All the Health Benefits of Being a Dog Owner

Dog walk
Photo by REVOLT on Unsplash

Having a dog in your home doesn’t just bring you endless love and pleasure, it also brings you tons of health benefits too. Walking your dog at least once a day for a minimum of 20 minutes can lower your blood pressure, strengthen your muscles and bones, and decrease your stress levels. Petting a dog can also help you with stress and make you feel calmer and the unconditional love from your dog can also benefit your mental health.

For those who want to incorporate more cardio into their daily schedule, having a dog can help you get out and walk every single day, no matter the weather. It also makes you want to explore different places as doing the same walks every day can get boring. Vitamin D boosts your mood and just breathing in the fresh air after a day at the office can help you to get rid of any stress.

Building stronger muscles, bones, and joints are one of the major benefits of walking. While it can be hard to motivate you to start doing this regularly, when you are a dog owner you have no choice. Your dog needs to be walked to relieve itself and exercise will prevent obesity. Once you start walking every day even for 15-20 minutes it will quickly become a habit you won’t want to stop.

Walking daily is great for your mental health as it gives you time to practice mindfulness and take advantage of being outside in nature. Walking your dog also prevents your dog from doing unwanted behaviors inside the home and creates a strong bond between you and your pet.

Having a dog can also make you more sociable—you are more likely to meet other dog owners and speak to more people on your daily walks. It will also help you to feel part of a community and even start doing longer dog walks if you have people and dogs to walk with.

Walking your dog also provides time for you to train your dogs (and yourself), with lots of recall, eye contact, and other commands.

If you are looking for ways to build healthy habits, especially cardio, having a dog will really help you stay committed to your goals and feel good while doing it. You will always have a reason to walk, which will keep you motivated.