title: Dog ownership, health and physical activity: a critical review of the literature.
abstract: This review examines the association between dog ownership and adult physical activity levels. While there is evidence to suggest that dog ownership produces considerable health benefit and provides an important form of social support that encourages dog owners to walk, there is limited evidence on the physical environmental and policy-related factors that affect dog owners walking with their dog. With the high level of dog ownership in many industrialized countries, further exploration of the relationship between dog ownership and physical activity levels may be important for preventing declining levels of physical activity and the associated detrimental health effects.
authors.affiliation: The RESIDE Project, School of Population Health, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia. hecutt@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
authors.forename: Hayley
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cutt
authors.forename: Billie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giles-Corti
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Knuiman
authors.forename: Valerie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Burke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D004285:Dogs; D004463:Ecology; D004779:Environment Design; D015438:Health Behavior; D001841:Human-Animal Bond; D006801:Humans; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D010067:Ownership; D012931:Social Environment; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology