title: Associations between obesity and physical activity in dogs: a preliminary investigation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess whether obesity has any association with objectively measured physical activity levels in dogs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-nine dogs wore Actigraph GT3X accelerometers (Actigraph) for 7 consecutive days. Each dog was classified as ideal weight, overweight or obese using the 5-point body condition scoring system. Total volume of physical activity and time spent in sedentary behaviour, light-moderate intensity physical activity and vigorous intensity physical activity were compared between body condition categories.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Valid accelerometry data were returned for 35 of 39 dogs recruited. Eighteen dogs were classed as ideal weight, 9 as overweight and the remaining 8 as obese. All dogs spent a significant proportion of the day sedentary and obese dogs spent significantly less time in vigorous intensity physical activity than ideal weight dogs (7 ±3 minute/day versus 21 ±15 minute/day, P=0·01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Obesity is associated with lower vigorous intensity physical activity in dogs, as is also thought to occur in humans. These preliminary findings will help inform a future, larger study and may also improve our understanding of the associations between obesity and physical activity in dogs.
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G61 1QH.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Penpraze
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beber
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Reilly
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Yam
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D050177:Overweight / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000662:veterinary