Running with dogs

I run with my Australian Shepherd. She's three, and she does MUCH better in the winter time. I usually give her about 25 to 30 mpw in the cooler season. And in the summer it's more like 10 to 15. She gets a mix of pavement and park trails.

Like you, I tend to run around 50 to 70 miles a week. So what I do is take my pup out for a 2 to 5 mile loop, then drop her back off at the house and head out for the rest of my run. It works quite well. I love running with her, but I also like being able to get a lot of time running alone.

ACD owner here as well. During the cool winter months mine will run up to 22 miles with me but once the weather jumps above about 70 degrees she's done after 3-7 miles. Once it's 80 or warmer she stays home and runs on the treadmill.

Build up slow just like you would yourself and be super mindful of the temps because dogs cannot cool off nearly as efficiently as humans. Also, take water for the pup on your runs. I have a collapsible bowl that I tuck into a pocket and pull out at the drinking fountains for her.

Used to with my GSP all the time - RIP. As long as it was not too hot, she could run all day; was just warming up around 3-4 miles. Heat kills with dogs though and I had to be very careful in the summer and on hot days. You also have to acknowledge that you will be sacrificing the quality of your workout if you're hanging on to a leash or looking over your shoulder for your dog all the time. But if just out for a pleasant run, nothing better.

I have run with my dog (and GF's dogs) just about every run since I got my first dog. My first dog (with me 2000-2015) was a husky/border collie mix, and we ran up to around 120 mpw on trails and mountains and in orienteering meets in the woods, with some limited road at times (on the way to the trails), and cross country skied in the winter. She was really energetic until she was about 3. After that, she would often drag on the familiar runs from boredom, but would be a happy summit seeking dog in the mountains or a new trail. Her last big outing was when she was 15, when she did her last mountain, a 8-10 mile, 3000+ ft of climb trip, hiking slowly with some energetic puppies.

My current dog is a Belgian Tervuren, a big 85-90 lb furry boy. He's done up to 90 mpw on trails, but I should probably reduce his mileage a bit. I can tell his energy levels by how much he wants to play disc (toss and fetch - I usually carry a disc if we are running by fields). He doesn't let go of the disc for the next throw if he's tired. I keep paces slow for him when it's warm. I did do a 10 mile training run in 60 minutes with him once in the winter on snow and similar paced 14-mile skis, but I wouldn't do that in the summer. He too big and doesn't like continuous paces of faster than about 7:00. He's a great bear dog. Last summer he chased off a half dozen bears during our runs.

I'm lucky to live in Alaska. All my runs are close to water for the dogs to cool off and drink in, except higher in the mountains, where it doesn't get hot. When I'm in CA or New England, I have water locations in mind when I decide where to run.

Hot weather for a dog is at a much lower temperature than for a person. I have shorthairs and really rein them in at 70 degrees. Even 60 I’m careful. Over 80 and they stay home. Under 50 and they just won’t stop.

They’ll go 20-30 miles a day during hunting season no problem , but really need to watch temperatures.

I have a goldendoodle and a labradoodle, 70 and 60 lbs respectively. The labradoodle is a much much faster runner over short distances and has a higher heat tolerance. They both can last about 8 miles before they get bored/crap out, and they can do that day after day after day. They are both capable of running sub 6:30 for miles on end, but the goldendoodle is pretty friendly and gets distracted easily. For the most part I run exclusively on off-leash dog trails and if I can't I will run them for about 2-3 miles and dump them back at the house and finish the run. They just don't do that well on leash runs because the movement for them isn't natural. I also know that the general perception of the breed as a whole is a mellowed out family dog, but that is only true if that is what you foster from a young age. We fostered our dogs to be hunting, running, hiking dogs, and if they don't do one of those activities a day, they go nuts, maybe not like a GSP or a Collie, but still I wouldn't do that to them too many days in a row. If you want a more family friendly dog that can run every once in a while I recommend getting a fit lab bread for hunting. The poodle is too smart and too athletic and that contributes to our dogs' activity levels. I would highly recommend either dog for running but consider that they, like most dogs aren't bread for heat. If you want one of those dogs, a Rhody or a GSP, but realize that those dogs have much higher motors than the doodle and will require more exercise and attention.

By you, I do not mean the OP, I mean anyone reading the post.

To the OP, do it, your dog will be able to and once they can't they'll let you know. You may want to start a little slowly, but you'll quickly find that your dog will be kicking your @$$

I regularly run with our border collie who easily does 30-50 mpw, but less in the summer as others have noted. If I were more motivated I'd get up earlier to run with him when it's cooler but I'm not always great about getting up and out the door first thing in the a.m.

In addition to temperature also take into consideration humidity and dew point, as these also determine how uncomfortable your dog will get. If you're someone who runs shirtless my rule of thumb is usually that if it's too hot for me to wear a shirt then it's too hot for my dog, but there might be a better formula out there.

I plan our routes around where I know there are drinking fountains (ours drinks from a regular one if there is no dog fountain or dog dish--some parks have those). Also make sure you wait until your dog is done growing, as lots of miles on developing joints can cause damage (or so our vet told us).

A lab/pit bull mix. He had run up to 50 MPW

I overheated him once -almost, and he just stopped and laid down indwr a bridge that we happened to be running under at the time. He refused to go another step for a good 10 minutes. Close call and will never put him through that again

That's a huge Terv! It's it all terv or mixed? I have a malligator as well but he's knocked down with valley fever so it's walks only for him. Before that he'd knock out 90+ mile weeks with no problem. I've been eyeing Tervs but the seizure issues scare me away.

Working Harder wrote:

That's a huge Terv! It's it all terv or mixed? I have a malligator as well but he's knocked down with valley fever so it's walks only for him. Before that he'd knock out 90+ mile weeks with no problem. I've been eyeing Tervs but the seizure issues scare me away.

Yes, all tervuren, at least you would say that in Europe or Canada, where malinois and tervuren are considered varieties of the same, rather than separate breeds. His mom is AKC registered malinois who was born with/has long fur, average weight, 60ish pounds. His dad is CKC registered tervuren, smaller than my dog. My dog's brother is even bigger, with a much bigger head, and longer legs, but weighs about the same or not much more. My dog is stockier in build than his brother.

Bummer about the valley fever. My GF's dog caught that when she was working in New Mexico maybe a dozen years ago, and it caused seizures before eventually killing him. Since then, we're sure not to go to the southwest with dogs, and would not consider moving there.

Run with my jack russell fox terrier cross. Can run up to about 26 m as long run in up to 90 f. The dog does well but can bonk a bit towards the end (along with myself). As long as there is water (streams etc) and dog takes standard poo 1 mile into run it always seems to go well. Dog can get up to 40m a week no problem and absolutely goes nuts if he sees us (me and wife) getting ready for run.

I would have thought an Australian cattle dog could run forever. I was stuck in Mackay, Queensland some years back for three weeks and befriended a dingo cross I found chasing vehicles, biting their tires!

We would run for miles up and down that beautiful Queensland coastline and it broke my heart to see him on the quayside watching us sail when we finally left.

I’d have done him no favours keeping him on a small ship, he’d have gone crazy.

My choice for a dog would be an Alsatian (German Sheppard) - a bit like this one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu_rLIq7-5o

I've got a husky mix (maybe 1/4 German Shepherd, not really sure) that I adopted last year. I'm don't know how old she is, but probably around 3-5. She was not leash trained when we got her, so walking her can be a challenge because she's very stubborn and easily distracted, and has started barking and lunging in excitement whenever she sees another dog, which we're working on with our trainer.

I've been running her about 15 miles per week, doing short runs in the mornings now that it's getting hot out. I'll gradually increase that to 20-25 miles over the next month or two. She's pretty mellow at home, but since I started running her she gets extremely excited as soon as I take out my running clothes, ripping around the house and throwing herself at the door. It's definitely her favourite part of the day. She's actually better on the leash when I run her than when I walk her, but I still have to reign her in or she gets going at around 6:00 mile pace and won't stop. I can usually get her to settle around 7:00 pace now that she's getting used to it, but 2-3 miles isn't doing it for her and she wants to go back out when we finish, even if she's overheated. She also gets pretty upset when I don't take her with me for my run in the afternoon, even if she's just been for an hour-long walk immediately beforehand. She has a cooling vest for when it's hot, but she hates it. It doesn't seem to impede her at all, she just doesn't like having it on.

I have a friend with a young husky (1 year old) and they've been walking up to 15 miles a day to keep her happy, so I'm glad mine is a bit more laid back.

I've got an Australian Cattle Dog/Alaskan Husky mix. I haven't gone over an hour with her, but she does that easily. She has gone for a 90 min walk with my wife in the afternoon (having done 45 min in the morning) and then straight into 40+ min run with me. That was out and back, and she looked at me in a very disappointed way when we turned round. When she got a good scent of where the rest of the pack had been about a 1/2 mile from the car at the end, she took off and left me. So that was over 2 hours of walking and running, and she was still raring to go.

I think unless you're training for an ultra, one of the athletic breeds are not going to have much trouble with most medium long runs. The main things to watch are heat, ability to get water, and to limit running on pavement. I suspect given a trail and some water, mine would he quite happy to run for 20 miles.

Apparently top class racing huskies can cover up to 150 miles in a day at 10 mph, although presumably in very cold weather.

We also have a very small (weighs about 16 lbs) Chihuahua, Jack Russell, Beagle mix, and she has no trouble with four or five miles easy on a trail.

Been running my Brittany for close to 4 years. Loves the coooler temps and is a machine when it comes to serious miles; however, I’m backing him off to no more than 3-6 unless we’re on a trail - Brits don’t do well in the heat. With birds and critters on the brain, I do have to keep him on a leash now that spring is here.