Man could really take a sleep lesson from his best friend. The National Sleep Foundation surveys adults in the United States using the Sleep in America poll. In the 2008 survey, the average amount of sleep people reported needing to feel well was 7 hours and 18 minutes each night. Unfortunately, the average American reported sleeping 6 hours and 40 minutes on average during weekdays and 7 hours and 25 minutes on the weekends. This means that most people aren’t getting enough sleep.

Why is sleep important?

Adults typically need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night for good health. Good sleep is important to help us feel focused, alert, and energized. Sleep is also essential for good general wellbeing. A survey of students ages 17 to 30 years old showed that those sleeping only 6 to 7 hours nightly were 50 percent more likely to report having poor health compared with people getting a full night’s sleep. Those sleeping less than 6 hours nightly were twice as likely to have poor health.

Poor sleep has been consistently linked to a wide range of health disorders:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease and high blood pressure
• Infections
• Migraines
• Obesity

If you’re a woman, take special note of your sleep deficit

In an interesting study just released by the medical journal Brain Behavior and Immunity, the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation were shown to be greater in women. Sleep disturbance results in an increase in chemicals in the body called cytokines. Cytokines result in increased inflammation; inflammation results in increased risks for arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. This latest research proves that sleep deprivation increases your body’s harmful inflammatory response, especially if you’re a woman. So getting a good night’s sleep is important for everyone – but especially important for women for whom sleep dysfunction may be an even stronger factor for increasing the risk of disease.

Can dogs really teach people about good sleep?

One look at Fido will convince you that dogs are excellent role models for sleep. Scientists are also learning about human sleep physiology by studying sleep in dogs! Did you know that researchers have found similar changes in brain chemicals with sleep in both dogs and man? A recent report from the Graduate School of Medical Science at Kanazawa University described the importance of orexin neurons for regulating sleep in humans and their canine counterparts. Orexins (also called hypocretins) excite brain regions important for being awake and alert; helping to regulate whether you should be snoozing or active.

Naturally-occurring dysfunction in orexin can result in a sleep disorder called narcolepsy in both humans and some breeds of dogs, like Dobermans, Labrador retrievers, and miniature poodles. Narcolepsy causes excessive daytime sleepiness, with a tendency to quickly fall asleep at inappropriate times. Studies testing the physiology of narcolepsy in Fido may offer insights into better understanding human sleep patterns. Once again – dogs are great teachers for man!
Fill in sleep gaps with a nap

If you’re not getting enough sleep each night, consider filling in your sleep gaps with a nap. Short naps have been shown to improve energy level and reduce the risk for getting heart attacks! Researchers from the University of Athens Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health evaluated napping habits and the occurrence of heart disease in almost 24,000 healthy adults over an average almost 6½ years. After taking into consideration other risk factors for heart disease (like age, smoking, and obesity), people who regularly napped at least three days per week for at least 30 minutes per nap had a 37 percent decreased risk of dying from heart disease. Taking several naps a day or spending a long time napping, however, has  been shown to be bad for your health.

The recipe for healthy napping is:

• No more than one nap per day
• Nap for about 30 minutes
• Take your nap midafternoon, ideally around 3:00 PM
• If you typically want to nap more than 45 minutes or several times a day, you may be having sleep problems at night and should talk to your doctor.
• So take a lesson from Fido, and start scheduling health-restoring sleep into your daily schedule. Sleep’s not a luxury – it’s one of life’s necessities! You can learn more about sleep by visiting these websites: www.sleepfoundation.org, www.worldsleepfoundation.com, www.sleepnet.com

Article contributed by regular guest blogger, Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

• 2 of every 3 adults are overweight
• And one in every 3 dogs is now overweight

While this has always been bad news, the news has just gotten worse – we’ve moved from just being a bit overweight to being obese.

New reports on obesity

This summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released frightening statistics and a stern warning about obesity in the United States. Over the last year, the number of adults in the United States who are obese jumped by another half a percent. While that may not sound too bad, this means more than ONE in every FOUR adults is now obese.

These numbers fall on the heels of a report in the journal Obesity, which published staggering projections for weight in United States. Using current trends in obesity, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health predict that 70 percent of adults in the United States will be overweight or obese by 2010 and 37 percent will be obese. By 2020, three in every four adults will be overweight or obese. And by 2030, four in every five adults will be overweight or obese and half will be obese! By 2048, it is estimated that every single adult around 40 years old will be overweight or obese – EVERY adult!

Think you’re safe if you’re not in the US? The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health published projections for obesity in the United Kingdom, estimating that in 2012, 32 percent of English adults will be obese. And the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health predicts 28 percent of those living in South Australia will be obese by 2013. Researchers at Tulane University used worldwide obesity data to project that there will be over one BILLION obese individuals worldwide by 2030, with an additional two billion overweight.

So what? Being obese is becoming the norm.

Obesity has become so common, that we may not recognize how important it is. A recent newspaper headline announced the Winner of the Fattest State. Mississippi tipped the scales with the highest percentage of citizens obese, followed closely by Alabama, West Virginia, and Tennessee. One in every three adults in each of these states is obese. The state with the lowest rate of obesity was the trim Colorado, where about one in five adults is obese. As we see more and more people tipping the scales, it’s important not to become complacent, thinking, “Everybody’s obese – so what’s the big deal?”

Obesity is a serious public health problem. Obesity is linked to increased risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, fertility problems, and even cancer! That’s not enough to get your attention? Well how about this – someone 40 percent overweight has TWICE the risk of dying a premature death!

What exactly IS obesity?

Having a few extra pounds here and there is NOT obesity. Extra weight puts added stress on your heart and joints, but we’re not talking about a few love handles. Obesity is generally considered to be having a weight that’s more than 20 percent above your ideal weight.

To determine if your weight is right on track, if you’re overweight, or if you’re obese, you’ll need to calculate your body mass index or BMI. The BMI measures body fat based on your height and weight. You can determine your BMI by entering your height and weight into a simple online BMI calculator (http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/).

What can I do to avoid becoming a statistic? And where does Fido fit in?

These numbers are staggering – so what can you do? Start walking your dog – seriously! Researchers in California showed that obesity occurred 65 percent more in dog owners who didn’t walk their dogs compared to those who did. And researchers at the University of Pittsburgh showed that people doing short exercise segments of about 10 minutes at least twice a day did better than people instructed to exercise for one 20-40 minute session daily. Those doing short exercise segments exercised more consistently and lost about 40 percent more weight!

So start a dog walking program with Bailey:

• Take 2-3 short dog walks a day
• Log your walking time with each walk
• Make sure you’re walking a total of 30-45 minutes a day
• As you get more fit, increase your walking pace for added calorie burning
• Track your walking progress with a free walking calendar you can download at www.FitAsFido.com

Do don’t delay! Make a commitment to keep your weight in check and avoid being added to a CDC statistic. Grab a leash, whistle for Fido, and start walking those pounds away!

Article contributed by regular guest blogger, Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

So if you want to make sure you’re getting the most from your healthcare prevention – get a handle on the stress in your life. You can’t eliminate stress, but you can learn simple techniques for controlling the harmful physiological responses your body has when inevitably exposed to stress. And Princess can be a great stress-busting coach.

Find Out If Your Health is Sensitive to Stress

Everyone’s life is full of stress – stress over work, school, family, health problems, finances, even our friends. Stress is important because it causes mental distress and also can aggravate a variety of health conditions. Stress often triggers headaches, stomach aches and diarrhea, elevated blood pressure, sleep trouble, and mood disturbances. Stress can also strain your heart. Take this quiz (reprinted from Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health) to see if you are susceptible to developing physical symptoms from mental stress:

• Do you have trouble finding someone to share problems with?
• Have you stopped attending to your spiritual needs?
• Have you stopped making time for your hobbies?
• Do you frequently skip meals?
• Do you drink more than 2 cups of caffeinated beverages daily?
• Do you regularly smoke or drink alcohol?
• Are you overweight?
• Do you frequently sleep less than 7 hours per night?
• Do you usually exercise less than every other day?
• Do you worry about doing a good job at work?
• Do you worry that you won’t be able to pay your bills?

If you checked four or more boxes, you’re at risk for stress aggravating physical problems. The more of these boxes that you checked, the more vulnerable you are to developing physical symptoms when exposed to stress.

Dogs Take A Bite Out of Stress

Luckily, Fido can show you how to take a bite out of stress. Did you know that medical research has proven that dogs are great stress relievers, helping to reduce anxiety and the effects of stress? In a unique experiment, heart rate and blood pressure were measured in healthy adults asked to do math calculations. Increases in heart rate and blood pressure show that the stress is also causing a strain on the heart. Interestingly, having a spouse or supportive friend present during the math test worsened the stress response. Having a pet nearby decreased the stress response.

Practice Stress Management Techniques

You can reduce your stress response by keeping Fido close to you. The next time you need to balance your checkbook, talk with your teenager, or have dinner with your mother-in-law, make sure you have a four-legged friend nearby to help ease your stress response. Simply petting Fido, will lower your stress response and reduce the negative effects stress can have on your body.

Another simple technique is cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring means changing the messages you tell yourself from negative to positive. Sound hard? Listen to how you talk to Bailey – “What a good dog you are!”, “You’re such a good boy!”, “You’re so precious!” (And you KNOW you say this stuff all the time!) Next time you tell Precious she’s sweet, tell yourself, too. So instead of ,”Oh, I’ll never get through all this paperwork. It’s a nightmare,” tell yourself, “I’m good at organizing yourself. Let’s get started and I know I’ll succeed.” Instead of, “I’ll never lose all this extra weight,” tell yourself, “I’m proud of myself for starting that walking program with Fluffy. I’m going to be getting healthier and I’ll start feeling better, too!” And don’t be afraid to look in the mirror and tell yourself, “You’re wonderful!” You’ll be surprised how relaxing hearing these positive messages can be.

Exercise is another great stress buster. So adding daily dog walks can be helpful to minimize the effects of daily stresses. And you may want to add in a more vigorous workout on particularly stressful days.

Putting It All Together

So the next time you feel stressed, don’t sink into the sofa with a bag of chips and the television remote. Whistle for Max, tell him he’s terrific, tell yourself YOU’RE terrific, go for a brisk walk together, and start taking a bite out of stress.

Article contributed by regular guest blogger, Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

Taking Fido to Work is Good for Your Health

Did you also know that taking your dog to work can be good for your health? Dogs understand the importance of connecting with others and are ideal role models for excellent socializing. A study at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom showed that taking your dog to work resulted in three times more social encounters. By having a dog as their sides during the day, people had one-third more encounters with friends, over twice as many encounters with acquaintances, and over twenty times more meetings with strangers. Just having a dog at your side widens your sphere of these important social interactions.

You might guess that connecting with your co-workers can lighten your mood, but did you also know that socializing improves your physical health? Studies prove that being more socially engaged improves your health by:

• Improving your mood
• Reducing your risk for heart disease
• Improving your long-term memory
• Extending your life

So take a trip to the water cooler. Get a drink for you and Fido, and use that time to also connect with your co-workers. They won’t be able to resist your pooch’s sweet brown eyes and you make begin a lasting, and healthy, friendship

Make Sure Your Fido Will Enjoy Going to Work

Before taking your dog to work, make sure your dog is well socialized and comfortable with people, other dogs, and any noises or equipment that might be encountered during a visit to your work. If your dog is nervous around others, upset by a change in his routine, or stressed by lots of attention, consider celebrating the day with an extra walk before and after work and adding a photo of Fido to your desk.

Getting Ready for Fido’s Day

Make sure you have supplies for Fido to take with you to work. These might include:

• Leash
• Kennel, pillow, blanket
• Water dish
• Chew toys
• Poopie bags
• Paper towels, disinfectant, and hand sanitizer for unexpected accidents
• Small doggie treats

Be sure to set up a quiet area for Fido – perhaps putting his favorite blanket next to or under your desk. Being a canine ambassador is hard work, so make sure Fido can take a break from greeting others.

Also, be sure to take Fido for a nice walk on the morning before work to help reduce excess energy and prepare him for quiet time while you get your work done. Give Fido time for potty before entering your building and plan on potty breaks during the day and a nice walk at lunch. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy the before and during work walks so much that you’ll add them to your daily routine every day!

Celebrate Taking Your Dog to Work

So check with your employer about adding Take Your Dog to Work Day at your job. It’s fun for you and Fido and good for your health!

For more tips on Take Your Dog to Work Day and information on how you can enroll your workplace, visit www.takeyourdog.com

Article contributed by regular guest blogger, Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

As we become busy with careers, raising children, and caring for aging parents, it’s easy to feel disconnected from our community. Dogs instinctively know how important socializing is. Fido can be a great role model here – teaching you that there’s always time to take an interest in a neighbor, greet a passerby, or hear wonderful stories from the senior sitting next to you on the park bench.

Why is it important to stay socially connected?

Believe it or not – having friends, chatting with acquaintances, and helping others are important for improving YOUR health! Dr. Height is right on the mark by noting the benefits go both ways. Researchers at Duke University proved that being socially involved is good for your health in an interesting study where people with frequent interactions with family and friends were 25 percent less likely to get heart disease or die compared with those less engaged with others.

A number of health benefits have been linked to having a strong social network of friends:

• Better mood
• Less heart disease
• Better long-term memory
• Longer life

Interestingly, you get a greater benefit from involvement with friends compared with relatives, so just fulfilling family obligations isn’t enough. Like Fido – be man’s best friend and get involved with friends outside of your family.

Take time to get connected with others

Although we all lead busy lives, we can usually take time to schedule important community connections. A terrific example of getting involved is seen in Nancy McClain, a professional dog groomer, instructor, and owner of the Diamond Cut Dog Grooming School in Medina, Ohio. Ms. McClain began her passion for dog grooming when she was 9 years old and has been teaching Professional Dog Grooming for over 25 years. In addition to her role as entrepreneur and teacher, Nancy uses her work to help her stay involved in the community – sharing her love of dogs with middle and high school students in her community. Nancy first began sharing her passion about dogs with students in 1997. Since then, Nancy has been a regular Career Day participant – most recently attending Career Day at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School with her husband and three of her current students. But I suspect it was her beautiful Standard Poodle, Domino, who first captured the students’ attention. Nancy finds these sessions rewarding, “I love to share my information with others. The students see me happy in my work and loving what I do.” The impact Nancy makes was brought home at her last Career Day, when a former student who had attended Career Day as a senior 2 years earlier returned to say he’d been inspired to become a dog groomer while attending Nancy’s session at Career Day. Like Nancy, each of us has a story to tell or part of ourselves to share with others. And for us dog lovers, sharing our dogs can be a great way to get connected with others.

Tips for connecting with others

Nancy has found a great way to get connected with her community – using her dogs and love of dogs as a catalyst. Like Nancy, we can learn a lot from our dogs’ socializing examples. Watch how Fluffy treats socializing, and you’ll have an ideal mentor for getting more socially connected. Here are a few dog-approved tips:

• Make socializing a priority – meet-and-greets are important for you and Fluffy.
• Don’t miss opportunities to greet others – choose walking routes where you’ll pass people and soon strangers will become acquaintances and then friends.
• Take an interest in others – Fluffy will cock her head and appear to have rapt interest when someone starts a conversation. Adopt this same attitude. Focusing on what someone else is saying rather than how you might respond improves communication and reduces the stress of meeting others.
• Talk about your dog. No one can resist a dog conversation. Your neighbor’s sure to stop when you comment, “Did Ginger get a new haircut? She looks gorgeous!”

So take a dog’s view of socializing – you’ll feel better – and it’s great for your health!

If you’re interested in learning more about dog grooming, check out Nancy’s interview under the celebrity spotlight at www.fitasfido.com and Nancy’s website www.schoolfordoggrooming.com.

Article contributed by regular guest blogger Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

• W omen are more likely to volunteer than men, with one in every three women volunteering.
• Adults most likely to volunteer are 35-44 years old. Adults in their early 20’s are least likely to volunteer.
• People are also more likely to volunteer if they are married or parents.
• The average time spent on volunteer activities during the year was 52 hours.
• Two in every three people volunteers for a single organization.

President Obama is correct – volunteering is important for the nation. Many organizations count on their volunteer staff to fill important gaps needed to effectively deliver services. But did you also know that medical research also shows that volunteering is great for your health. Both young and older people develop better health and an improved sense of life satisfaction when they volunteer.

How does volunteering for others help my health?

A recent survey of volunteers at a cancer center in Rio de Janeiro found that volunteers felt they benefited from volunteering about the same as the patients they were attending. Volunteering has consistently been shown to improve a sense of well-being in the volunteer, as well as increase life satisfaction and improve mood.

Volunteering not only improves our psyche, but general health is also better. Doctors at Stanford University published their findings of a link between volunteering and risk of death in the Journal of Health Psychology. They monitored over 7500 seniors in the United States for 8 years. Compared to people who “never volunteered,” people who “volunteered rarely” had a 41 percent decreased risk of dying. People reporting they “sometimes volunteered” reduced their risk of death by 42 percent, while those “volunteering frequently” reduced their risk by 53 percent.

How much should I plan to volunteer

As with all good things in life – moderation is the key. As volunteer commitments increase, health benefits improve, up to a peak improvement when people are donating about 2 and ½ hours each week. People who volunteer more than that often find that volunteering becomes stressful and begins to interfere with their daily routine.

In general, health benefits are greatest when volunteer activities are concentrated with a single organization. Most people find their health benefits begin to diminish when they volunteer for more than one group. Seniors, however, achieve the best health benefits when they volunteer for more than one organization. Seniors should probably limit commitments to two groups.

How can I get started?

Here’s where Fluffy can really help. If you’re not currently involved in a volunteer activity, you might want to consider volunteer opportunities with Toby. Medical facilities often welcome properly trained dogs to participate in their volunteer programs as therapy dogs – with you as the tag-along handler. If you’re hesitant to start volunteering or shy about starting up conversations, Fido will lead the way as the perfect ice breaker. No one can resist breaking into a smile when an adorable fluff ball comes bounding down the hall. And after announcing Baxter’s name and breed, you’ll soon find your therapy dog will take care of the rest of the visit. Organizations that welcome therapy dogs include:

• Nursing homes
• Hospitals
• Hospice facilities
• School and library reading programs
• Some bookstores for reading programs

Both you and your dog will need some training before you get started and most facilities require testing through organizations like American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen (CGC), Delta Society, or Therapy Dogs International. If you’re interested in becoming a pet therapy handler, talk to your local animal shelter, facilities that conduct obedience classes, and area hospitals about requirements in your area and facilities that provide training and testing. You can find a testing center for CGC in your area at: http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/cgc_schedule.cfm.

So enlist the aid of your canine volunteer partner, provide joy and comfort to others, and improve your own life satisfaction and overall health by starting to volunteer. Remember these tips for successful volunteering:

• Find an activity you’re passionate about
• Limit your volunteering to one activity or two if you’re a senior
• Limit your weekly volunteer commitment to 2½ hours
• Train Princess to be a therapy dog

If you’re interested in pet therapy, visit:

• TDI-Dog.org
• DeltaSociety.org
• AKC.com

Article contributed by regular guest blogger Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.

Table. Former White House Presidential First Dogs (Adapted from PresidentialPetMuseum.com)

The First Dog serves many roles – the only confidant guaranteed to be available 24/7, to listen without lobbying for pet projects, and to never leak sensitive information to the Press. Fido is also Nature’s perfect “personal trainer” – never having an excuse for skipping exercise.

Among the many problems facing President Obama is the growing global epidemic of obesity, affecting about one in every three to four adults in the United States and Europe. Obesity is also affects Asia, with one in every five adults overweight or obese in China. According to World Health Organization statistics, about 1.6 billion adults are overweight globally, and at least 400 million are obese. Eating habits and low activity both contribute to this growing crisis. In 2008, the US Department of Labor reported that only 16 percent of Americans ages 15 and older exercised at all on an average day! This is where your “canine personal trainer” can help.

Exercising with Dixie

According to the Humane Society, 4 in every 10 homes have their own “canine personal trainer” on staff. Dog owners tend to get more exercise than non-owners. The California Health Interview Survey (published in the March 2008 issue of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health) found that dog owners were 60 percent more likely to walk for leisure than people who didn’t own dogs. Dog owners walked almost 20 minutes more each week than people without dogs. A Canadian survey published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in February 2006 reported than Canadian dog owners walked an average of 300 minutes each week compared with 170 minutes for people without dogs.

And walking our dogs – big or small – can lead to better health and less obesity. The journal Preventive Medicine in September 2008 reported that dog owners who walked their dogs were almost 25 percent less likely to be obese than people without dogs. Furthermore, the April 2008 issue of Health Promotion Journal of Australia described how having a dog in the house reduced the risk of childhood obesity by half!

Tips for exercising with Lady

• If you or your dog have health problems or are seniors, check with your doctor and veterinarian before starting a new exercise program.
• You don’t need to have a dog who likes to run or jog. Taking 2-3 shorter 10 to15 minute walks a day will give you better health benefits than one long walk. And you’ll be more likely to stick with a program of shorter walks.
• Vary your walks – look for new places or new routes to explore.

If, like the Obamas, you don’t have a dog, you can still benefit from dog walking by:

• Walking the neighbor’s terrier.
• Volunteering to walk dogs at your local animal shelter.
• If you’re considering getting your own dog, check out websites to see what breed is most compatible with you and your lifestyle, such as SelectSmart.com

So be presidential – make Toby your canine fitness trainer today and start on the road to a healthier, more active life!

Article contributed by regular guest blogger Dawn A. Marcus.

About the author: Dawn A. Marcus, MD is a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She also serves as medical expert to Del Monte’s Power of Paws program, which promotes better human health through pet companionship. She is an internationally-recognized speaker, educator, and author, receiving the National Headache Foundation Media Excellence Award. Dr. Marcus has written nine medical books, including her latest book, Fit As Fido: Follow Your Dog to Better Health. Visit her websites www.dawnmarcusmd.com and www.fitasfido.com.