This week I’m discovering the joy of walking TWO dogs. I think we’re all agreed that walking a dog gives you more steps but let me tell you about walking two of them. My grand-dog Stella is spending the week with Penny and me. They enjoy spending time together, which makes visiting a lot easier on all of us.

Neither Penny nor Stella has great leash manners. Penny is now a 50-pound dog and Stella is 75 pounds and strong. Both dogs, in fact, are strong. Because walking both at once is a tremendous challenge, I tend to walk one dog and then the other.

If they were easier to walk together, we could go to some parks for a good long hike. Unfortunately, because I can really only walk one at a time, we just walk around my neighborhood or go to the nearby Bike and Hike trail.

I’ve tried walking them together but what a disaster. It was like some slapstick scene where the person gets pulled in all directions at once. And there’s me, yelling, “stop! Both of you, just stop!” but they didn’t listen.

The past couple of days have been a return to winter weather but the dogs still have to go outside. That really works as a motivator for me to keep walking.

As I was walking Stella, I thought about our conversation with Chris Freytag and the benefits of walking. Stella is a fast walker. Granted, she does stop occasionally for a quick sniff but otherwise, she’s moving. I definitely was getting my heart rate elevated while walking her. I need to have her visit more often because she’s a good workout.

Walking a dog is a great way to increase your daily steps but walking two dogs separately really increases your numbers, bringing us back to the idea of the joy of walking two dogs! I hope nobody brings me a third dog to watch.

Perhaps you have a goal for 2024 of walking more or simply walking 10,000 steps a day. This goal would not be that unusual as many pedometers and wearable fitness devices track steps with the idea of getting 10,000 steps.

Walking is a wonderful way to explore nature, get some moderate exercise and spend time with friends. I find that a good walk with a friend of mine makes the time fly and my heart sing.

10,000 is an “easy” number to remember. Depending on your stride length, this may be 5 miles give or take. Without a doubt, walking is probably the most popular exercise because it takes no money, little time and is one of the most easy to schedule. In the winter, I like to walk indoors at my gym, or at a large store or mall, simply because I don’t like to be walking on ice in Ohio. In general I prefer walking outdoors in nature.

In looking into the amount of steps, you may be surprised that the idea of getting 10,000 steps a day isn’t really based on a scientific study.

Where did the idea from of walking 10000 steps a day being the magic number? Ironically it was an arbitrary number selected as a marketing program for a company in 60’s who created a pedometer. The Japanese manufacturer of this pedometer selected the number 10,000 because the character for 10,000 written in Japanese looks a little bit like a running man.

I find that I have to use my imagination a little bit, because technically it’s more like a headless running person.

Some people think that 10,000 is not a good goal for “older” women. Other people feel like tracking steps feels more like work and is counter productive. What do you think? Do you have some thoughts on walking 10000 steps a day?  If so, please leave a comment below.