West Lafayette, Ind.— Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound: How You and Your Dog Can Lose Weight, Stay Fit, and Have Fun Together provides an enjoyable, innovative approach to increasing physical activity and reforming sedentary lifestyles for both people and pets. Authors Phil Zeltzman, an expert veterinarian, and Rebecca A. Johnson, a leading nurse researcher, take a detailed look at dog walking as a way to end the destructive patterns that have led to our obesity epidemic.
Zeltzman and Johnson’s creative, fresh approach to weight loss takes readers through the process of preparing a walking program and getting started. Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound offers a comprehensive view of weight problems and solutions. Starting with the most recent research on the value of dog walking and the surprising health benefits—physical, psychological, and social—of human-animal contact, the volume continues by looking at all of the factors that influence the health of people and pets and outlining why fitness is so important for both. Later chapters cover how to outfit for fitness, what other fun activities we can do with dogs, where to find support systems to stick with a more active lifestyle, and how to join in community activities such as walking shelter dogs or walking in groups.
There has never been a more compelling time for innovative approaches to increasing physical activity and finding ways to overcome the chronic, debilitating illnesses associated with obesity. Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound shows us how to follow our dogs, who have a natural inclination to get the exercise they need, down the road to better health.
Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, is a mobile, board-certified veterinary surgeon whose professional interests include soft tissue, orthopedic, cancer, and neurosurgery. A prolific international speaker and author for 25 years, he has written extensively about pet obesity and is a member of the Executive Board of the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. He writes an award-winning e-mail newsletter, at www.DrPhilZeltzman.com, read by pet lovers across the U.S. and in 28 countries. He is a Certified Veterinary Journalist and contributor to Dog Fancy, The Bark, and Veterinary Practice News. Zeltzman lives in Pennsylvania with his family and pets.
Rebecca A. Johnson, RN, FAAN, PhD, is Millsap Professor of Gerontological Nursing and Public Policy at the University of Missouri. She holds a joint appointment at the College of Veterinary Medicine as the director of the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction. Author of over 40 publications, she speaks nationally and internationally about human-animal interaction. In 2010 she was elected president of the International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations. This book, published May 15, 2011, is available from all good booksellers and can be ordered direct on the web at www.thepress.purdue.edu. or by phone at 1.800.247.6553.
Purdue University Press, founded in 1960, is the publishing arm of Purdue University. Dedicated to the dissemination of scholarly and professional information, the Press provides quality resources in several key subject areas including business, technology, health, veterinary medicine and other limited disciplines in the humanities and sciences. The Press annually publishes over 25 books, five traditional journals and 10 open access journals. For more information, visit www.thepress.purdue.edu.
