A new study has found that dog owners are four times more likely to hit their exercise targets than those without.
The study, published in the the journal Nature earlier this year, surveyed 191 dog-owning adults and 455 non-dog-owning adults in the United Kingdom about their physical activity levels. Using the UK’s physical activity guidelines that adults should get at least 150 minutes of activity per week as a reference point, the study’s authors found that dog owners were more than four times as likely to meet those guidelines than non-owners.
The results of the study are largely consistent with other studies of the effects of dog ownership on physical activity levels performed in the United States and Australia.
“A dog is not a tool just to make us more physically active. But if you feel that you have the time, inclination and finances to take on the responsibility of having a dog, they are a great motivator to get out walking when you otherwise would have made excuses not to.”
— Carri Westgarth, Lecturer, Human-Animal Interaction, the University of Liverpool
For more information about the benefits of dog ownership on physical activity and health, check out the full article in Nature.