4 Importantly, physical activity bouts do not need to be long in duration to promote health bouts of 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity are beneficial for disease prevention and control, 5 and even light activity such as moderately paced walking is beneficial. 1 Similar physical activity guidelines exist for the United Kingdom, 2 Canada, 3 and Australia. 1 In adults, as little as 150 minutes per week of brisk walking can yield significant health benefits, according to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Physical activity reduces the risk of premature death, supports positive mental health, and enhances healthy aging.

Policies that facilitate dog walking at the community and population levels, such as “dogs allowed” places, off-leash zones, and dog-friendly built environments and parks, may contribute to greater physical activity through dog walking. Maximizing the potential for dog walking to positively influence the health of individual people (and dogs) will only occur through implementing programs with broad population-level reach. Given the number of homes that have dogs, strategies that promote dog walking could be effective at increasing physical activity levels among a significant proportion of the population. Research also supports organizing buddy systems via “loaner” dogs to facilitate informal walking by dog owners and non–dog owners. Strategies that emphasize the value of dog walking for both dogs and people, promote the context-dependent repetition of dog walking, enhance the social-interaction benefits, encourage family dog walking, and ensure availability of public space for dog walking may encourage increased dog walking. Intervention studies suggest that promoting dog walking among dog owners who do not routinely walk their dogs may be an effective strategy for increasing and maintaining regular physical activity. Regular physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits, including the prevention of many chronic diseases and conditions or a reduction in their adverse effects.

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