Study reveals how pets can improve your kids health

An Aussie-first study has found owning a pet dog reduces the risk of your children getting chronic disease later in life.

Having a pet dog in the family leads to more active kids which in turn reduces their risk of chronic disease, new research has found.

An Aussie-first study followed 600 children aged two to seven over a three-year period to chart the impact dog ownership, and the loss of a pet dog, had on a child’s level of physical activity.

It comes after News Corp launched the Health of the Nation, a national campaign to inspire Australians to get up and get moving as part of a new push to avoid a looming health crisis.

A survey of more than 3000 Australians, commissioned for the campaign, found one in four parents never throw or kick a ball with their children, and only half take their children outdoors to play one to three hours a week.

Researchers found girls were more likely to increase their activity compared to boys when their family acquired a pet dog.

Researchers from the Telethon Kids Institute and The University of Western Australia, in collaboration with The University of Queensland, found a child’s level of activity increased with the addition of a dog in the family, especially in girls.

“We saw a significant jump in daily physical activity in children whose families acquired a dog over the study period, while those whose families experienced the loss of a dog recorded a steep drop-off in activity,” lead researcher Emma Adams said.

“The results were particularly noticeable in girls, with girls who acquired a dog increasing their light intensity activity and games by almost an hour a day (52 minutes). On the flip side, there was a marked drop in light intensity activity and games in girls who experienced the loss of a dog, with their activity dropping by 62 minutes a day.”

Researchers have found a link between family dog ownership and children's’ physical activity.

The team also found that girls and boys who acquired a dog increased their unstructured physical activity – such as playing in the yard, going to the park, walking or playing with the dog – by around seven occasions a week, compared to no changes in children whose family did not have a dog.

“If we excluded dog walking and playing, there were no changes in the unstructured physical activity, so we could see the changes in physical activity were actually from the addition of those dog-related activities,” Ms Adams said.

By contrast, children who lost a dog reduced their unstructured physical activity by 10.2 sessions a week for girls and 7.7 sessions a week for boys.

“What these results show is that dog ownership can have a positive influence on children’s physical activity and that we start to see those benefits from early childhood,” Ms Adams said.

Half the children that took part in the new research had no dog at any point in the study period, 204 had a dog for the entire three years, 58 acquired a dog during the study period, and 31 children lost a dog during the study period.

Study lead researcher Emma Adams says while dog ownership can lead to higher levels of physical activity in children, she warns it won’t be right for everyone.

Ms Adam said the findings indicate that having a dog in the family could help promote “healthy movement behaviours in children and reduce their short-and long-term risk of chronic disease.”

But she cautioned families against rushing to buy a dog following the study’s findings.

“It’s important to note that we’re not telling families to just go out and get a dog – having a dog comes with many responsibilities and won’t be right for everyone,” she said.

“Rather, it’s about encouraging families who already have a dog to make more use of this mechanism to encourage physical activity, because not all children who have a dog will be walking and playing with the dog.”

Ms Adams said this was the first study to demonstrate the relationship between dogs and certain types of children’s physical activity over an extended period of time.

The findings were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity on Tuesday, January 30.