Gotta Walk More? Get a Dog!

You may have been told that you need to increase your physical activity, and that you can begin by walking for 30 minutes a day. This may not seem a very easy program to stick to. Then you’re advised to get a workout buddy, to help encourage each other; this has been shown to be an effective way to improve adherence to an exercise program. But sometimes it’s hard to find someone who will be your exercise buddy, or who’s always there when you’re ready to go. The simple answer – get an overweight dog.

A study done in 2006 and reported in the journal Obesity investigated this. The study compared the weight lost by overweight people paired with an obese dog with that lost by overweight people participating alone. The dogs had a calorie-controlled diet, and when their ideal weights were reached they went on a maintenance diet. The people in both groups in the study got dietary counseling and encouragement to walk 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week.

There were 36 pairs in the people+dog group, and 56 in the people-only group. The people paired with dogs were slightly more active, and after a year had lost an average of 11 pounds (4.7% of their body weight). The dogs lost an average of 12 pounds, or 15% of their body weight. Surprisingly, the people-only group lost 5.2% of their body weight, in spite of being less active.

In this particular study, the dogs did best. As the principal investigator puts it, dogs “are natural exercise machines on a leash.” And unlike humans, who can always find an excuse for not going for a walk or a run, a dog never will – they’re always ready to go. Visit your local animal shelter and see if you can find an exercise buddy. It might make all the difference, even if he’s not overweight to start with.