs to get out and see other dogs. As a self-employed writer who works from home, I can certainly sympathize with his desire to leave the house and mingle with the outside world. If we didn’t, who would blame Altai—or me—for coming down with bad cases of cabin fever?

For both of us, avoiding that ailment has usually meant a trip to our local Boulder, Colo., dog park. A fenced-in OLA adjacent to the East Boulder Community Center, most of it is dirt and rocks. There’s some grass around the perimeter and in the far corners, a tree or two; on one side is a lake where dogs swim, wade in to cool off, or chase tennis balls and sticks.


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