Strava’s latest bet to get you moving? Monthly training challenges with your dog

Seventy-six percent of Strava users with pets say their dog is a primary reason they get outside and move. Strava’s response to this was the Pet Tag, a “With Pet” activity tag added to the platform that lets users log and track every walk, run, or hike taken with their dog alongside their other training data. It’s a small feature with a clear objective: pet-motivated movement is still a way to get users moving, and should be included as a part of daily training.

Though the Pet Tag launched on Strava in late 2025, it’s getting its public moment through a new partnership with IAMS, the Mars-owned pet nutrition brand. Throughout the year, IAMS will launch monthly challenges on Strava built around the feature, starting with a 5K logged with a pet. Qualifying activities range from running and hiking to kayaking and skateboarding, and users who complete challenges unlock exclusive discounts on IAMS products.

What this means

Strava now has a growing dataset on how and where people move with their pets, information Mars and its Better Cities for Pets program plans to use to advocate for more pet-friendly green spaces in cities like Los Angeles, London, and São Paulo. Movement data as urban planning input is a direction worth watching.

To join, users can open the Challenge Gallery in the Strava app or at strava.com, find the IAMS challenge, and tag qualifying activities with “With Pet” to earn the badge.

Adding pets to the tracking equation isn’t just a feel-good feature. Research consistently shows that dog owners are more physically active than non-dog owners, and emotional connection is one of the more reliable drivers of habit. The data this generates could also go somewhere beyond the app: Mars plans to use movement insights to advocate for more pet-friendly green spaces in cities, which means your morning walk with your dog might eventually inform urban infrastructure decisions.