Clever Kids Put Pedometers on Their Dogs

It would be horrible, if it wasn't so funny. Or, maybe it would be funny, if it wasn't so horrible - children in an east London borough tricked researchers when they took the pedometers they'd been assigned to measure their activity levels, and put them on their dogs.

Baffled at why some of the obese children, who were obviously very active during the day (at least according to their pedometers), could still be obese despite all that extra exercise, researchers took a closer look.

Professor Nicola Maffuli said this:

Then we realized they were attaching the pedometers to their dogs' collars.

It's so clever, I just can't help getting a chuckle out of this!

Professor Maffuli told the BBC it's not unusual for participants to manipulate pedometer readings during a study. (Kind of like how I walked 2.2 miles today, but might have told my husband I walked "nearly three.") We all want to look good, especially when it counts.

I really wish those pedometers had motivated the children to exercise more, maybe even run with their dogs a little, rather than feeling like they had to find a clever way out.

After taking the dogs into consideration - exactly how many steps does a golden retriever take in a day? I'm guessing a lot - researchers found that boys and girls took an average of 12,620 and 10,150 steps a day, respectively.

This is below the 15,000 steps recommended for boys, and 12,000 for girls. Since this particular borough has an especially high childhood obesity rate, researchers are planning more studies.

But, my guess is they're going to be on the look-out for four footed friends this time around.

Do you sometimes tell little white lies when it comes to diet or fitness?