How fast could a dog run a marathon

But animals do show some intrinsic motivation. For instance, a rat will intrinsically explore a new environment. If placed in the start of T shaped maze it may go to left the first time but will most likely go right the next time. That is it is intrinsically motivated to not go back to where it had just been.

My golden retriever ran his first full marathon with me at one of the nation's toughest..Whiskey Row in Prescott, AZ at 9 yrs of age..he will do it again May 1st 2010

Many years ago a friend's dog ran a mile in 3:30. The dog followed my friend while he pedaled a bicycle over a wheel measured course (in other words it was dead accurate).

My buddy also ran a 2:38 marathon and his dog ran the whole way.

The dog was a mutt. Not very large & short haired.

Wolves will happily sustain 20km/hr for >10 hours if they have to. There's no way a human would even be in the race.

Dogs are not real athletes. Just a bunch of thugs. The only real athletes are distance runners.

More about sled dogs.

We ballparked the 26.2-mile marathon times of top athletes from five different species.

Sled dog: 1:15

Could lap most people.

Horse: 1:30

Not bad when you're carrying a rider.

Human: 2:10

Number three, even with the funny-looking shoes.

Hare: 3:05

Pauses often for stop-and-blinks.

Tortoise: 131:00

Shell weighs more than a singlet.

I ran with two Weimaraners. They would drag me along at about 6:30 pace. (I was only good for about an 18:00 5k by myself). I had their leashes attached to a belt around my waist so I could keep my hands free. Just to see what they could do, I rode a bike with them on a measured 10 mile course on a bike path. I let them run at whatever pace they wanted and stayed slightly behind them. We did it in around 45 minutes (including pit stops and squirrel chases) and they had plenty left in the tank when we were done. My 2 cents.

I own a German Shorthair and agree with Stormy. I have mountain biked marathon distance with her and covered it under 2 hours. So to answer everyone I have personally seen a dog run sub 2 hours for marathon distance. It's no sweat for a well-trained, fit hunting dog, as long as it's cool/cold out. I would contend that humans could run sub 2 hours in the marathon if they had a dog pulling them with a belt around their waist.

My Jack Russell Willy and I used regularly run 30 miles across the Mendip Hills. As long as he could get plenty to drink, heat and distance didn't bother him. Even being attacked and tossed by a Jersey cow didn't bother him. We had to give up these ultra runs when he developed a heart murmur at the age of ten. We still go for ten-mile Mendip runs and so does our little Yorkshire terrier bitch.

Jack Russells, with very short legs, are not exactly built for running. Huskies and Cape hunting dogs are. They could undoubtedly do a 26-mile marathon in under an hour. The distance would not trouble them at all.

Cape hunting dogs do their "denning" at night - moving from one den to another. They often cover a hundred miles or more in these overnight moves. This is well-documented by ethologist who have the perplexing problem of finding the dogs' new den - a search that can take humans in Jeeps days to accomplish.

In the Seventies when I was living around Washington, DC there was a guy who was a 2:50 marathon runner who ALWAYS ran with his dog. It was just a little mutt and it ran with him in all his races including marathons. The 2:50s never seemed to strain the dog at all. I'd have bet serious money it could have gone much faster.

They were quite a pair. I think the dog was really the only thing this guy had in his life and they were totally devoted to each other. Eventually they moved to California and shortly afterwards the dog was hit by a car while they were running and killed. The guy was just devastated. Then about a half year later he was riding a bike and also killed by a car.

My pit has run 50 miles training runs quite a few times. It was in the Alaskan wilderness so it was cool and there were plenty of stream crossings along the way. From age 2 to 5 he would run 100 mile weeks with me no problem. He is 7 now so I only run him once a day and have not taken him over 18 miles in quite a while. Dogs are amazing. The longest he has ever run with out water is 30 miles. I stopped at several streams but he refused to drink.

sub 2 hours for a marathon would be super easy for a lot of breeds.

Those little 40 pound Iditarod sled dogs would be in the hour range for a marathon for sure.

Steve Spence had a set of dogs that did runs with him and they would go for hours with him in the early 90's. I don't remember if they did workouts with him but they were super fit and well trained.

Wow, this post has been around for awhile!

I run half marathons with my German Shorthaired Pointer X. We are not the fastest, but we run 13.1 in 2 hours no problem. She will do a 20K bike ride in 2 hours easy.

We stop for water every 20 mins or so and she usually gets a swim once every 15K or so.

She is now 3.5 yrs and has been running with me since she turned 1 (and we got the vets thumbs up). We've done 4 Half's over the past year and a half.

With the proper training and conditioning and vet checks, I can absolutely see a dog completing a sub 2 hour marathon.

p.s. - Love seeing all the posts from other dog-runners out there! Dogs are the best running buddies that exist!

African dogs wrote:

Could a dog go under 2:00 hours.

"The current 5/16th mile record (the most common distance for greyhounds in the United States) is 29.21 seconds."

So I'd say yes, a two hour marathon wouldn't be too much touble... or a two minute mile. A one hour marathon is probably a more realistic goal... we'd have to see some ventolin curves to be sure though.

Balto could've broken 2:00

My chihuahua has done a 2:38. Not sure if it counts as it was on a track.

track chick wrote:

My chihuahua has done a 2:38. Not sure if it counts as it was on a track.

In your purse records do not count.

Oh yeah, one more thing - this thread was about DOGS, not yip-yapping rats.

Dogs could run, rest, run some more and rest some more and still finish under 2 hours.

Da Truth.. wrote:

...

Those little 40 pound Iditarod sled dogs would be in the hour range for a marathon for sure.

No chance. Not even close. That's pretty damned close to Bolt's top sprinting speed for 26.2 miles. Not a chance in hell.

Top dogs would be somewhere around an hour and a half.