How Dogs Drive Their Owners to Stay Active and Healthy

This probably won’t come as a surprise to those of us with energetic dogs, but a new study found that dogs motivate their owners to exercise. For me I know it’s true; my dog is the best motivator in the world. How can you say no to eyes like that?

Dogs Motivate Owners to Exercise

This might seem obvious to many of us already – especially those of us with high drive dogs but in a recent study researchers have found that dogs really do motivate their owners to get moving.

Exercise and activity for a dog is key to their well being and their owners know this. So if you were feeling a little lazy today and wanted to catch up on your daytime stories on TV look over at Rover, wouldn’t you enjoy going out for a nice walk together? He always has time for you and seeing him so happy will give your walk some more enjoyment. People want to make their pets happy.

The researchers have already found that people walked more when it came to their pets benefit. In the first part of this study they sent out emails to participants telling them about why walking is good for your dog and how as owners we could increase the walk duration to reap even more benefits. During this initial phase they found just sending out those emails alone upped the owners walking habits from 10 minutes a week to 80. A total of 50 adults participated in this study.

The second part is underway. Purdue researchers are looking for owners who don’t regularly walk their dog. The study aims to find out about the benefits of walking and long term health benefits. They want to see the correlation between dog ownership and motivation. The people who participate will have follow up health screenings at 3 month intervals throughout the year.

The dog is a constant motivator when it comes to exercise, when is the last time you asked your dog to go for a walk and he said no?