New Years Resolution

January 1 has come and gone and no doubt many people celebrated. 2009 was not a year to remember, with one of the highest unemployment rates in modern history, a war in Iraq and now Afghanistan and record deficits. 2009 did see one historic event: the inauguration of the nation’s first African American President. No matter what one thinks of the job he is doing, it is a historic event worth congratulating ourselves as a nation.

As always with New Years, many people, myself included, make a list of Resolutions. Among the top is to join a gym to become healthier or lose weight. Gym rats notice one thing that happens every year: about a week after January 1, the gym is crowded. The week before they had the whole gym to themselves, even at 5:00 PM, one of the peak times of gym useage. This week and for the next 12 weeks, they have to wait for everything, especially treadmills and showers. Then in March, the membership dwindles to pre-January levels and the gym rats no longer have to wait and the newcomers, having just laid down a year’s fees either prepayment or a contract cease to show up.

Before laying down hard earned money on a gym membership, think of Fido, there greeting you everyday, tail wagging as you walk through the door. Fido is the perfect workout companion: no waiting for the treadmill, smaller carbon footprint, always ready at the door and is satisfied just to get out of the house and be with packmates. If your goal is weight control, walking is among the best exercises. It is also easy on your joints and requires almost nothing in startup costs – just a good pair of shoes. Of course, Fido has to catch up on canine gossip during your walk. Once he catches up, he stops sniffing flower beds and happily walks with you.

But, your doctor told you that you needed 20 minutes of elevated heart rate. Walking just doesn’t cut it? If Fido is trained to not pull on a leash, here are a few suggestions to increase the intensity of your walk:

• Add a few minute jog interspersed with walking. Fido loves this variation as most dogs love to run, even if they aren’t sporting dogs or don’t have a joint problem.
• March, with high knees, like the Germans did in the old World War II movies. Do this for a few minutes, again interspersed with walking.
• If your dog’s leash has two hooks, attach the other hook to your belt and with a set of 1-lb weights around your wrist, extend your wrists up over your head and move them down to your side and up again. Do this a few times. For larger dogs, attaching the leash to a weight lifting belt works better as those offer more support for your back.
• Vary your pace with walking. This not only raises your heart rate, but keeps Fido mentally alert as she now has to pay attention to you.
• If you live near a park with a par course, visit each station and do the exercise on the station. Of course Fido has to be under voice control in order to do this.

What if Fido is not sufficiently leash trained, pulls or otherwise does not pay as much attention to you as you would like? One training method that works for most dogs is the “red light/green light” method. Dogs naturally pull and do so because it works: they get to go where they want. To stop this unwanted behaviour, keep the dog guessing which way “forward” is. At the first sign of pulling, stop and wait. When the dog stops pulling, start walking again. If the dog still pulls after doing this a few times, then escalate to the next level- at the first sign of pulling, stop and turn around. Keep doing this and after a few times, the dog stops pulling because she no longer knows which way is forward.

Training a dog to follow the leash is a good next step in a dog’s training. Too often, dogs that are not sufficiently trained in this skill dart off to the other side and what happens to you? As you pick up speed, your feet get caught in the leash and you fall flat on your face. Outside of feeling like a fool, you may suffer a skinned knee or if you fall hard enough, actually bruise a bone. Your dog benefits from the demands of learning a new skill and you bond with your dog. Walking back and forth on the same piece of sidewalk may not sound like a lot of exercise; it’s not if you do this only a few times. If you are out there walking back and forth for 30 minutes, that is equivalent to a 30 minute walk and your dog will be tired at the end of the walk.

Bonding with your dog instead of waiting in line for a treadmill sounds like a better use of your limited time, doesn’t it? Moreover, since you don’t have to drive anywhere, you are more likely to carry through with the exercise program. If you add the marches, the short jogs, the par course and the exaggerated arm swings, you will increase your metabolic rate due to increase in lean tissue. At the end of March, both you and your dog will be closer and you will smile at your image in the mirror because you actually carried through with the weight loss resolution you made on January 1.