Man's best friend offers not just companionship, but also an opportunity for weight loss, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that having a pet can encourage owners to get more exercise, which results in more weight loss than most nationally known diet plans.

The research project encouraged economically disadvantaged, disabled participants to walk with dogs on a regular, graduated schedule. Researchers said the participants began the program by walking 10 minutes per day, three times each week. Eventually, the participants walked up to 20 minutes per day, five times each week. During rainy days, the participants walked an inside route.

The dogs in the study are pets of faculty and staff at the university's College of Veterinary Medicine and must pass rigorous safety training procedures and a "good citizenship" test before they are allowed to be in the program. In addition, all human participants in the program were fitted with new walking shoes.

"Our goal was to look for ways to increase the average exercise regimen, and we found being responsible for a pet, such as committing to walk a loaner dog, encouraged people who did not own dogs to walk more often and for longer periods of time," said Rebecca Johnson, one of the study's researchers.

The first first group walked for 50 weeks, and the second group walked for only 26 weeks. Johnson found that the first group averaged a weight loss of 14 pounds, a better result than most of the nationally known weight-loss plans report.

Johnson said the weight loss in the second group was not statistically significant, but that the participants engaged in other activities that surprised the researchers.

"The results of the first group were wonderful," Johnson said in a news release. "Even though we didn't see a significant amount of weight loss in the group that walked for a shorter period of time, by the end of the study, all the participants were walking for longer periods of time and walking for daily errands instead of using some other type of transportation."