10/04/2026
For humans, research increasingly supports nature-based walking for mental well-being, including reductions in stress, anxiety and rumination.
For dogs, research has associated daily exercise with lower prevalence of some anxiety-related behaviours, while experimental work has shown exercise combined with human interaction can reduce physiological measures of stress in shelter dogs.
And now researchers are beginning to examine the intersection of all of it:
Nature + movement + the human-dog bond. They call it **bonded green exercise.**
I think there's something worth paying attention to there! Not because nature is magic, or because I think a walk cures all behavioural problems.
But because both species evolved to move through an environment, interact with it and experience the world outside four walls. Sometimes doing something good for your dog can be pretty damn good for you too.
Book a park today: www.parksforpets.com
*Halling et al., Animals, 2026; Ma et al., Current Psychology, 2024; Tiira & Lohi, PLOS ONE, 2015.*
