Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound Community Dog-Walking Program

The CDC includes physical inactivity as a major modifiable risk factor for preventing heart disease and promoting health. Research shows the benefits of people walking dogs to lose weight and remain active. Our previous research showed that adherence to a walking program was motivated by commitment to walking “loaner” dogs. The aim of the present study was to motivate adults' physical activity outside of their dog-walking.

In Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound (WAH) adults participated in weekly, one-hour walks with shelter dogs (selected for amicable personalities and walking ability). Participants were led through a brief group warm-up exercise sequence and walked on a nature trail. Outcome variables included participation rate, physical activity stage of change, weekly exercise, blood pressure, weight and body mass index.

Sixty-nine adults participated (12 males and 57 females), ranging from age 19 to 85 (Mean=43, SD 16.4). The most commonly reported diagnosed health problems were depression (n=10), headache (n=5), anxiety (n=4), and immune disorders (n=4). There were no significant changes in blood pressure, or weight over the weeks walked. There was a significant increase in Physical Activity Stage of Change (difference scores from pre to post compared, p=0.0013). The mean score for the group was 4.8 on the pretest and 5.25 on the post-test. Participants went from doing vigorous exercise less than 3 times per week or moderate exercise less than 5 times per week to doing 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise 5 or more days per week for the last 1-5 months.