Running with a dog is excellent for both of you and it is not simply a longer walk. A dog on a run cannot stop to sniff, cannot regulate the pace, and will usually keep going past the point where it should have stopped, because it is with you.
Which dogs, and when
Wait until growth plates have closed: around a year in small breeds and considerably later in large and giant ones. Ask your vet for your dog's breed rather than assuming.
Good candidates: healthy, lean adults of medium to large athletic breeds with no joint or airway problems. Poor candidates: flat-faced breeds, whose breathing limits them far more than their enthusiasm suggests; dogs with hip or elbow problems; overweight dogs, which need the weight off first; and elderly dogs, which do better with several gentle outings.
If in doubt, have the dog checked before you start rather than after the first limp.
Dogs do not pace themselves for you. That is the whole risk, and the reason the build-up has to be yours to control.
Building up
Start with a brisk walk with short jogging intervals, a minute or two at a time, and build over weeks and months rather than days. A dog's cardiovascular fitness arrives quickly; tendons, ligaments and pads take longer, and they are what fails.
Two or three runs a week with rest days between them beats daily running. Watch for stiffness the next morning, which is the signal to go back a stage.
Equipment
- A waist belt and a bungee line, which absorbs the shock and keeps your hands free. A hand-held lead transmits every jolt to your shoulder and to the dog's body
- A well-fitted Y-shaped harness designed for pulling, never a collar
- No retractable leads, ever, on a run
- Lights and reflective gear from October to March, on both of you
- Water, and a collapsible bowl for anything over about half an hour
Ground, weather and timing
Prefer forest track, gravel and grass to tarmac: softer ground is kinder to joints and to pads. The valley paths and forest routes around the city are ideal; long stretches of pavement are the least good option.
Do not run in the heat. Dogs cool far less efficiently than people, and a dog that is keeping up on a warm afternoon can be heading for heatstroke while it looks happy. In summer, run early or late, and on the worst days do not run at all.
Leave a gap of a couple of hours between a meal and a run in either direction, particularly for deep-chested breeds.
On the run
Start and finish with five minutes of walking. Let the dog toilet before you set off, and carry bags. Check in on the dog rather than on your watch: ears back and a gaping, flat-tongued pant with a dog that is dropping behind means stop, not encourage.
Teach a side cue so the dog runs on one side consistently, and a stop cue for road crossings. On shared paths, shorten the line for anyone approaching, and never let a line cross a path where a cyclist is coming.
The signs to stop immediately
Learn what a dog in trouble looks like rather than relying on it to tell you. Dropping behind rather than pulling ahead. A wide, flat tongue with the edges curled. Excessive drool, glassy eyes, stumbling, or a dog that sits or lies down and will not get up. Any of those means stop, get into shade, offer water and cool the dog with water on the neck, chest and belly.
Heatstroke develops in minutes and it kills. A dog running with its owner on a warm afternoon is the classic case, because it will keep going out of loyalty long past the point at which it should have stopped.
Canicross, if you want the proper version
There is an organised sport for this, with equipment designed for it: a pulling harness, a waist belt with a wide load spread, and a bungee line of the right length. If you intend to run regularly, that kit is worth buying properly rather than improvising, because the forces involved go through both of your bodies.
The sport also brings a set of cues worth teaching anyway: directions left and right, a cue to go ahead, a cue to slow, and a solid stop. A dog that knows those is safer on a shared path than one being steered by the lead.
Afterwards
Check the pads for wear and cuts, rinse and dry the paws in winter, offer water in small amounts, and watch for stiffness the following morning. A dog that is slow to rise the next day did too much.
If you are training for something and your dog is not, that is a good reason to keep them separate. A run that suits you at ten kilometres is not automatically the dog's session, and for most dogs the ideal arrangement is a shorter run with you plus a proper sniffing walk that has nothing to do with pace.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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