You probably don't think of your daily dog walk as being fraught with peril. Or, maybe you do.
My goal here isn't to scare up some business. The point is just to make you aware of a significant uptick in dog walking injuries among both adults and children.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University studied dog walking injuries from 2001 - 2020.
Believe it or not, dog walking injuries increased from 7,300 per year to 32,300 per year during that time.
That's an astonishing 442% increase!
75% of those injured were women.
And adults 40 - 64 accounted for 47% of all injuries.
This number was just among emergency room visits. It does not account for primary care, specialty care, or urgent care visits.
So the real increase could be even higher than the aforementioned 442% figure.
How Do Dog Walking Injuries Happen?
The article I'm reviewing/summarizing doesn't go into great detail on exactly how dog walking injuries happen.
So, a prototypical story doesn't exist.
However, it does share several stories:
One person, a man in roughly his 50s, was walking his 65-pound pit bull in a park not too far from his home. Suddenly, a goose flapped and squawked. This caught his dog's attention, and it ran down an embankment. The owner was yanked off the sidewalk, and they stepped in a hole. The person snapped their ankle, and it was left limp and dangling after the incident.
Another person, a woman in her late 50s, was walking her 50-pound lab mix when it went after a squirrel. Coincidently, the woman was kneeling down and looking for something in her backpack at the same time. The dog's leash wrapped around her hand and fractured her finger.
Another man was seriously injured when running with his dog on the last block of their walk. His dog was a rescue and was relatively new to him. While running, the dog got spooked by something and quickly cut in front of the man. The man went flying over the dog and into some scaffolding covering the sidewalk in front of him. He broke two ribs.
Lastly, the article warns against walking your dog in the country or where there is no sidewalk or wide shoulder. Doctors routinely see people and dogs who've been struck by vehicles.
So, as you can see, there is no standard way injuries happen. They just sort of occur seemingly out of the blue.
How Do You Protect Yourself from Dog Walking Injuries?
Believe it or not, you can protect yourself from random dog walking injuries.
For starters, when it comes to footwear, the article suggests that you wear shoes with a decent amount of tread. And in the winter, when it becomes icy and snowy, you might even consider boots with spikes or studs.
You should never use retractable leashes. They can get wrapped around your legs and cause a fall. They also make your dog more difficult to control. And the leash itself can break.
We require you to have a rope or nylon cord 6-8 feet long, so this shouldn't be a problem.
At the same time, it's a good idea to let your friends and family know why they shouldn't use retractable leashes.
If you have mobility or balance issues, consider enlisting help walking your dog. This goes doubly during inclement weather.
Older adults should think about balance and strength-training exercises.
You should also consider taking your dog to a training class, if you haven't already done so. This can help you learn to read your dog's body language better so you can anticipate potential problems.
Ultimately, you should feel like you can control your dog. Remember that you are the alpha, the leader of the walk. If you have any doubts about your ability to walk your dog, follow the considerations just discussed until you feel 100% comfortable walking your dog.
Your dog walk should be a stress-free time for both you and your dog to bond and relax.
The original article was published at PBS. You can read the full story at this link.
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