Running long distances with your dog

FL_Hiker

Hi y’all,
I remember someone on here a while ago saying they ran a few marathons with their dog. I have an active healthy 2 year old Swiss shepherd that is quickly becoming a great running partner for me. The furthest he’s ran is 9 miles and he kept up nicely! I’d love to take him further but I’m curious about fueling him.. when I run long distances I eat Gu or some candy, but I’m worried about giving him a snack and causing bloat especially since he’s a large breed. For those of you that have ran marathons with your dog, how did you over come this? I love bringing him along on my runs because I feel so much safer with him and it tires him out for the day while I’m at work 🙂.
Thanks!

melodyvegan

I would talk to your vet about this. It's probably not the best idea to feed your dog - especially a large breed - before a run so your instincts are right there. It takes about two - three hours for a dog's stomach to empty so if feeding him before a run is important, you'd probably want to feed him and give him enough time to process the food and empty his stomach before running.
That might also mean feeding him a bigger meal the night before if you run in the morning. If he's that active, you might want to consider feeding him more, in general, if you're feeding a commercial diet. I'd also mention to the vet how much he's running with you and what your plans are for more exercise for him. Sometimes exercise can lead to a host of muscle and tendon injuries for large breed dogs.

-a vet tech/nurse

DWBalboa

I've had several dogs that I ran long distances with when I was younger all were work working class dogs all breeds that were known as runners (i.e sled dogs) so they had no issue regardless of the distance we went. However, I do not recall ever feeding them prior or for the run. In fact, as I recall the runs were either early AM before their morning feeding or midafternoon, well after their morning feeding.
I would recommend caring a collapsible bowl and water for them so they too can hydrate. As well, like Mel stated above I would consult a Vet before beginning a regiment of running with your fur baby.

DWBalboa

Also important, let them run on unpaved surfaces as much as possible to avoid damaging their paws and pads.

spiriteagle99

Since you live in Florida, heat may be the biggest issue. Dogs will do their best to stay with you, even when it hurts. You want to be very careful to observe signs of heat stress and stop before your dog gets sick.