The furry fitness conundrum: how much can dogs help you stay in shape?

After he adopted his first dog, Tim Campen developed a visceral appreciation for how much dogs can improve your fitness.

The North Carolina resident was living in Monterey County, CA when he visited the local animal shelter. He saw a "very dejected looking" Pointer and told the people running the shelter "if you're going to kill him...call me."

"A week later, I got the call," Campen continued. "They said no one wants him and we're going to put him down." Campen recalled that he took a deep breath and did a lot of contemplation.

"You could tell he'd suffered mistreatment," Campen said. "I wasn't sure I wanted to take on all those memories of abuse," he said. "Sometimes it's hard to forget."

But Campen, who noted that he wasn't that far removed from his hard partying days, adopted the dog who would soon become "Clyde the Pointer" — his best buddy for over a decade. When he and his wife first adopted Clyde, they took him on a long walk along Old Coast Road south of Carmel.

"It's the perfect place to walk a dog," said Campen. "It's a gorgeous natural area with tons of redwoods and creeks...really kind of mystical. Except for one thing: it's a really rough gravel road." When Campen and his wife were done with the walk, Clyde's paws were scraped raw.

"The reward for my idiocy was that I had to carry my 85 pound dog outside for two weeks whenever he wanted to use the bathroom," recalled Campen with a laugh. "So, yeah...I learned really quickly that dogs can improve your fitness."

He currently has two Ridgebacks that he takes mountain biking. For him, it's a way to get exercise and also avoid spontaneous interior decorating disasters.

"Ridgebacks are working dogs," Campen said. "They need to run. And if you don't tire them out, they'll find another job, and it will probably involve destroying your sofa or couch."

Although dog ownership hasn't provided the full-body workout that Campen originally got with Clyde, San Francisco residents Pam and Phil Clevenger also have improved their fitness through canine companionship.

"I've only got one thing to say," said Phil Clevenger, who proceeded to elaborate. "I'm fundamentally lazy, and once I'm sitting down, I don't like to get up," he added with a chuckle. "Once it's time to walk the dogs, I get a little grouchy, but halfway through the walk, I'm always reminded that it's as much for me as it is for them."

Pam Clevenger added that there was only one time in her life that she was truly out of shape — and that period of time coincided with not owning dogs.

"My steps went way down when I didn't own a dog," she said. "Part of the benefit of having a dog is also the safety factor — which is huge if you're a woman," she continued, adding that owning a dog was the biggest motivating factor for walking while she and her husband first lived in India.

The Clevengers' perspectives are echoed by a recent scientific study from the UK.

The study, which was conducted from July-August of 2015, surveyed 191 dog owning adults, 455 non-dog owning adults, and 46 children, living in 385 households in West Cheshire UK. All of the participants had access to the same outdoor and nature areas (the lack of which, presumably, might've skewed previous results).

The study had numerous findings, including that the odds of dog owners meeting current physical activity (PA) guidelines of 150 mins per week were four times greater than for non dog-owners, that sixty-four percent of dog owners met the PA guidelines through their dog walking alone, and that dog walkers measured 2000 more steps and 13 more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day compared to non-owners. (1)

The study also found that dog-owing children reported 285 more minutes per week walking than non dog-owning children. (2)

The study contained an important caveat: its stated that for some people, dog ownership "limits other activity (potentially of higher intensity) as ‘there are only so many hours in the day’ and the dog takes priority." (3) (4)

For Bay Area resident Dan Mahoney, that caveat rang true.

Mahoney, an avid dog lover with three current dogs (two labs and a Great Pyrenees) said that being a responsible and active dog owner had a detrimental effect on his exercise regimen.

 "I love my dogs, but they've been really bad for my fitness," Mahoney said. "The time I spend on the dogs — particularly walking them — drains my energy and largely cut into the time that I would otherwise be spending on more productive fitness activities, such as cycling, running or lifting weights."

Mahoney added that another side effect pertaining to dog ownership and health was an inability to recuperate properly from injuries, saying that minor injuries become exacerbated by mandatory dog-walking duties.

"My orthopedist says I shouldn't run anymore because I sacrificed my hip to dog walks," Mahoney said.

It's a testament to how much he loves his dogs that Mahoney is willing to overlook the loss of fitness. "It's worth what it takes. What you get back many times over in return is friendship and happiness."

For board certified veterinary surgeon Dr. Phil Zeltzman, there's no inherent conflict between high intensity workouts and dog ownership.

"I don't think they're mutually exclusive, I think they're complementary," said Zeltzman, the co-author of the book "Walk a Hound Lose a Pound."

"Walking is the safest, cheapest, and most convenient form of exercise for people of all athletic abilities. So, it's more a matter of time management than giving up high-intensity activities."

The New Jersey and Pennsylvania practitioner is also a big proponent of changing the paradigms around dog ownership. Noting that "food is love" is ingrained in our culture, Zeltzman said that dogs are equally — if not more — affected.

The first thing that people do when coming home is give their dog a treat, he said. It's the same scenario when they wake up in the morning, or after their dog goes to the bathroom. Treat, treat, treat.

"As humans, could you imagine we got a treat after every time we went to the bathroom?" Zeltzman asked. "Imagine what that would look like? And yet, with dogs, we habitually do it as a reward system."

Citing potential ACL injuries and a study that showed overweight labs live an average of two years less than healthy labs, Zeltzman said it's time for a new form of love.

"Walking your dog is love," Zeltzman said. "Going to the park with your dog is love. And the great thing is that fitness occurs at both ends of the leash."

Sources:

1) Carri Westgarth, et al (04/18/2019) "Dog owners are more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than people without a dog: An investigation of the association between dog ownership and physical activity levels in a UK community." Nature

2) Ibid

3) Ibid

4) Westgarth, C., Christley, R. M., Marvin, G. & Perkins, E. I (2017) "I Walk My Dog Because It Makes Me Happy: A Qualitative Study to Understand Why Dogs Motivate Walking and Improved Health." Int J Environ Res Public Health