Dr Peter Neville is one of the UK's leading Animal Behaviour Therapists and has over 18 years experience in the referral and treatment of behavioural problems in cats and dogs. Here he highlights just a few of the benefits of regular dog-walking.

"Walking is good for our dogs, in fact you could argue that it's essential to a good quality of life for many an owner as well!

Fresh air, aerobic exercise, stretching your muscles and expanding your lungs on a regular basis, all while enjoying the scenery of the Great Outdoors, helps keep us in a well-balanced mood and better equipped to deal with the relentless demands of modern life. Dog owners, of course, nearly always meet other dog owners on walks and it's often the dogs saying hello to one another and chasing each other that helps break the ice for the owners and enables them to socialise more readily than the "dog-less" people we see everyday in the street.

Most dogs enjoy the chance to meet new doggy faces too, but for many the main enjoyment of going for a walk is a more serious business. It's often about hunting, the chance to express those ancient demands of being a predator in seeking out and pursuing the scents of rabbits and rodents, chasing birds and squirrels or, if we take the time to train our dogs, follow these instincts in a safer manner by chasing and retrieving the balls and toys that we throw for them.

'Those who play together stay together' and the more time and effort we invest in helping our dogs to express their natural behaviours in a playful cooperative partnership with us, the closer our relationship will become. Cuddles and fuss are great when we are home from the walk, but out in the fields, owner and dog working and playing together is what really cements that family bond.

So a good long walk with the dog gives both dog and owner a huge feel-good factor... exercising, socialising, mood restoring, fun and the sense of co-operating and interacting together as owner and dog have done for thousands of years."