Running With Your Dog

I have an eight-year-old German Shepherd dog that
I have been running with since I got her about
six years ago. She was only about two years old
when we began running and at that time I was
running in some marathons and half marathons. My
training runs during the week were 5 to 7 miles
at on every Sunday at it long run which
alternated between 10 and 15 miles.

In the beginning she was simply not in shape to
even stay up with me for the small and short
training runs during the week. The long run on
Sunday was completely out of the question even.
She was good for two or 3 miles, but after that
it began a process of me having to pull on her
leash constantly to keep her up with me. It
simply was not worth the effort and I would
usually end up putting her back into the pickup
and finishing my run.

I was quite surprised at her inability to run
for more than three or 4 miles at a time with
me. However, as I kept training with her her
mileage began to increase much the same as a
human who continues training at longer longer
distances. I guess what I will most want to say
to runners with new dogs who they plan to run
with is that the dog requires his or her own
training schedule also. Many people think of
dogs as natural born runners because they can
run so fast in enjoy the process so much.

But any writer who begins running with the new
dog will tell you that the dog can simply not
keep up with a human who was in good enough
shape to run a half marathon. Plus, there is a
significant difference in the dog's ability to
run in hotter weather versus colder weather.
Even nowadays, when my dog runs with me on a hot
summer mornings her ability to keep up with me
for long distances is severely diminished. In
fact, at eight years old I can tell age is
creeping up on her and her longer distances,
especially on days when it's very hot and humid,
are becoming less and less lengthly.

She always lets me know which is getting tired
because she begins lagging behind and I feel
tension on the leash. I will prod her along to
some extent, but after a while it becomes a
futile process as she simply does not wish were
is able to keep up. In the summer months, I run
near a lake where we can frequently stop and I
allow her to get into the water for a while to
cool off and get a drink. This seems to links
and her running ability somewhat on those hot
summer mornings.

By the way, I had a running friend some time
back who ran with their dog on a regular basis
at the beach and on one hot summer morning the
dog simply died from an apparent stroke or heart
attack. Of course the dog amount of died anyway
from the heart attack it was not necessarily
caused by the running but runners should be wary
when running with their dogs do not overextend
their ability.

One other additional piece of knowledge that is
handy to know is that glucosamine for dogs is a
very important supplement for those canines who
run a regular basis.

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Steve Weber has more information about
glucosamine for dogs on his website. Visit his
site and learn how glucosamine can greatly
benefit the canines life.
http://www.cactuscanyon.com

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