Monty was in an outside pen where he could watch the world go by.

In a way, that was good. Compared to his indoor cage at the Animal Protective League, at least here he could see, hear and smell different things.

But in experiencing that little bit of the world, it could easily make him anxious.

Monty is a big dog. I’m not sure what breed. I don’t like to put labels on dogs.

But he’s smart. Imagine him thinking about being cooped up in a cage for no fault of his own, unable to get out and run and stretch and experience family life in a home of his own.

One recent day, Monty, who on the whole is a polite and dignified guy, went a bit berserk.

I came in on the ‘tail’ end of the event. APL workers were shoveling up cat litter outside the outdoor cages.

I didn’t ask what happened. I didn’t want Monty in more trouble by having someone relive the experience.

What I can surmise is like the Birdman from Alcatraz, Monty escaped from his pen and like any dog, found some dirt to do some digging. Unfortunately, this dirt happened to be cat litter.

Tammy from the APL, understanding Monty’s predicament, suggested I take him for a run.

That’s my usual routine at the APL. I either take one or two dogs, depending on circumstances, for a two-mile run before going back and getting a couple of more sets of pooches.

It helps me with my daily exercise regime and I can help a few of the many dogs being housed there, wasting precious day, weeks, even months of their lives waiting for that right family.

So off we went running, with freezing rain that hardens on your glasses and soaks down through the layers of clothing.

Monty doesn’t have a change of clothing or access to a long, hot shower, but he seemed to thoroughly enjoy our brief escape from his confines. He was a perfect gentleman and Tammy remarked on how much calmer he was. He didn’t complain at all about the weather.

If you think Monty is the only dog who gets a bit antsy within the inner our outer walls of the APL, you would be wrong. There are pooches who do extraordinary fetes of physical prowess within the confines of those cages.

Some can jump straight in the air five or six feet while flipping 180 degrees. I walked by one day to find a dog straddled at the top of an APL cage, a few feet above my head.

When I’m deciding who to take on my next adventures down Green Road in Kingsville, where the APL is located, I often choose a cage containing one or two of these types of dogs. I figure they need the respite from their indoor confinement more than any of them. But make no mistake, there are many dogs vying for my time and those of the many dog walkers who volunteer.

Unfortunately, I have also found that many times after our runs are over, the dogs still have pent up energy and are soon back to jumping and flipping in their confines.

I was thinking about Monty and his more relaxed state after some exercising when a Los Angeles Times story crossed my computer screen at work.

It noted that life is full of endless worries, made worse by chronic illnesses.

A study by the Archives of Internal Medicine analyzed data from 40 studies on how exercise affects anxiety.

The study was done on 3,000 participants who were sedentary individuals who had chronic illnesses but were able to exercise in sessions of at least 30 minutes.

Compared with similar individuals who didn’t exercise, the people who exercised had a 20 percent reduction in anxiety symptoms.

The exercise helped people no matter what kind of health problems they had: Cancer, depression, heart disease, fibromyalgia. The only condition exercise didn’t impact much was multiple sclerosis.

Now my pal Monty appears healthy, but has been forced to curb his exercise. If he has a chronic illness, it is probably depression, depression that can be cured by getting out to stretch those legs — all four of them.

Pat O’Connor, a co-author of the study and professor at the University of Georgia, said, “We found that exercise seems to work with just about everybody under most situations.”

So if you have a chronic illness, for heaven’s sake, exercise if you can.

If you don’t have anyone to exercise with, do what I do and go to the APL where you will find plenty of willing partners.

It will do the both of you a lot of good. Maybe, just maybe, you will want to make one of those partners a permanent part of your home and exercise regiment.

It beats digging in cat litter.

Lebzelter is special sections editor. E-mail him at bobleb@starbeacon.com.