Exercising with Dogs

I have a red-nosed pitbull, a cairn terrier and a fire-tip siamese cat. I play with my dogs on the floor and my bed. I walked them but they are very hard to walk. I wouldn't mind jogging with my pitbull but she's difficult to walk. They are going into training next month and so will hopefully be better. I may start jogging with her then.

I have an Australian Shepherd, he is nine years young and a few pounds over his ideal weight of 48, but that happens every winter and now that we're getting out more he should be back to ideal within a few weeks (if only it were that easy for me, sigh.) He was quite a leash-puller when we first adopted him but he's much better. He does want to stop and sniff/be social every couple of feet (it seems), so even when I work up to running it may not work with him lol. Luckily he only has a medium herd instinct, he limits it pretty much to our cats and sometimes running kids (he doesn't nip but does his best to steer them, it's pretty hilarious to watch.) The only thing he loves better than someone throwing/kicking his soccer ball around for him to chase is the sight of the leash appearing from the cabinet. I'm trying to catch some of his enthusiasm for movement :-)

+ 1 My lab is 5 and very lean - I don't hunt but when my parents look for labs they always go for ones that are field trial labs. Those are typically bred for intelligence, not show. My next dog will be a rescue, but I absolutely adore the dog I have now. She's my little mountain goat when we go hiking, and I love that she can go everywhere with me. Haven't been running with her on a leash since I moved out of NYC but she's great for running on trails!

I take my boxer running with me. She is a fantastic running partner. She never pulls her leash or tries to stop. The lab is too slow and lazy so I only walk with him. The cat, well, he likes to come lay on the yoga matt when I get it out, but that's not really exercise. :laugh:

I've got a border collie mix. Her name is Daisy and she's a little over a year old. She's got a lot of energy, but she also has hip dysplasia, so we have to make sure she gets exercise, but not too much. My husband walks her daily because he gets home from work 3 hours before I do (must be nice), but on weekends we like to take her for a long walk at one of the two parks near us. A couple weekends ago, it was really nice out so we took her to this hiking trail for a 45-minute hike. She LOVED it and was huffing and puffing by the time we got back to the truck. I hardly ever log exercise that I do with her, though, and I certainly don't run with or without her. A runner I am not.

My cat Chloe isn't big on exercise, believe it or not.

I love love love labs and goldens. I had a black lab growing up, and my best friend had a chocolate lab that I adored. Really dislike how the showing world thinks they should look (like sausages! The Labs at the Westminster are CHUNKY) but I love love love a lean retriever. One that actually looks like it would be a good hunting dog LOL.

LOL, you are NOT exaggerating about the chunky Labs at Westminster. I got in a rather heated discussion on a Lab board I belong to on that very topic. Breeders are winning with dogs that are looking farther and farther away from dogs who looks like they can work...I hate it.

My labs are from more moderate show lines and I keep them lean because we do agility. I have run with them in the past, but knee trouble has kept me from running for a while now. We have weekly agility class and agility trials on the weekends several times a month. I walk them several times a day including a retrieving session. They keep me active !

I have a (want I think is a) Small Munsterlander who I take with me on the trails. If it's not busy I'll take him off the leash and he does great. Never goes 10 steps ahead without waiting for me and responds well to my voice or clicks. We just rescued a Docker (Dachshund / Cocker Spaniel). He's still young, maybe 11 mths but he's great on the trails also, and just follows his brother.

I have a 5 month old Yellow Lab. All he does is dash back and forth and pull on the leash in the direction he wants to go, not necessarily the direction I want to go. The weather has been so horrendous we haven't even been walking him on a leash regularly (he has a penned area outside when he has to go out). So to walk or jog in any sort of normal fashion is impossible right now.

Have a red lab and a cookapoo, both are active and come on brisk walks and my attempts to run with me. Both are fairly well leash trained and will stay in a pretty good heel without pulling on me at all for the most part, sometimes they act out a bit around other dogs if the other dogs are excited/ out of control. Alot of the time I can almost forget they are even there, which I love.


I tried riding my bike with my lab as she is from a hunting line and has oddles of energy, and loves to run. It went quite well at first. I started off taking her out at night, around 9pm so the bike paths were for the most part empty. As I said, she is polite on the leash and not a puller so it wasn't really a big deal to get her to heel beside the bike. Over the nights we built up speed and trust, she was doing great and watching her run full out beside me was quite a rush. I gained confedence... eventually I decided we could leave the nights behind us and tackle prime dog walking time.

Sidenote: there is a pretty extensive network of bike paths close to my house, and they are quite nice and very popular for dog walks, so are quite busy between 4-8.

Anyway, we start out on a beautiful summer day... in the sunshine (yay!!) and everything was going great. She was igonoring all of the dogs we passed and behaving beautifully. We came out of the trees to a wide open field, the path is relitively straight and flat for a distance, the perfect spot to pick up speed and really let her run for a minute or two. There were people around, but that particular area of the path was clear, so I decided to go for it. Everything was great... for about 30 seconds. I guess the exsersise stimulated her digestive system, becasue right in the middle of our flat out run she stops dead in the path. I have the leash wrapped around my bike handle, so this sends me flying *kitten* over tea kettle. The tumble I took must have looked pretty dramatic, because people can rushing over. After assuring everyone I was okay, I hobble over to my dog, and pick up the pile of crap she just did in the middle of the path. Then I go to get back on my bike and realize the front wheel isnt working properly, it had become detatched in the fall. The nearest garbage can is just up the path by a bench, so I start heading for that with my crazy dog and bike that is no longer working. Of course we are still in this wide open field, and at least 15 people have witness all of this. Soooo embarassing.

I have a 2 year old Boston Terrier and he's very lazy but loves walks!! Sadly, it's been so cold this winter that I refused to take him (They don't tolerate the cold and this winter has been brutal cold). But the weather is finally breaking so I'm gonna start his walks again. However, when I work out in the house he thinks its play time. He likes to lie on me while I do floor work. It's like having an extra 30 lbs medicine ball on my doing crunches and bridges lol. When I do my leg work (I do a lot of ballet workouts since that's my roots) and he jumps on my legs so it's like I don't need weights lol!!

He barks at me at the treadmill... tries to chase the peddles on my bike... runs with my weights lol!!

But, He's my little buddy and I can handle his crazy but i think walks will help him too with getting some extra energy out too.

I have a 4-year-old beagle/hound mix, Willow. We walk in the park every day, sometimes with a little running thrown in - although I haven't done much lately. I'm looking to do more hiking with her now that the weather's nicer!

I walk/jog with these two igits and once in a while I do lifts with the Shepherd. She likes it.

I have three West Highland White Terriers age 16 1/2, 8 and 1 year. I don't run or bike with them but I do dog agility training with the 8 year old and 1 year old. The 16 1/2 year old used to also but retired at age 11 or so. It is alot of fun for both the dogs and the owners.
I wish I could bike with my westies but they are too driven to hunt and if they see a rabbit or squirell they are gone! I could just see that on my bike with them pulling me down even though they are under 15 pounds each!

Check out dog agility if you get a chance! It is alot of fun!

I run with my (100lb or so) St Bernard/Rottweiler cross - a 32 mile ultra marathon by far the longest we've done yet last weekend.
Also at my current contract I cycle to work with him running beside me - just under two miles each way.

I just use (the largest) 'flexi' extendable lead for both, generally. It's a bit heavy for running, but generally he's trained well enough he won't pull (or I could just have it not locked out), so I can move my arms while running.

I also have a backpack for my Shepherd but nothing tires her out. If you are near a lake, try swimming. I throw the ball into the lake for mine for a few hours and it does tire her out a little.

I'll take him down to a nearby creek that's wide/deep enough for him to swim around and he enjoys that. I haven't tried a lake yet, but maybe this summer. He also loves playing with other dogs and chasing his ball. The best was when we had 16 inches of snow a few weeks ago (very rare in this area) and he ran around in it for hours several days in a row. It snowed on Wednesday and by Sunday he was so exhausted from playing in it that he just slept all day. That's the most tired I've ever seen him.

What do you mean by doing lifts with your Shepherd? She's beautiful!