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- Published on: 15 June 2020
- Published on: 15 June 2020A dog is not a standardised intervention
Nice study, and great to see you including dog ownership in your COI statements! A plea from a veterinary surgeon interested in dog walking though: please collect and report data about the dogs. A dog isn't a standardised intervention like a Fitbit. Their exercise capacity and exercise desire will vary with breed, age, comorbidities, body condition score, behaviour yet no data about the dogs is included in this publication. In addition, research suggests that owning an ill or behaviourally problematic dog can be very stressful. These canine attributes may have introduced a level of unaccounted for heterogeneity into your intervention arm which may have confounded your results. I'd be happy to point any researchers in this field towards the relevant canine literature, or assist with dog aspects of a study design.
Conflict of Interest:
I have researched and published on the role of dog health in dog walking and owner quality of life.