🐾 Walking your dog is beneficial for everyone! 🐾

❤️ create paw-sitive connections and physical bonding ❤️

Walking your dog on a regular basis (at least once a day) is not only beneficial to Fido but is also helpful to you. Studies have shown that for overweight people and overweight dogs, a 30-minute walk, three times per week can reduce blood pressure, increase energy, improve a sense of well-being, and lower your weight by 5% and your dog's weight by 15%. Walking your dog is not only beneficial to both you and your dog's physical health, but this activity is also known to improve your emotional and mental health as well.

Spending time on walks with your dog can reduce depression and anxiety. Humans have an innate instinct to touch and feel and to experience a physical connection with others. Dogs also share this fixed pattern of behavior, allowing a physical bond between humans and animals. This physical bond can strengthen the emotional relationships between dogs and their human companions. Walking is just one type of physical interaction that can enhance the human-animal bond. Hardened criminals have exhibited long-term behavioral changes after interacting with dogs in prison programs. For many prisoners, communication with the animals was their first experience with unconditional love and mutual affection.

Hugging and expressing love to your canine companion during a walk (or sitting on the couch at home) directly improves your mood. According to an article released in January 2011 by CNN Health, physical touch directly affects certain regions in the brain. The hypothalamus acts as the emotion center of the brain, and when physical activities, such as hugging or holding hands, chemical signals are fired directly from the hypothalamus to produce hormones in other areas of the brain that function to promote positive connections and bonding.

🦮 Learn more about the benefits of dogwalking on DiscoveryMood!