According to new research, owning a pet could help children stay slim and healthy.
A study by researchers at Deakin University has found that young children who have a dog were 50% less likely to be overweight or obese than those without a pet dog in the family home.
As health experts express growing concern about Australia's escalating childhood obesity figures and a range of programmes and ideas are considered to curb the epidemic, something as simple as having a pet dog to walk with appears to possibly offer a solution for some families.
Experts say the promotion of daily physical activity in children is a key element in the prevention of overweight or obesity and walking is a low-cost, low-risk activity suitable for people of all ages.
The Deakin team suggest that owning a dog may be an way of encouraging children to walk and may therefore benefit their health, which supports several other studies which have shown that dog owners do more physical activity than non-owners.
The research team say almost 40% of households in Australia own a dog and there is the potential for dog owners to accumulate physical activity through a responsibility or motivation to walk their dog.
The study looked at more than 281 children aged 5-6 years and 864 children aged 10-12 years, from 19 randomly selected primary schools in high and low socio-economic status areas of Melbourne.