Indeed,we found that dogwalkerswere more likely to play (outside
in the yard and the street) and alsowalk in the neighborhood compared
with non-dog walkers. This suggests that dog walkingmay be associated
with lower intensity play based activity and thus makes a relatively
small contribution to physical activity levels. It also suggests that dog
walking is undertaken in close proximity to home (outdoors in the
yard and local neighborhood streets), and thus is only one part of overall
walking level. The findings highlight the need for context-specificmeasures
of children's dog-related physical activity and play behaviors, and
further research on the amount of activity undertaken with dogs in
these contexts (i.e., frequency, duration and intensity of dogfacilitated
active play in different settings such as inside/outside the
home and park), not simply whether the behavior occurs.