Categories
Health Pets Psychology Research

Just walking the dog: what promotes healthy humans?

Did you know scientists are studying the ways that you walk your dog?

What motivates you, how long you exercise for, what features (like footpaths and dog parks) promote human activity – all these questions and more, are being studied by researchers, Hayley Christian and Carri Westgarth.

Hayley’s background in human health teamed with Carri’s expertise in canine behaviour and welfare have created a research team exploring the human, dog and environmental factors that best promote active and healthy communities.

Podcast

Publications

Dog walking benefits! Dr Carri Westgarth & Dr Hayley Christian
Dr. Carri Westgarth & Dr. Hayley Christian

Westgarth, C., Christley, R. M., & Christian, H. E. (2014). How might we increase physical activity through dog walking?: A comprehensive review of dog walking correlatesInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity11(1), 83. [PDF]

Christian, H., Trapp, G., Villanueva, K., Zubrick, S. R., Koekemoer, R., & Giles-Corti, B. (2014). Dog walking is associated with more outdoor play and independent mobility for childrenPreventive medicine67, 259-263.

Westgarth, C., Christley, R. M., & Christian, H. E. (2014). How can we motivate owners to walk their dogs more? Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research9(6), e6-e7.

Christian, H. E., Westgarth, C., Bauman, A., Richards, E. A., Rhodes, R., Evenson, K. R., & Thorpe, R. J. (2013). Dog ownership and physical activity: a review of the evidence. J Phys Act Health10(5), 750-759.

Westgarth, C., Boddy, L. M., Stratton, G., German, A. J., Gaskell, R. M., Coyne, K. P., & Dawson, S. (2013). A cross-sectional study of frequency and factors associated with dog walking in 9–10 year old children in Liverpool, UKBMC public health13(1), 822.

Morrison, R., Reilly, J. J., Penpraze, V., Westgarth, C., Ward, D. S., Mutrie, N., & Yam, P. S. (2013). Children, parents and pets exercising together (CPET): exploratory randomised controlled trialBMC public health13(1), 1096.

Christian, H., Giles-Corti, B., & Knuiman, M. (2010). “I’m Just a’‐Walking the Dog” Correlates of Regular Dog WalkingFamily & community health33(1), 44-52.

For more publications, please see the researcher’s university profiles below.

Links

Hayley Christian: University of Western Australia profile

Carri Westgarth: University of Liverpool (UK) profile

Header image: Flickr/Stefan Mortellaro

Categories
Psychology

Hal Herzog: animals, culture & us

Hal Herzog is recognised as one of the world’s leading anthrozoology experts, having researched human-animal relations for over two decades.

He is particularly interested in how people negotiate real-world ethical dilemmas, and has studied animal activists, cockfighters, animal researchers and circus animal trainers.

A professor of psychology at Western Carolina University, Hal blogs at Psychology Today and his work has been widely published in journals and books.

It was our absolute pleasure to talk with Hal about some of the themes from his book, Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: why it’s so hard to think straight about animals.

Amongst many tangents, we discuss why people keep pets, charismatic mega-fauna and the variation in the way humans relate to animals across cultures.

Podcast

Publications

Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: why it’s so hard to think straight about animals – Amazon Australia, Amazon US.

Knight, S., & Herzog, H. (2009). All creatures great and small: New perspectives on psychology and human–animal interactions. Journal of Social Issues65(3), 451-461.

Herzog, H. A. (2007) Gender differences in human-animal interactions: A review.  Anthrozoos. 20:17-21.

Other publications via WCU website

Links

Western Carolina University Profile

Twitter: @herzoghal

Psychology Today Blog: Animals and Us