Your Dog as Your Workout Buddy

Globally, more and more people are experiencing a surge in weight-related diseases such as obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. However, you can easily reverse the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle by incorporating more exercise and clean eating into your routine. Your dogs, at the same time, require consistent exercise to keep them active and healthy. Dogs tend to mimic their masters and their daily habits.

They eat when their owner is eating, they sleep when their owners go to bed, and similarly, they’ll be your workout buddy when you step outside to exercise. Through this article, we’ll go over all the benefits of having your pet dog as your workout buddy. Your dog can help you stay motivated and consistent with your workout schedule; it’s fun to exercise with your dog, and they’re reliable partners to go out for a run with.

Your Dog Keeps YOU Motivated

There’s no doubt about it – it’s a challenge to convince yourself to go out and exercise, but it can be even harder to stay consistent with your routine for weeks, months, and even years. Keeping yourself motivated separates fit people from unfit individuals. A study conducted by Purdue University concluded that those who exercised with their dogs had higher levels of motivation compared to those who didn’t.

Those who regularly exercised with their dogs were motivated by the well-being of their pets. Having your dog as your workout buddy not only keeps you motivated but helps you stay consistent with your workout routine.

A Healthy Lifestyle – But Make it Fun

Dogs are among the friendliest creatures on this planet and they love to play with their owners and other people they meet. Their natural love and excitement for exercise and walks have proven to be contagious. Dogs are the happiest after they exert themselves and come back after playtime. Along with them keeping you motivated, dogs can make exercising fun and playful. Working out may not seem like a burdensome task if you have your dog with you. They’ll go out with you for runs, and you can take them to the park where they can mingle with other dogs while you work out.

Your Dog as a Reliable Partner

Dogs are known for their loyalty and enthusiasm to spend time with their owners. When it comes to having human training partners, one of the most irritating things is when they don’t show up for practice and training on time. They tend to make excuses for not showing up, or they come to training late. In both cases, your own training time gets compromised.

However, if you have a pup at home, you won’t have to worry about flaky training partners. Your dog is ever-ready to go out and exercise with you. Dogs will never say no to a run around the block, but they will get irritated if you don’t include them in your activities. Dogs don’t have any other commitments except being there for their owners. This means that you’ll always have a workout buddy ready to exercise with you!

Longer, Healthier Life

Exercising and adopting a healthy lifestyle is the best way to ensure a long, happy life. This goes for both you, and your dog. Regular exercise and training are bound to bring a positive impact on your health, mood, and personality. It’s an obvious fact that a person, and dog, who exercises regularly and maintains a fitness routine is likely to live longer than the ones who don’t. Training and exercising with your dog is surely going to keep you and your workout buddy happy and fulfilled.

We’re All Social Creatures

With the current global situation and the implementation of lockdowns all over the world, it’s very easy to confine ourselves into our homes and manage our daily tasks by sitting in our living room. Going for a walk with your dog will help you come out of your house, enjoy the fresh air, and it will help you interact with others who are out on a walk with their pets.

You’re not the only one who needs to socialize with other people; dogs are just as needy when it comes to staying connected to the outside world. Going out for walks is a great way to maintain your own and your dog’s physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

How to Exercise with Your Dog

Now that we have gone over the benefits of working out with your dog, let’s take a look at how you can incorporate physical activities with your canine. The most common exercise include walking, jogging, or running. Dogs are built for running and there will be times where you won’t be able to catch up to your dog’s speed. It’s recommended that when you’re out running with your dog, you use a strong short leash. It’s also advised to use a harness instead of a collar when you’re out running with your dog. A harness will be easier to manage, it’s more secure, and it’ll prevent choking your dog’s neck.

Instead of running, you can incorporate various other forms of exercise as well such as bicep curl and hammer curls. If you have a large-breed dog you can give them the end of a strong rope and combine your bicep curl with a tug-of-war. Once you place the end of the rope in your dog’s mouth, shake the rope with your hand to give them a signal to pull. Through this, you can also perform an underhanded hammer curl. With these exercises, you can stay fit and your dog also gets to play around with you.

Takeaway

Dogs are a man’s best friend – and their best workout buddy! They help you stay motivated, having them around when you’re working is fun, your dogs are reliable partners and by working out regularly you can ensure a long, healthy life for yourself and your dog.


by Bobby J Davidson || You can’t buy love, but you can rescue it™

Facts About Animal Homelessness:

  1. Only 1 out of every 10 dogs born will find a permanent home.
  2. The main reasons animals are in shelters: owners give them up, or animal control finds them on the street.
  3. Each year, approximately 2.7 million dogs and cats are killed every year because shelters are too full and there aren’t enough adoptive homes. Act as a publicist for your local shelter so pets can find homes. Sign up for Shelter Pet PR.
  4. Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats.
  5. According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (NCPPSP), less than 2% of cats and only 15 to 20% of dogs are returned to their owners.
  6. 25% of dogs that enter local shelters are purebred.
  7. About twice as many animals enter shelters as strays compared to the number that are relinquished by their owners.
  8. It’s impossible to determine how many stray dogs and cats live in the United States. Estimates for cats alone range up to 70 million.
  9. Only 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered. Overpopulation, due to owners letting their pets accidentally or intentionally reproduce, sees millions of these “excess” animals killed annually.
  10. Many strays are lost pets that were not kept properly indoors or provided with identification.
  11. According to The Humane Society, there are about 3,500 brick-and-mortar animal shelters in the US and 10,000 rescue groups and animal sanctuaries in North America.

Here are a some adoptions for consideration:  puccicafe.com/adoptions