Dog as running buddy

bump! running out the door but would love to add to this later. I have boxers...they are hillarious!

Oh! I did a Tails-N-Trails 5k trail run and there was a guy there who rescues dogs and trains them to be therapy dogs. He ran with SIX dogs! It was insane!!! The dogs were all different sizes, from 15 lbs to 100+ lbs. They were so well trained and looked like they were having fun! It was pretty amazing!

My Aussie Cattle Dog is too much of a busybody if I want to concentrate on my walk/run so she doesn't go with me in the morning when I'm doing my 2 miles.

But after dinner, she sees me putting on my walking shoes and she starts to whine and trot around the house, knowing we are about to go out. We do about a mile, mile and a half every evening and she can sniff and explore all she wants.

I have a Cattle Dog too, and the same problem.

I walk my shepherd mix with a bad hip first as a warm up. She can't go far. Then I take my greyhound mix for the real run. He's much faster than me and I sometimes feel like he's dragging me early on. And once in awhile he will catch a sent and abruptly stop, so I really have to watch him while I run or I'll tumble over him. Then I take the Cattle Dog out last as a cool down. He's mad that he has to wait, but he gets the long leisurely walk where he can stop and sniff (and pee on) every spot any dog in town has been on.

My German Shepherd "escorts" me on my runs, lol. She loves it and quickly learned to stay beside me on a loose leash and keep pace with me without pulling. Sometimes I have my son's Border Collie/Rottweiler cross with me too, like this morning. I feel much safer having a dog or two with me, especially since I need to run before the sun comes up here in the desert. But there are a few drawbacks at times, lol.

We make frequent pit stops. My neighborhood has "poop bags" and garbage cans about every quarter mile, which is awesome. I've taught the dogs to do their business at those so I don't have to carry it around. ;-)

If a coyote or javalina pops out of the bushes, the dogs can go from 6 mph to about 60 mph in a heartbeat, which is a bit rough on little ole me.

Just a few months ago my son's dog was startled by something behind us as we were running 7 mph according to my GPS tracker, and bolted right in front of me with no warning whatsoever. It was like getting hit in the shins with a bowling ball - before I knew what happened my feet had swapped ends with my head and there was pavement coming at my face with teeth pulverizing speed. I managed to get one hand out to break the fall (the other hand was wrapped up in 2 dog leashes) and somehow twisted to roll across my shoulder. Tore a huge chuck of flesh out of the heel of my hand, which took weeks to heal up and required 3 doctor visits. Had some awesome road rash on my shoulder too, but was SO pleased that I didn't smash my face!!!

That's what my mix does! She starts off loose leashed at my side about a half step behind me, than starts that GSD protective act. Darting around side to side (1st run), but it's been so darn hot here lately that the last run she was dragging her paws (heard that scrap of her nails) and after about a quarter mile she tried to loop me up in her leash, took it as a sign to slow down to a walking speed. This she liked tried to run again got the leash look. Turned a mile run into a mile walk with spirts of leash looping sprints heh.

I don't run but there have been many times that I have hauled my butt out for a walk I didn't really feel like, to make sure my mini golden doodle Rowan got HER walk in! I wouldn't always do it for myself, but I won't let her suffer from my laziness...so she's been a great motivator! )

We've been taking our three dogs out with us as we do a modified C25K program. Good motivation to know that if we skip a day, the dogs are super hyper, esp the lab/weim mix! The boxer mix, who is around 50 pounds, has shorter legs and is a little slower than the other two, so I take her and my husbands takes the lab and ridgeback mix, since he jogs faster. We have to keep an eye on her since she overheated and broke out in hives a while back. The walk/jog has greatly improved their behavior since we started a couple months ago! They've trained right along with us!

Though the lab tends to stop and try to get his harness off. I almost took an asphalt dive once or twice because of that. Ive also twisted my ankle twice because he moved out in front of me and I tripped!

I actually got my dog when she was 4 mos old so that I would be forced to go running (and for my 12 yo son). My son and I went to a shelter and saw this energetic chocolate lab puppy. When I researched and saw that labs need at least 20-30 mins a day of outdoor activity, I knew that was the dog for me, I'd HAVE to go out every day for exercise. As soon as I brought her home, I took her for walk/jogs, quickly building up to 2 or 3 miles a day.

Now, we jog 3-4 miles every day over hilly trails...and this in NC. I try to go early in the morning or late in the evening because it's sooo hot in the summer. Even though, our best runs are in the driving rain. I have her on a retractable leash and she runs around as I jog. I've trained her "no pulling!", so she doesn't pull on the lead. And I've trained her to "heel," when I want her close to me. Every so often I let her off the leash to chase squirrels into the woods--it's beautiful to watch her fly. The furthest we've gone is 6 miles.

I'm so glad I got her. I feel safe jogging with her, even late at night. She's big and lean at 66lbs. I'd say she's leaner than most labs, I think because she runs with me EVERY day. And she's ALWAYS ready to go for a jog...

Personally, I wouldn't wait to start taking your dog on jogs/walks. Just don't overtire the pup. I took her walk/jogging the first day I brought her home and with her so young, she trained really quickly to do what I wanted her to do. Everyone compliments me on how well-behaved she is out on a jog.

I have a doberman who I actually bought with having him as a running partner in mind. I waited a long time for him mature enough to start running (per my vets advice).

Well, he's obedience trained but it all flies out of his head as soon as the leash goes on for a run. Then he wants to pull and chase cars and becomes a complete as$ so much to the point that makes it completely unpleasant for me since I don't weigh much more than him.

I have to figure something out but he just seems to be getting worse than better otherwise short walks are all he's going to get.

I had a min pin once that was the best walking/running partner I ever had. She died at 14 years ago. I still miss her.

I have two greyhounds and started couch25k thinking I'd be able to run with them - WRONG! they weave too much and like to stop all of a sudden to sniff no matter how I try to keep them going. Naturally if I've just done a really heavy workout and want to take them for a leisurely walk they're suddenly ready to enter a sprinting contest.

I also figured grey's would naturally want to run a lot since that's what they're trained to do. I read on a greyhound site that because they're used the race-length distances they often don't do well with a sustained run of more than a few minutes. After all, they're born couch potatos. Mine sack out four 4-5 hours after a 20 minute walk! Maybe I need to borrow another dog! (or adopt another 4 or 5 in hopes of getting one that will run)

Their pics are on my profile if anyone is interested. Sadly Samantha in my main profile pick is no longer with us - she's up there chasing bunnies and eating all the kibbles she wants now

Very true about the risk of overheating the dogs this time of year. I've been running with a Camelback full of water for mine. I can run 5 miles without needing water, even in the Arizona heat, no problem. The dogs need frequent breaks, water, and sometimes to just walk instead. Fine with me. We're out to have fun, not to have problems.

Here's a short video I made a couple of years ago when my sweet old lab cross was still alive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ6I9NIZoRU&list=UUB_0HeS6xz5cD4el13vPfUA&index=3&feature=plcp

I just started to bring my husky when I "run" (I´m sooo slow!), because my husband doesn´t like it when I run alone. She can easily run all day and I´m dying in no time.She adopted my pace- much to my surprise- and is strolling next to me panting and wheezing. The difficult part is to avoid that she stops to sniff all the time. We´re working on that. We have made the compromize that she can sniff when I walk, not when I "run". It´s much easier to run alone, but not as fun. She loves it and pushes me a little further.

I have a corgi /shi-tzu mix who runs with me (short legs and all!) She's actually quite the motivator to get me out there some days... but she would hinder me on longer runs, because I'm afraid to take her much more than 2-3 miles.

I have a German Shepherd named Kai and he loves to run. It's winter here and the colder it is the happier he is. He knows when we're running that we're at work, so he'll stop to do his business, but otherwise there's no stopping for sniffs. He'll acknolwedge passing dogs with a turn of the head and keep charging forward. Cats though. Cats can cause trouble if I'm not paying attention! He's great at pacing for sprints - if he's not in full canter with ears back, I'm taking it too easy.

Florence tends to trot next to me if she's on the lead. I have to watch my speed, because if I speed up slightly she will be in-between a trot and a canterand so is not comfortable. I've not had to worry about it being too hot for her this summer - its rained nearly every day here in England!

I am American but we are stationed here in England and I keep waiting for summer . Even all the locals keep telling me that all this rain is not normal for "summer". At least the hosepipe ban was lifted...haha!