Unfortunately my pooches are too old but when I do run on a local trail I see dogs with at least 50% of the runners. There is one guy I see every single time. He doesn't run but he has the sweetest pair of black labs that stay right next to him. They will wag and say hi but never really deviate from moving forward.

Our next dog will be a youngster so I can have a companion. I run on my own almost exclusively so I'd feel safer with company.

BTW - pics or it didn't happen. :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I always run with my dog. She prefers trail running, as do I, but most of our running is in the urban jungle. She has run up to 18 miles with me at one time and, as long as I keep her cool, she never seems to tire. Wish I could say the same for me!

Funny you should ask - we just got back from running with our two dogs. Well, in truth it was my husand who took them out as I'm still not healed up enough to run. We actually plan our runs during the week to make sure that we can always run with the dogs but also so that we make sure to build in a rest day or two for them. It actually makes life with two high-strung dogs (they're german shorthaired pointers) MUCH easier if they can get some of that craziness out of their system. We have them both running with dogsled harnesses that then attaches around our waist. The beauty is that we can use this same system for skijoring when we go xcountry skiing in the winter.

Honestly one of my favorite things in the world is running with my hubby and the dogs. I'm really antsy to get back out there and be able to run with them.

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I run and x-country ski with my dog(s) all the time. He stays near and runs off leash. Fortunately I live in a rural area and have many miles of trail system to run on.

I didn't take up running like this till my 14yr old dog died. This guy... I can't imagine NOT running with him.

I'm glad to see it's more common in some areas. I just never seem to see anyone around here running with their dog in the urban jungle of Hot-Lanta. I know a few folk in Chattanooga that take their dogs, but most of the dog owners I know have a ton of reasons they don't run their dogs, from "he doesn't like it" to "I'd have to stop too often to let him sniff."

Oh, and is this pic enough? :-D

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

Any trail run, Daisy gets to go with me and run off leash. On leash she is a pain in the ass. Too much back and forth, stop and start, smelling every stinking smell, me picking up poop and carrying it. I just cannot handle a run in town with her on a leash. I wish I could, she loves to run.

Too bad you can't take her to the pool with you!


-- Cat

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

she would LOVE that!

There was a thread about this in the LR recently. I posted a pic of my dog there, but no one replied about how cute she is! :)
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2208835


She runs with me everywhere (up to 20 miles). She loves it. If she sees my bike shoes/helmet, she gets sad and her little tail goes between her legs. But if she sees my running shoes and visor, she's amped and ready to go!

Aw, what a little cutie!

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

The REASON I run IS to take my Lab out. I run EXCLUSIVELY on trails (not hard when Boise has over 100 miles within 1 mile of downtown / my house) with only the first 1/4 mile of the lower trails on leash. This morning, I ran 10 miles, with my Lab, all off leash. I bet he ran 12-13 miles with all his meandering and checking. He (and I) are pooped. I'd say 75% of runners here run with hounds.

Time to watch the dresses on the Red Carpet and drink some wine.

I do most of my running with my dogs. I run more with the one (an English pointer) because he can handle more and a faster pace than the other (a lab whippet mix). The lab mix is more of a swimmer :)

Slightly off topic but i LOVE english pointers. In fact my younger pup's 'boyfriend' at daycare is an english pointer who just follows her everywhere she goes.

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I don't/can't run but I ride with my dogs off road. There's a local park where most people are cool with dogs being off leash and there are people with their dogs out no matter what the weather. (although being out during the Steeler's game is punishable by death). You are definitely not alone but I suspect in the minority of dog owners. But it's definitely normal for anyone I know who rides/runs and owns a dog.

http://www.dirtragmag.com/...mp;category=features

My english pointer Frito is a real sweetie. He is small, maybe 45 lbs. He came from a rescue. I wasn't looking to get an english pointer(hadn't heard of it before Frito) but they are very sweet and beautiful. When he gets excited, especially about running, he jumps off the ground all 4 legs at the same time and wiggles his butt. People always stop me out running or walking to tell me how beautiful he is and to ask his breed. He is a great running buddy.

I get a lot of comments about my boy like that too. Actually, at the end of our 12 (or so) mile run yesterday there was a tri-dood on a Scott that pulled into the parking lot I think purely to comment on my running partner.

(he was pretty cute himself, from what I could tell)

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

Heh, yeah. That 4 feet jumping thing? "Happy feet", evidently it's genetic. My vizsla does it. And his father was renowned for doing it.

I admit, my boy is a little skittish about running with me, but on quiet trails and around the dog park, he's a champ.

I think I waited too long to introduce running to him. Maybe because I wasn't a runner when I got him.

So so cute. Looks like a tough little bugger.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Thanks -- she is cute! My dog HATES other dogs -- regardless of the size of the other dog (she's about 15 lbs) she'll go straight for the face and chomp down. So, it makes running in the park where there are likely to be off-leash dogs a little tough. We do it, but she winds up chomping a few noses along the way. :(

Doggie Napoleon Syndrome :-)

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

My Aussie, Cody, is my running partner- with either me or my boyfriend. She only likes to go about every other day, though, and has made it up to 10 miles. She's a champ, and will even do intervals with me, which is awesome because she pushes my pace down into the low 6's when she's feeling spunky. If she doesn't feel like running, she'll just stay on the couch while I'm getting ready. She swims in the summer, too, and if there were some way I could teach her to ride a bike, she'd be a kick-ass triathlete! Instead, she just watches me intently while I'm riding on the trainer, waiting for the second I stop biking so she can tell me how much she missed me. I love having a 'velcro' dog, and she is the best running partner I could have. I even prefer her to my boyfriend- he complains about the cold too much :)

My favorite part of the day (and I think Gracie's too) is when we run! Her puppy class is amazing and now she runs right next to me on or off leash on every run I do. Or she goes out with my husband. Actually, her favorite is when we all run together ;)

She also does the sad thing if she sees bike clothes come out. This morning she got mopey when Mike put on bike clothes... but then I got out run ones and she was thrilled! I don't know if she's ever seen one of us ride and the other take her out, so it wasn't expected.

She is the best running buddy ever! Runs any distance, any time. Heat can stop her, so we just try to avoid that.

Here is one of our pre-puppy class pics, when running with her was just fun (now it is pure joy):


And a pic where you can see her a bit better:

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Just curious how old everyones dogs were when they started running with them. I have hear to wait at least a year my puppy is 3 months so we have a ways to go but she has a lot of energy.

Ours is a rescue, and they thought she was a year and a half or so when we got her and so it was safe to try running with her. We are lucky that our vet is also a runner, and takes his dogs, and has been good for answering our questions.

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Mine's a rescue, I got him this July. He's now about 5.

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

We waited a year with the younger pup who we got as an 8week old. Our vet told us it's because their bones/joints aren't prepared to take the constant pounding of running versus how they would normally run at that age. By that I mean - watch a puppy run at a dog park/backyard and s/he'll bound, stop, circle, run a step or two, bound again - it's not constant running. To get some of the crazy puppy energy out of our girl when she was about 6 months old we would take her for a run around the block but would let her determine the pace, decide when she wanted to stop and sniff, bound and play with us. Not a constructive run for us but a way of getting some energy out of her when we couldn't take her to the dogpark.

Once she turned a year we were careful to do 90% of the runs with her on trails as we've heard that, depending on the pup's size, the joints and such may not fully mature until the dogs are two years old and wanted to minimize the pounding on concrete.

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I ran with HHH a few times, and on one hash, sometime in november, one of the guys brought a pair of probably... 3-5yo german shepards with him- monsters.
He had a 6' leash with clips on both ends that he held in the middle when we were out on roads- let em both off when we were in the woods
Wouldnt you know it, i asked him how many times they've taken out fellow hashers- he said in dozens of hash's they've never taken out a runner
minutes later I was on my ass after one of the monsters barrel rolled underneath me from behind.
Shit was hilarious- thats what I get for asking- the dog must have heard.

I have three dogs, all rescues, and I take the two females running with me. My only boy is a little too old for running any more. One of "my girls" is a chow mix and she's usually good for about 3 miles and the other is a pit bull and she has gone as far as 7 miles. When they go together I use a tandem leash which makes them a little easier to control. I think the pit bull would run by me without a leash, but they have such a bad rap I don't want to scare any of the neighbors.

In Austin, the day before this year's CapTexTri, they are putting on a Doggie Du. I forget the exact distances, but you and your most loyal training partner swim 0.375km and then run 1 mile...or something like that. I wish just one of my dogs liked to swim so we could do it.

And to the poster who asked about what age to start running with your pup, you also have to be sure that their pads are rough enough to take some pounding, especially when road running. Our vet just told us a horrible story the other day about a puppy with raw paws because his owner started running him too soon.

I have 3 dogs, all rescues, too.

My two adult dogs (both German Shepherds) run with me. My male does long trail runs and some longer city runs (as well as all short distances) with me, but he can be a bit spooky sometimes in the city (he was brought into a country shelter as a puppy and spent 3 years there, and while I've taught him traffic is OK, we have to plan all on-road routes running on the sidewalk facing traffic, after a car jumped the curb at us last winter he's got a real thing about which sidewalk he's on).

My female I've built up her distances, she has hip dysplasia and I actually stopped running with her after her diagnosis (6 weeks after I adopted her) but decided to go slow and start her running again (she also lost a lot of weight after I adopted her and the HD is being treated). She does shorter runs, she's now at the point she can go over 10k on a run. I had planned on not adding to her distances we'd gotten to that point but she loves running so much I'm going to see how far she can go. She's usually pretty slow and I let her pick the pace, except if she sees another dog - she is very aggressive to dogs outside of our pack (always on lead and muzzled outside; I have a special running muzzle for her as well as police muzzle for walks and other stuff) - she gets so excited (in a bad way) by the other dogs I've seen her increase her pace by 50 seconds/kilometer (the dog had gone down a side street, I wasn't letting her run it down, but she was just so excited anyways).

I run my two adults together with a coupler.

My puppy (husky/terrier) is about 11 months old. My understanding is you need to wait for the joints to finish growing/forming before doing high-impact exercise like running w/them, especially on pavement, so I'll be waiting until around 18 months and then starting running. He is a good hiker though and I'm sure he'll be an excellent runner!

Here's my male GSD out on a trail:
http://www.facebook.com/...a3a&id=630190844

My wife and I both run with our dog Mac (separately that is, not usually all three of us), an equal mix of trail and street surfaces, on leash and off.

Per the advice of our vet and other dog-runners, we were careful with Mac, and built up his time/mileage slowly after he turned one year old. Running him on the trails and off leash initially seemed to help train him to run on a leash (less stopping, pulling, etc.). He now understands that stopping is not his option, but ours, when he is on the leash. We are also working on verbal and hand signal commands for off leash running. Most of our runs with Mac are in the 25 to 50 minute range, but Mac has many 90 minute plus runs under his collar. The hardest part for him seems to be hot and/or humid weather, so we are very careful with him under those conditions.

I can report that running Mac has lead to considerably better behavior on his part. I can also say that his eagerness to exercise has gotten both my wife and I out the door many times when we would have otherwise bagged the workout. Bottom line - if you run and have a dog, and the dog's health permits, the dog makes for a great training buddy. Now, if I could just run as fast as my dog...

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Scrubbie

Same here!! :) I'm glad she puts up with my pace!

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I know my dog can run faster than I can (so can most of you) but today he just dragged behind me unless he saw a squirrel. Makes me worry about him. He simply did not want to do better than an 11min mile no matter how I coaxed him.

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

Woohoo I love any opportunity to post more pics of my dogs. I run with makaze whenever possible. Not only does she keep up, she runs approximately twice the distance I do. Her longest run so far was 28 km. She carried her ball and ran back and forth up and dwon the trail the ENTIRE time. I have yet to find her breaking point. She is a border (ING ON INSANITY) collie.



In a wildflower meadow in CO.



Trying to figure out how to climb after me.



New Mexico/Colorado border on the CDT.

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)

ooh I hope he is ok!

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He probably just needs a day off. Dogs have good days and bad days, just like us.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

That's true. I tend to worry about my little girl when she is off, but we are newer dog parents ;)

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If it keeps up for a couple more days then I'd be more concerned.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Luckily no actual issues with this for us so far -- our little girl has epilepsy so there are times we are careful, but running always seems fine with her as it's her favorite thing!

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That's what I'm thinking. We're both taking a rest day tomorrow, and Friday will be a slow, short run to shake my legs out before Cheaha. If he's still sluggish Friday morning I'll make an appointment for Monday and have the pet-sitter just take real easy, short walks with him Friday night and Saturday. As it is, he was pretty laid back his afternoon and evening walks and is currently curled up as close beside me on the couch as he can get without being in my lap. No other symptoms though, so for now I'm just thinking he's just "not that into it."

Or maybe he's just pouting that I didn't let him pounce on and eat the kitten that tried to come make friends on our walk last night.

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There is no justice, there is only me. -- Death

We have 3 rescue dogs -- one is too old for running, the 2nd is too hyper (german shorthair pointer) but the 3rd is just right. He's pit bull lab mix and is perfectly happy trotting at my side. I always take him when I go trail running -- mostly for protection since we have a lot of mountain lions and a few aggressive elk here, but I love his company. There's a pond we stop at on our long runs in the summer so he can go for a swim. Now that it's getting light earlier we can go running together in the mornings again rather than me running alone at lunch break.

Fry T. Dog is my best running buddy. I have taken him on runs as long as 13 miles without a complaint. The only times he doesn't run with me is when I run from work or school or when I do a track workout. It's great for me because I'm an habitually chatty runner which some people (e.g. my boyfriend) aren't into. With Fry, I can just talk and talk and talk and never have to worry about him getting annoyed with me, I just have to worry about being the crazy lady who is talking to her dog.

We did have an unfortunate incident the other day where something startled him about 9 miles into an 11.5 mile run and he bolted in front of me and then between my legs and I went down HARD ripping the skin off of my palm and badly bruising my kneecap. Other than that though, we have rarely had an incident on our runs. He usually pulls for the first 1/2 mile or so but then settles into my pace and is really good about staying to my right and leaving me some slack on the leash so I can still swing my arms.

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