Acclaimed Apple CEO Steve Jobs loved to walk. Dog walking releases the same benefits.
Taking a long walk with someone was his preferred way to have a serious conversation.
Jobs believed that many of his most creative meetings came when he took a stroll. He wasn’t wrong. Dog walking is good for you, and it is also good for your dog.
Walking is good for you
There are so many studies that show the benefits of exercise.
It impacts heart disease, diabetes, cancers, arthritis, and a range of other problems. Walking just 30 minutes a day dramatically reduces the risk of these conditions.
This isn’t accidental, it’s the way we – and our dogs – are wired.
One Yale research report points out that the human brain could only have evolved as it did through regular exercise, so it’s not just a nice thing to do, but something we evolved to achieve.
That’s the same for you and your dog, and when over 50% of dogs in the US are obese, inactivity is a luxury you can’t afford. Those fat pooches get sick really quick. They get heart and liver disease, diabetes, and osteoarthritis just like inactive humans.
Taking the time to take a walk will improve both of you, your cardiovascular fitness, lower blood pressure, strengthen muscles and bones and reduce stress. The CDC recommends adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. And those improvements extend to both you and to your dog.
Walking your dog benefits include:
- Weight and body condition enhancement.
- Joint health.
- Digestive, cardiovascular, and urinary health.
- For you and for your dog.
Walking boosts creative thinking
A pair of studies from Stanford University and Harvard Medical School show that taking a walk boosts creative thinking, even once you sit down. They indicate big boosts in creative thinking, as much as 60% according to Stanford.
It’s similar for dogs.
Dogs derive huge benefits from movement, but also gain a lot of stimulation sniffing, seeing, and interacting with their owner.
The stimulation they receive on a walk makes them far less likely to indulge in troublesome behaviour such as eating shoes or the sofa at home.
The need for stimulation is why it’s good to take lots of different walks to different places, making walks unpredictable for you both enhances the experience.
Dog walking beats loneliness and builds connection
A great deal of research shows that taking dogs for a walk delivers big boosts to wellness.
For example, dog walkers are seen as being approachable, which helps you meet others. As well as this, the need to walk your hound makes it more likely you and your dog will meet others around you in the community.
That connection may seem a little annoying sometimes, but when you need people that connection is already achieved. Walking your dog regularly helps you connect with your neighbourhood, which delivers huge mental health benefits and helps combat loneliness.
It doesn’t just boost your feelings of connection, anyone you meet who strokes and pets your dog also benefits. Stroking a happy dog releases endorphins, beats stress, and helps make people happier.
93% of dog-owners experience less stress as a result of walking their dog.
You need to walk, so does your dog
Walking improves creative thinking. It also improves mood.
Exercise has been proven to release feel good chemicals in the brain of you and your dog, called endorphins. A dog that isn’t getting enough exercise can become bored, restless, or even destructive. It’s not hard to imagine this is because they lack those endorphins.
When you walk you dog, think about duration.
While we may be able to prosper with 30-minutes exercise each day, most dogs require more. Try to give your dog one long (30-minutes or more) walk each day, along with a couple of shorter sessions. We walk our dogs for a couple of hours each day. The breed of your dog, its fitness levels and age determines how long and vigorous their walks can be.
Adults and dogs who walk regularly together are less likely to be obese and less likely to suffer heart disease. If you’re still unsure how much walking your dog needs, consider this advice from the World Health Organization:
- Children 5-17 years old should exercise for 60-minutes each day.
- Adults should engage in moderate exercise for 30-minutes 5 days per week and strengthening exercises twice a week.
- Exercising your pet helps you meet those fitness targets.
- Don’t neglect temperature extremes – your dog can easily burn its paws on pavement during a heatwave.
- So, test the pavement before you go – put your hand down and if you can’t hold it there for 10 seconds then it is also too hot for your dog, so take them to grass instead.
- Or buy them some cool dog boots.
You’ll be more connected to your pet
Alongside better physical and mental health, enhanced creativity, and improved connection to where you live and your local community, both you and your dog gain what is surely the biggest benefit of all: You get to connect better.
For your dog, you are the centre of the universe. More than anything else it craves spending high quality time with you on those walks.
That stimulation – that connection – should help reduce problem behaviours, while also forging a link that gives you an advantage when attempting to manage any problems that do emerge.
Get this right, and you and your dog can become so bonded that you both become tuned, perfectly able to predict what either of you are about to do. That connection, and making time for it to grow, is a great way to show them you love them.
You’ll sleep better, too
You know the saying a healthy body, a healthy mind?
Well, doing all that walking with your dog should help you both sleep more deeply at night.
That’s good medicine in itself. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says getting good quality sleep should help fight obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure.
So, next time it’s raining and you don’t feel like taking your dog out, remember these points. After all, while others shelter in their homes, you are doing what is good for you.
Now read: 5 essential hints to train your dog to walk on a leash.
Photo by Honest Paws on Unsplash
