The Health Benefits of Dog Walking for People and Pets

by Johnson, Rebecca A.; Beck, Alan M.; Mccune, Sandra

• ISBN13: 9781557535825
• ISBN10: 1557535825
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-15
• Publisher: Purdue Univ Pr

Summary

Obesity is a national epidemic in the United States. It is estimated that by 2018 the cost of treating weight-related illnesses will double to almost $350 billion a year, while a 2010 report by the US Surgeon General estimates that two-thirds of American adults and almost one in three children are now overweight or obese. This volume originated in a special 2009 symposium funded in part by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and sponsorship from Mars WalthamA on how human-animal interaction may help fight obesity across the lifespan. The authors present scientific evidence about the benefits of dog walking for improving human and animal health, and case studies of programs that are using this powerful expression of the human-animal bond to combat obesity. The volume is especially valuable as a sourcebook of evidence-based studies for public health professionals treating overweight humans and veterinarians treating obese dogs.

Author Biography

Dr. Rebecca A. Johnson is the Millsap Professor for Gerontological Nursing and Public Policy at the University of Missouri, where she is also Director of the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI). Dr. Alan M. Beck is the Dorothy N. McAllister Professor of Animal Ecology at Purdue University and Director of the Center for the Study of the Human-Animal Bond. Dr. Sandra McCune leads the WALTHAM research program on Human-Animal Interaction at the WALTHAM Centre for pet Nutrition in Leicestershire, England.

Table of Contents

List of Tables	p. vii
List of Figures	p. ix
Foreword	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
List of Contributors	p. xiv
Dog walking as a new area of inquiry: An overview	p. 1
Physical activity recommendations and dog walking	p. 7
International perspectives on the epidemiology of dog walking	p. 25
Dog walking as a catalyst for strengthening the social fabric of the community	p. 51
Dog walking as physical activity for older adults	p. 75
"Walk a hound, lose a pound": A community dog walking program for families	p. 89
Method development and preliminary examination of dog walking as a form of human and canine physical activity	p. 105
Dog obesity, dog walking, and dog health	p. 125
Owners and pets exercising together: The metabolic benefits of "walking the dog"	p. 147
Kids and K-9s for healthy choices: A pilot program for canine therapy and healthy behavior modification to increase healthy lifestyle choices in children	p. 163
Future directions in dog walking	p. 181
Index	p. 193
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