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Associated Press

The cuddles. The loyalty. The worshipful eyes. There are lots of joys in having a dog, not the least of which is heading out for a brisk walk. And therein lies a peril some dog owners should pay more attention to.
Over the past two decades, injuries related to dog walking have been on the rise among adults and children in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. Fractures, sprains and head trauma are among the most common.
From 2001 to 2020, the estimated number of adults seen at hospital accident and emergency departments for dog-walking injuries increased significantly, from 7,300 to 32,300 a year, lead researcher Ridge Maxson says.
Seventy five per cent of patients were women. Adults between the ages of 40 and 64 accounted for 47 per cent.

And that is just accident and emergency visits. “We know that a significant number of people might seek treatment at primary care, speciality or urgent care clinics for their injuries,” Maxson says.
Dog ownership has become increasingly common, he notes, with about half of American households having at least one dog. The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the spike.
Staying safe when walking a dog on a lead takes diligence, focus and, in inclement weather, extra precautions. Multitasking can be hazardous. Put your phone away.
“You can’t really afford to relax when you walk a powerfully built dog with the torque of a small tractor. You have to pay attention,” says Noel Holston, a dog owner in Athens, Georgia.

In the early 2000s, Holston was walking his 29.4-kilogram (65-pound) pit bull in a park near his home when a goose flapped and squawked. The dog bolted down an embankment, jerking the now 76-year-old Holston off the footpath.
“Off balance and struggling to keep my footing, I stepped into a hole and heard my left ankle snap. The pain was so intense. I almost passed out. My wife, Marty, had to hail a jogger to help get me back to our car. My left foot was dangling like a big wet noodle,” he says.
Susannah Johnston, 64, is a yoga instructor who runs a 40,000-member Facebook group for women aimed at improving balance, strength and the body’s ability to absorb impact. She has been injured three times while dog walking over the years.

About five years ago, her 22.6kg lab mix went after a squirrel while Johnston was kneeling to tuck a sweatshirt into her backpack, the lead wrapped around one hand. She fractured a finger.
“That was the worst because it was twisted and pulled and I had to have surgery and rehab and everything else,” says Johnston, who lives in New York.
Running with a dog on a lead is another hazard no matter how well trained you think a dog is. It is especially dangerous with a dog that is easily spooked, very young or prone to the zoomies, or frenetic random activity periods (Fraps). That is what happened to Robert Godosky in Manhattan.
“We used to be in a routine of sort of running the last block home,” he says. “There was a section of pavement that had scaffolding up. My dog is a rescue dog and was relatively new to us. He got spooked and got in front of me, and I went flying over the dog and smacked into the scaffolding. I ended up breaking two ribs.”
There are other hazards in rural areas, says Steven Haywood, an accident and emergency doctor in the US state of Mississippi.
Make sure you can control the dog you’re walking
Steven Haywood, a doctor in the US state of Mississippi
“Getting struck by vehicles,” he says. “That is definitely the most life-threatening injury when people are walking their dogs.”
Areas like his have many roads without pavements or wide shoulders. That is especially hazardous when people wear dark clothes with no reflectors or lights on themselves or their animal.
“It is something we see on a regular basis,” Haywood says.
In addition to lights and reflectors, there is other gear that can minimise dog-walking risks.
Maxson suggests using a non-retractable lead of six to eight feet (1.8 to 2.4 metres). “Longer leashes are more likely to get tangled around your legs and cause falls. Retractable leashes can sometimes make your dog more difficult to control,” he says.
In San Francisco, dog trainer Shoshi Parks recommends a no-pull harness with a lead clipped to a dog’s chest rather than their back. It gives the walker more control and puts less strain on the dog.
Parks suggests holding a lead at your centre of gravity, near your torso, hip or thigh. Slip your hand through the loop of a lead and grab it a little lower down to hold on.
She calls retractable leads a “no go”. They can cause burns when held too close to the body if they lengthen or retract quickly.

For people with mobility or balance issues, experts suggest seeking help walking a dog, especially in inclement weather – a neighbour, an older child or a professional dog walker, for instance.
Johnston, Haywood and Maxson agree that balance and strength-training exercises, especially for older adults, can help decrease the risk of falls and fractures.
And they say working with a dog trainer helps not only the dog but the walker, who can learn to read their pet’s body language better.
“Even young, healthy, strong people may have difficulty controlling larger breeds that aren’t used to walking on a leash. Any exercise to give strength, give balance, is going to help,” Haywood says. “Make sure you can control the dog you’re walking.”
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