LITTLE ROCK — I never convinced our parents to let us adopt a dog. "I'm allergic," lied my father, while my mother came up with a more creative excuse: "We don't believe in species subjugation." Actually, they didn't believe in picking up poo. Which, in hindsight, is understandable.
But I've come up with a new, foolproof tactic for kids pleading for a pet: weight management.
Hand Mom and Dad a copy of The Dog Diet: What My Dog Taught Me About Shedding Pounds, Licking Stress and Getting a NewLeash on Life. The author, Patti Lawson, found herself quite by chance saddled with a pooch; she then discovered, just as unexpectedly, that her new roommate was shrinking her waistline - by stealing her snacks, providing the comfort she used to look for in pints of ice cream and forcing her to wake up before dawn for walks.
"She wanted to be so active, and it became much more fun," says Lawson, who quickly discovered that exercise with her furry personal trainer could be its own reward. "And she never begged me to stop for a latte, like my girlfriends."
Jessica Berger Gross shares a similar experience in Enlightened: How I Lost 40 Pounds with a Yoga Mat, Fresh Pineapples, and a Beagle Pointer. When she and her husband adopted Salem from a shelter, they figured they were signing up for "love and snuggles," not a weight-loss program. But that was before they realized that only an exhausted Salem wouldn't chew up their furniture.
"Living and exercising with a dog teaches you to integrate fitness in a natural way. It's not always about putting gym clothes on," Gross says. Instead, she and her husband learned to burn calories by heading to the dog park and exploring hiking trails. Now they're walking for an hour a day, and often plan two- or three-hour excursions on weekends, which help improve their attitudes as well as Salem's. "We become grumpy if we don't get our exercise," she adds.
Before you go off and adopt a dog for the fitness benefits, though, remember that unlike a set of stretchy bands, the total tail wagging package comes with a fair share of slobbering and shedding.
And there's another way to dabble in dog time. In many communities, volunteers for local Humane Society shelters gather to give the friskiest residents a workout. In Arkansas, the Humane Society of Independence County has a weekly Dog Walk Club. Its volunteers walk dogs at 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday at the North Complex on 3451 E. Main St. in Batesville. Anyone can volunteer by calling (870) 251-4145 or (870) 307-5305A similar group meets in the nation's capital. Kevin Simpson, director of animal training and behavior for the Washington Humane Society, has dubbed the year-old group the People & Animal Cardio Klub, or PACK. (Because pack animals run together.)
"People love it because they're helping out and getting exercise," he says. The cooped-up canines get an even better deal: They're socializing and blowing off steam, which means they'll be better behaved and, thus, more adoptable.
Celia Storey added some information to this report.
ActiveStyle, Pages 25 on 06/15/2009