Dog Walking Habits of Americans | KURU Footwear (2024)

People who walk their dogs are more active, and more likely to report being happy.

You just made it home from work, and your dogs are barking: Literally and figuratively! Even if you’ve been on your feet all day, your best friend is excited to get out and go for a walk with you. But how far does the average dog parent go per walk, and over the long haul: how much walking does that amount to?

The team at KURU Footwear conducted a survey to find out how many pet parents walk their animals regularly, and how far they go when they do. We also spoke to dog owners about when they take their walks, so you can pick the best times for dog-spotting on your own outings.

If you need proof pawsitive that dogs inspire their owners to get more active, let’s look at the data and see how those daily outings add up!

Our survey found 78% of dog owners say they walk their dogs. On average, dog parents take 10 walks with their furry friends each week and average 3 miles per trip.

That adds up to about 30 miles of canine-encouraged cardio week in and week out, or about 120 miles per month!

Even if your dog never has to head homeward bound, traveling across the country on some kind of…incredible journey: Fido will go far! Your average dog walks about 30 miles per week with their owner.

That means the average dog parent will take their best friend for 1,560 miles each year, averaging a little more than 4 miles each day! For perspective, that’s farther than the drive from Los Angeles to Houston!

And from the time a dog is a pup to its senior citizen days, they are close to going all the way around the world. The average dog will walk far enough to travel ¾ of the circumference of the globe. Now, if we could only teach them to bark in French!

Getting regular exercise, spending more time outdoors, and just the simple pleasure of having a companion around. There are plenty of reasons to own a dog, but one of them is definitely the way dogs encourage us to be more active.

People who walk their dogs get about 4,525 more steps each week when compared to the average American. And those wagging tails are a telltale sign that someone is staying on the move: 68% of dog owners say the majority of their exercise is related to either walking or playing with their dogs each day.

OK so maybe you love dogs but aren’t in a place to have one of your own. That’s no reason to miss out on all of the adorable animal antics!

If you want to time your own walks for peak pet populations, simply head out between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.—that's the most popular time for dog owners to take their dogs for a walk. If you’re more into evening encounters, fear not! The second most popular time to walk dogs is between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The most popular walking times for pet owners are in the morning, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and in the evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

But not everyone works 9 to 5, and some people just enjoy getting out with their dogs at different times. The third most popular time is from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. just before the workday ends. The early birds (that’s 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.) grab the No. 4 spot—and probably a pretty good view of sunrise.

The lunchtime liaison, between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., lands in the #5 spot. And, last but not least… Well, OK. When it comes to the number of dogs it actually is the least. So last and least is the overnight overture: walks between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. We guess most pet owners know it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie.

They say you can’t buy happiness, but adopting a dog may be a good start! The bond between humans and dogs is something many of us feel innately, and our survey respondents backed that up.

Of the people who walk their dogs, 76% consider themselves happy. In fact, dog owners who go on walks with their dogs were 1.4 times more likely to consider themselves happy than people who don’t walk their dog or who don’t own a dog.

And that happiness hits in the short term, not just over the long haul! A whopping 86% of owners who walk their dogs said that both they and their dog are in a happier mood after going out for a walk.

Catwalks are pretty common in auditoriums and industrial areas. But cat walks (cat owners in particular know how much difference a little space can make) are not as uncommon as you might think!

Dog owners are more than twice as likely to walk their pets than cat owners, but 35% of cat owners report they walk their cats on occasion. That’s more than 1 in 3! And almost half (49%) say they would rather go on a walk with their cat than with another human.

That last stat isn’t too surprising, since 65% of cat owners said they like their cats more than they like other people. (I mean, we get it.)

Whether you have a dog or a cat or just a desire to see more pets on your daily walks, you may want to paws and think about your own, well, paws. Your feet take a lot of punishment with every step, especially when you’re walking or running on hard surfaces like sidewalks or concrete.

Regular walks are key to your dog's happiness and your own, so make sure you can keep up with your best friend withshoes designed for all-day comfort. The average dog owner will walk their dog more than 1,500 miles in the next year, don’t you deserve support along the way?

Methodology

KURU Footwear surveyed 1,000 Americans 18 years and older with a margin of error of +/- 4% and a confidence level of 95%. The survey results were weighted to reflect characteristics of the United States population using available data from the US Census.

We asked dog owners how frequently they walk their dogs and how many miles, on average, those walks are. We used this information to determine the average number of walks and miles a dog walks per week, month, year, and in a lifetime.

To determine the average number of steps the average American takes in a week compared to someone who walks their dog, we used a tool that converts miles to steps. We used the average American's height in our calculations and an average walking speed of 3 miles per hour.

Sources

1. KURU Footwear proprietary survey

2.Miles to steps calculator

About Us

Foot pain (includingplantar fasciitis, heel spurs, and more) can make everything we do more difficult, and sometimes even impossible. That’s why KURU Footwear is on a mission to eliminate foot pain for 15 million people by 2030. Since launching our innovative technology in 2008, we’ve received more than 35,000 5-Star reviews and heard from thousands of customers who tell us their KURU orthopedic shoeshelped them get back to doing what they love.

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