Things My Dog Taught Me: Take A Walk

  Posted on September 12, 2011  by Joy of Living  No comments

Last week, I shared a slideshow about things we can learn from our dogs.  With that in mind, I thought I’d do a series of posts to cover some of the items separately.  Today, we’re going to start the series focusing on benefits of taking walks.

Dogs LOVE to take walks!  It gives them a chance to be a dog, checking out the terrain, smelling all the smells in the air and on the ground, find out what dogs have travelled the route before them.  As it turns out, walks are great for us too.  Studies have shown that dog owners are significantly more active than their non-dog owning counterparts.  Some other benefits include:

• Helping fight depression
• Weight loss
• Lower risk for type 2 diabetes
• Lower risk of breast and colon cancer
• Keeping bones strong

The leading health problem for dogs now is obesity, which can greatly increase their risk of becoming diabetic, so the exercise will help your dog control her weight too.

If you have friends or neighbors that own dogs, try planning regular walks and combine them with doggie play dates, that way you and your pet can have some fun social time!  The weather is great now, so lace up those walking shoes and hit the trail with your dog, it’ll do both you and your dog good!