Alright... this time I mean it! My chiropractor has been "nagging" me to do more walking... Now, I just might.
It's been "proven" that dog walking is more effective than dieting.
I LOVE that!
This is a recent (October 4, 2005) study, so it's intriguing to think that they just might be onto something in this day & age.
The health benefits from dog ownership have long been understood (lowering blood pressure, increasing mental attitude and sharpness, lowering the risk of heart disease), but this is the first time that the benefits from dog walking have been proven.
I just want to say thanks to the University of Missouri-Columbia for studying the effects of walking your dog on your overall health!
The result: some heart-healthy news you can use, sealed with a big wet kiss!
The Details...
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This goes hand-in-hand with a study the University of Missouri-Columbia did last year:
"Some participants in our Walking for Healthy Hearts program have lost as much as 30 pounds since we began six months ago."
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And in yet ANOTHER dog-walking study, it was determined:
"If all dog owners would just walk their pet for at least 150 minutes per week the percentage of the population doing sufficient physical activity would increase from 47 to 71 per cent. Such an increase would be much greater than most of the broad national campaigns designed to promote physical activity."
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The Humor...
"Using a pet to help an individual receive more physical activity is not a particularly novel idea, but using a "loaner dog", for those who do not have their own pets, is a new twist."
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By the way, when I asked my oh-so-fit chiropractor why he chooses walking, rather than running as exercise, he said (paraphrased):
"...Because you get the same healthy return from running no matter how much of it you do -- 3 miles or 15 miles. Whereas with walking, there's no plateau, the more you walk the more the healthy effects impact your body... so it's more motivating to keep increasing the amount you walk and the speed with which you walk."
Which, I guess, makes it seem less like exercise and more like a personal challenge -- in ADDITION to the more immediate reward.
So... there's no excuse anymore... let's get out there and walk our dogs!
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Susan -
Nope, the dog in the water photo above is Destin, our black lab + golden retriever.
Tenor, our black lab + great pyrenees is here:
http://thefuntimesguide.com/2005/12/pyreneeslabmix.php
Both of them are pictured side-by-side here:
http://thefuntimesguide.com/2006/03/black_lab_puppy.php
Hope that helps. (The vet also thought Destin might've been part Bernese Mountain Dog -- but that's just so rare around here, especially in the area he was found in, so we didn't think he'd be part BMD. He's got the mannerisms of the black lab and golden retriever -- to a TEE!
Hi there
I was surfing the web and found your post with the pictures of your dogs. I was astounded to see the pictures of the black lab x in the water as he is the spitting image of our dog. Is he the black lab - great pyrenees cross you mentioned? We have never been able to figure out what our guy is but if I didn't know it wasn't him I'd swear someone borrrowed him for the day.