WHAT PROPORTION OF DOG OWNER’S DAILY ACTIVITY COMES FROM WALKING THEIR DOG?

PURPOSE: Nearly one in two households in the US own a dog. Dog owners tend to be more active than non-dog owners, however, it is unclear how much the dog(s) or dog walking impacts the owners’ overall activity. This ecological momentary assessment (EMA) study objectively measured physical activity (PA) and self-reported dog walking minutes to determine the proportion of activity that can be attributed to dog walking among dog owners. METHODS: Adult dog owners who were a primary caregiver of their dog were recruited via social media. Dog owners wore PA monitors (activPAL) and answered prompts 5x/day using a smartphone app for 10 days. Objective PA minutes were calculated from MET values (sedentary behavior ≤1.5, Light PA (LPA) 1.6 - 2.9, and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) 3+). LPA and MVPA were summed to get total activity minutes. Participants self-reported 5x/day on an app if they walked the dog within the last 3 hours and the duration in minutes of each walk, which was summed at the day level. Only valid days with 24-hour wear time from the activPAL were used for analysis. The proportions of daily self-reported dog walking minutes to objectively measured MVPA and total PA were calculated. RESULTS: Dog owners (n = 46) were primarily female (87%) and White (93.1%) and were 34.6 ± 8.3 years old. A total of 2065 EMA prompts and 392 valid days of activPAL data from the 46 participants were included for analysis. Dog owners averaged 384.1 ± 143 mins/day of total PA, 47.1 ± 36.7 mins/day of MVPA, and 30.5 ± 28.0 mins/day of self-reported dog walking. Dog walking contributed to 97.7 ± 148.0 percent of MVPA and 9.3 ± 9.9 percent of total PA among dog owners. CONCLUSIONS: Dog walking contributed to majority of MVPA among the participants, but a relatively small portion of total activity. Findings suggest that there is physical activity involvement beyond dog walking contributing to both MVPA and total activity; however, dog walking is servings as a useful/accessible and common form of PA for this population. Time-matched analyses to determine the intensity of dog walking among participants, are needed to better understand the contribution of dog walking to MVPA. Future studies should explore the full range of physical activities, in addition to dog walking, that dog owners engage in, including the intensity levels of these activities. Supported by: University of South Carolina SPARC Graduate Research Grant