I have a family member who has an overweight dog. He gets out of breath just thinking about walking across the room, and his body mass index is…well….not good. While many might think of dogs being instinctively active, they aren’t. They actually like to sleep and lay around as much as they do fetching a ball. Even when they do exercise, they need much more rest than an average human, so their natural ability to sleep where ever, when ever, runs deep.
Do you know what they like to do even more than sleeping?…..that’s right, eating. Dogs have a vivacious appetitie, and often don’t know when to stop eating during a meal. They have an instinct to eat as much as they can at one time, for fear that they might not get food for a while. Now, of course, if you’re a pet owner, you would think this absurd. The conscientious owner never lets a dog go hungry, but the truth of the matter is that dogs are survival animals and are usually always in that self-serving, survival mode.
Finally, when they are active, they exert an enormous amount of energy. They play hard. And there metabolism is set up to where they need a lot of food to provide enough power for the energy they exert when they are active. And if they aren’t active, then all this food they eat turns to fat.
The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences estimates that obesity will occur in 25% of dogs. That’s 1 in 4 for you math whizzes.
Walk4Life’s pet pedometer is the first tracking mechanism for dogs. This pedometer for your pooch is a durable, water resistant pedometer that attaches to your pet’s collar and features a step counter and activity timer. Now you can find out if your dog sleeps or runs all day. Track how much activity your pet is getting throughout their busy, or not so busy day. The Walk4Life Pet Pedometer sells for $15. (www.walk4life.com)
