This is Myshkin, my running partner and the love of my life.

The following is a guest post by my fun-loving and very dedicated colleague Alex Bury.

Cesar Millan the Dog Whisperer was interviewed in Runner's World magazine in October 2007. I didn't know he was a runner or that he loves to run with his dogs. He said, "If we all walked and ran with our dogs, it would be a better world." I wish I could make every person who has a dog read that!

Dogs need exercise. Desperately. They are quieter, calmer, more attentive, and more cuddly when they've had exercise. They are easier to train and to communicate with. I know this for a fact, because I am the same way.

In the morning, I start my PETA work and drink some coffee. Sometimes I inadvertently have two or three cups in a very short period of time. This makes me act like a young, untrained border-collie-lab-mix puppy (intense and bouncing off the walls). When that happens, I can write a lot of e-mails, but they're not exactly focused. I am not great company during this time. My poor boss has to rein me in as best he can.

But then it's lunchtime, and I always take a fast walk or run on my lunch break. In the afternoon, I write careful, thoughtful e-mails. I cross things off my "to do" list one after another. I enter my data correctly. My boss is happy, and I get to keep working for PETA.

Dogs work the same way. Dogs need to get their ya-ya's out. They need to vent and blow off steam. They may not have a caffeine addiction (and if they do, you are a guilty dog parent!), but they do have bodies that were meant to move. A lot. And yet we leave them sitting around all day. The result, like an adult on coffee or a kid on pop, is a hyper, unfocused, obnoxious creature.

This causes so many problems. When dogs jump and bark and run and chew and bounce off walls, humans aren't happy. They yell at the dogs, they put the dogs in the back yard, and worst of all, they "get rid of" the dogs because the dogs were "too hyper." No, the dogs were not too hyper. You, oh great human, you were too lazy.

If you don't like exercise, don't adopt a dog. Adopt a bunny (natural herbivores! Soft!), a geriatric dog, or, better yet, a stuffed dog toy that you can put on the couch where you apparently live as a potato.

If you run and/or walk with Rover every day, he will calm down. You and your dog will bond and get to know each other. You'll learn how to listen to each other and anticipate each other's needs and desires. He will be much easier to train after a good walk or run. You'll both be healthier and trimmer. You'll start to see your neighborhood and the changing seasons instead of Friends reruns every night.

Running and walking with a dog or multiple dogs is not a chore. It is not one of the "duties" of being a doggie parent. It is one of the gifts.

Poop-scooping: Chore.
Long walk before work: Gift.

And remember, if you are agreeing with this post but not actually getting up to take a walk ... Rover cannot do it without you. He is totally dependent on YOU. You can give him a life of total happiness and in return gain a trusted and well-behaved friend, or you can give your dog a life of misery and boredom. It's all up to you. So get up. Off the couch. Shut down the computer. Leash your dog and start putting one foot in front of the other.

And don't forget to take along some treats in your coat pocket!