Thanks to Matt from The Pet Haven for this article - Walk Your Dog To Stay Healthy

It refutes the previous study in Finnland that stated that dog owners are less healthy than non-dog owners - Pet Owners May Be Less Healthy

Personally I think there is almost no difference, in whether you own a dog or not as to whether you are more healthy or not. It depends on the person’s own personality and what they do with their dog. Also exercise is only one part of the equation what you put in your mouth is the other. If you eat in excess of the exercise you obtain from walking your dog you are still going to be heavy regardless.

The one thing that is true about pet ownership is the unmeasurable benefit of an adoring pet with unconditional love has a tremendous effect on the emotional well being of the people that love the pets back.

If you are buying dog electrolytes you are wasting your money!

I had this discussion with my trainer today and being a knowledgable person herself she agrees that electrolytes are a waste of money. Here’s why…

Dogs do not sweat like you and I or horses. They pant to cools themselves off.

When we sweat our body releases moisture through the skin to evaporate and cool us off. In the meantime we also lose the salt or electrolytes through our skin. It is part of the process to get the water through the surface of the skin..it needs electrolytes to perform this function. So the electrolytes stay on the outside of our body with no way of getting back in, so we have to replenish those with some form of electrolyte substance, usually in the food we eat or in some cases some type of electrolyte drink, i.e. Gatorade or Powerade.

Dogs pant - their mechanism is to evaporate water through breathing and their mouth. When the electrolytes are passed in saliva and the water evaporates from their tongue and mucosal surfaces of their mouth the electrolytes stay on their surface just like our skin when we sweat; however it is still in their body. All they have to do is drink water to replace everything. So those drinks that have electrolytes in them for dogs are a complete waste of your money. Dogs do not lose electrolytes during a hot day or performing an athletic event. They do however lose a lot of water and that needs to be replenished.

So do not buy electrolyte drinks for your dog, just some cool fresh water will do. You want to waste money buy them some nice bottled water that someone makes out of their basement tap! LOL

Top 5 Natural Health Essentials for A Happy, Healthy Dog is an article found on www.smalldogsparadise.com written by Renee You can check out the full article here - Top 5

I will have to completely agree with this article. In my opinion, the top three are the most important with proper diet, exercise, and less vaccination being key components. The other two spaying/neutering and grooming are also important but the top three are by far the best way to keep your dog healthy.

Good Article Renee - keep up the good work.