THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF DOG WALKING IN AUSTRALIA

Abstract

Background: Trend data suggest no recent increases in population levels of physical activity in many countries, and high levels of insufficiently active adults now require innovative interventions, especially to encourage incidental physical activity. One opportunity is for dog-owners to walk their pets more often. Methods: This paper presents information from 894 Australian adults surveyed in two representative population telephone surveys conducted in November 1998 (response rate 71%). Responders were asked standard questions about physical activity participation, dog ownership and their dog walking behavior. Results: Overall, 45.9% of households had a dog. Among the 410 dog owners, 58% reported that they did not walk the dog, and only 22% walked their dog for more than 2 hours per week (regular dog walkers). For all dog owners, only the regular dog walkers reported significantly greater weekly time spent walking (mean 3.9 hours/week) compared to irregular dog-walkers (1.7 hours), and non dog owners (1.7 hours, F 3,403 = 28.8, p < 0.001). Only 47% of all dog owners achieved a recommended 150 minutes of total weekly physical activity. Excluding the 22% regular dog walkers, the remainder of irregular dog walkers were no more physically active than non-dog owners, adjusting for age and gender (adjusted odds ratio 1.09, 95% CI 0.84–1.44). Among the 410 owners, 29% of all walking and 14% of all physical activity was attributable to dog walking. Conclusion: Dog walking is an important but underutilized source of physical activity among dog owners, as most do not walk their dogs for long enough; this has implications for both human and canine health promotion. Simple public health strategies are required to increase the hours that owners walk their dogs.