The Perks and Perils of Walking Your Dog

Strutting your mutt can be a breath of fresh air, but it can also land you in the ER. Here‘s how to step out while keeping your health from going to the dogs.

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Life can be busy. Sometimes, it feels like a blur, with projects and to-do lists piling ever higher. On days like this, I turn to one surefire way of dialing down the intensity and turning up the joy: I take my Bernedoodle, Mandy, for a walk.

Not only is walking good for my physical and mental health, but it’s good for Mandy’s, too. She finds every blade of grass, scrambling squirrel, and rustling leaf endlessly fascinating. Vicariously, I share in her delight.

But for all its magic, strolling with a canine isn’t always a walk in the park. Recently, I bruised my hip after Mandy exuberantly jumped and knocked me to the sidewalk. Even Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland and author of the book The Purest Bond: Understanding the Human-Canine Connection, was injured after her retriever lunged with excitement at another dog, pulling her forward and bloodying her knees.

Injuries to dog walkers happen more often than you might think. A recent study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise tied dog walking to a sharp…