It’s well known that a dog will keep you fit and active but I bet you didn’t know that an average dog owner covers the equivalent of 283 marathons or 7,415 miles during the lifetime of their treasured pet…when you look at it like this you can understand why it’s important to get some decent outdoor clothing and walking shoes for added comfort and durability.

A recent survey of 2,000 dog owners around Britain proves that we don’t starve our pets of attention with 25% of them playing or stroking their pet more than 20 times a day.  People who visit our offices will tell you that our personal experience is a lot higher than 20 times a day,  more like 20 times and hour if you watch how Kip, our office dog, interacts with all our staff.

On average a dog can expect to be stroked 58,000 times and will response with over 50,000 licks.  In Britain we clock up more than 500 miles walking with dogs,  I guess this is like walking to London and back from our offices!    The survey also found that 20% of owners will take a present back for their pet if they’ve been away on holiday.  And a staggering 9% even show their dogs there holiday snaps,  fat chance of this in our office as Kip would probably eat them!   According to finding 20% said whilst on holiday they would phone to check up on their dog.  I wonder if the dogs are as bothered as there owners?

Apparently Londoners spend more on their dogs over there lifetime with an estimated £15,000 spent on food, veterinary bills, insurance, treats and presents compared with £12,000 spent on average elsewhere in Britain.

Finally, the findings report that owners believe their dog falls in love at least twice during their lifetime and some owners even believing their pet has had four or more crushes on other dogs during its lifetime.  As our office dog, Kip, is just over 12 months old we think he’s not ready for a serious relationship just yet!