This fluffy pup is a member of the laziest dog breed in America
The results are in, and the chow chow wins - but it's no achievement that a dog breed or pet owner should necessarily take pride in.
Chow chows, according to a data shared exclusively with Business Insider, are America's laziest dogs.
To suss out the most active dog breeds and least active dog breeds in America, we asked for help from Whistle - a company that makes a GPS and activity-tracking dog collar - and the company analyzed data they see from the roughly 150,000 Americans who've used its products.
After crunching the numbers on nearly 100 breeds in its databases, Whistle revealed to us that the chow chow is the least active breed on a daily basis.
The typical chow chow living in the US gets outside and moves around only an average of 43 minutes and 22 seconds per day. If you walk a dog three times per day, that's less than 14 minutes and 27 seconds per walk.
The least active chow chow with a Whistle "smart collar" logged a paltry 5 minutes and 59 seconds of activity per day, while the most active got outside roughly 138 minutes and 22 seconds per day.
Like all data, however, this set has limitations.
Further, the data only includes dogs who were active for more than 14 days in a row. While this improved reliability of the data, it probably weeded out otherwise active dogs whose owners forgot to consistently use the device, let the collar's battery die, prematurely canceled their $9.99-a-month subscription, or related reasons.
Business Insider's testing of a Whistle GPS collar loaned to us by the company showed it does not record indoor activity (or any activity too close to a base station), nor can it really distinguish between walking or running.
Practically, this means an intense game of tug or running around in circles on the carpet like a wild beast probably don't count toward active time. A gallop at full speed also doesn't "count" more in the data than a leisurely stroll.
Most importantly, correlation isn't necessarily causation. Owners who don't get dogs outside very much may gravitate toward these breeds, instead of the breeds being lazy themselves.
The truth probably rests - panting and splayed out - somewhere in between.