saints_forever

Any of you runners go out with your dog?

I have a 9 month old black lab who is full of energy no matter how long you walk him for, so I thought I would ease him in to running with me. I understand that a long run isn't good for his hips, bones, joints etc at this young age, but was thinking I could give him a 15 min run with me on a daily basis and slowly increase the distance/time.

Any training tips to get them to run by your side whilst road running, ideally don't want to hold a lead constantly for the brief section of road I do, the majority is countryside. He's good on the lead but likes to wonder off it, though he is great at recall and heel if you keep instructing him, typical attention span of a puppy. I don't want to keep prompting him and its awkward giving him reward treats whilst on the move, but am prepared I might have to.

Infected by sti

iTrader: (6)

Keep a few treats in your hand whilst running with him on the lead and give him one every 5-10 mins or so, keep him on the lead for the first few times out so he can get the idea of what's happening and will get use to running at your side, then when you feel confident enough to let him off the lead try it, he should run next to you that's what we done with our spaniel, and it worked a treat, keep the treats in your hand so they know they are there and repeat giving him a treat but increase the time between them and slowly begin to cut the number your giving him.

Keep to the same commands and don't say too many words I.e "sit" "down" as that is seen as 2 commands and both those words we use for our dog in our case, so each of those commands has a different meaning, positive reinforcement I found worked best with our dog, but spaniels are known for being nutters anyway and they love affection same as a lab, slowly but surely he will click on, its just about having patience IMO

I can walk/run anywhere with our dog not needing a lead, she will stay at my side and listens when told

Hope that helps

By the way try letting him off away from the road thought I should mention that, not that I probably needed to

David Lock

Are you sure even a 15 min run isn't too much for his young age?

I don't know so just asking.

dl


PS. Get some good quality floating Koi pellets as treats. Dogs love them and the oil in them is super for dog coats. Easy to keep a handful in your pocket.

saints_forever

Thanks for the reply, makes sense. I did try treats in the hand before whilst walking to get him heeling but he started jumping up and bounding like a sheep, lol, I'll give it a go again with running though.

I know walking time rule is generally 5mins per month old they are, so for mine 40 mins, though like you I haven't a clue about running time, maybe a slow 15 min run then.

I'll give the tip of Koi Pellets a go, especially as my grandad has loads of them, seems better than the idea of cheese chunks that someone tried telling me to do.....that's probably how labs get fat!

adamb87

i got told when i took our dogue de bordeaux to training that pups should only have 1 minute of walk for each week of their life until one year old. but with ours being a large breed she said limit him until 18months!! i would be tempted to leave the running with the lab just yet as they are prone to their back ends giving up in later life. but i do sympathise with you though trying to knacker them out. we take our DDB to hydrotherapy after breaking his back. now that certainly tires him out but its a tad expensive and impractical.....

Matteeboy

I have a six year old black lab and often run with her. I only did short runs (two miles) up to the age of a year then increased it a bit. I tend to do runs over 4 miles without her as I reckon it's too much. Mostly off road/coast stuff.

For keeping them with you, just do a LOT of heel training and you'll soon be fine but always take a small lead for any roads; dogs can see stuff and just go for it and this can mean crossing a road to get it!

I'd get the basics really sorted first; stopping, walking to heel, etc unless you have some car free trails to run on.

saints_forever

Maybe 15 mins is a little too long then, especially as I tend to get carried away once I've started. I'll stick to your advice and keep persevering with his heel training whilst walking first, Id rather have an active/manic puppy as opposed to one suffering in later life!

Poor fella, at least he's getting good treatment. My mate has two DDBs and they are the softest most dopey dogs I have ever met, they're brilliant. He doesn't take them for long walks but I think he was saying that its a lot to do with their heart rather than their joints?

adamb87

hmm never heard about the heart. just bad hips. he broke his back jumping out of the upstairs window at 6 months old. talk about me feeling guilty !! but he is now 13 months and the most loving and loyal dog back to full fitness. he is a gentle giant !!

ScoobyWon't

We were told 1 minutes walk per week of age for our Newfoundland, until 1 year of age, for our Newfoundland, which is a breed which can also suffer with hip problems.

Matteeboy

Is he hip scored? Hearts can be dodgy in labs but its rare.

saints_forever

We haven't hip scored him ourselves but his parents were from very good pedigree lines, dads hips were scored at 4 and mums a bit higher at 11.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

My Jack used to walk 10miles! when Vic was training for the moon walk. granted he was about 2 at the time and he still pulled like mad. He is now 5 and finally not pulling.

billythekid

Jumping for the reward is something I see a lot. Dont reaward it - reward the dog when its calm. One of the mistakes I see a lot when people are starting out with heal work is not praising the dog for the right position. You have been walking a long time... so you default to just walking.. but you have to walk and praise.

As for treats when running, I would not bother. I would use verbal praise.

However, I think 9 months is too young for running any big distance. Instead run 20 - 30 paces, on leash, then slow back down to a walk... walk for a couple of mins... then run again 20 - 30 paces. Mix it up a bit so he never knows when the run starts or stops. Keep him calm though. Thats the hard bit. But if you start now then you will be ok.

I would try and add in some formal heal work if you are planning on running him off the lead. I would start this now. It will take a couple of months to get right.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Buy one of those leads that you tie around your waist. Thus way you have more balance while running and if the dog decides to go crazy and pull they don't pull you over... We have one for our dogs and use them as huskys to pull us along on the ice. Stupid dogs will pull n pull lol

CrisPDuk

I don't run with our Springer, but she does go out with us at least once a week on mountain bikes.

On road sections (usually short distances) she walks alongside on the pavement, we did spend a lot of time training her to obey short clear voice commands before trusting to to go without a lead.
On trails we usually leave her to do her own thing. She'll be off into the undergrowth either side after scents or sticks, but she always keeps pace. She did get clipped by wheels a few times in the early days, but she soon learned to keep clear

With either cycling or runing, don't immediately throw long distances and big speeds at your dog, build up gradually, or you are storing up trouble and expense in it's later years.

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Can't you just stick em on a treadmill and give em a treat once they have learnt how to switch it off once they have finished.

Leslie

You just have to be very patient to train the dog to follow your commands. No reason at all that you can't get him to stay to heel while you are running. Labradors are certainly full of energy but they will accept training.

The best way is the "carrot and stick" approach. If you give him an order if he ignores it than a sharp smack on the rump with the lead end will eventually teach him to respect you and do what you tell him. Good behaviour should be rewarded with something that he likes as well as words of encouragement. It is by no means cruel to use such a method otherwise you will find that you are the one who has become the "slave"

Les

BlueBugEye

iTrader: (12)

I often run with our lab collie cross, she's 2 now and the runs are almost entirely pavement/road been running with her since she was about a year old, the furthest I've run with her is around 5 miles as she starts to struggle after about 4.5 and wants a drink! I always run with her on a lead but with her in a harness not on a collar.

The Dogs B******s

I've tried and given up running with my dog, silly **** cuts in front of me all the time

yellowvanman

Please please don't do this. I over walked our choc lab when she was a pup, she was full of enthusiasm, and wanted to keep up with our older dog, never seemed tired. But then went a bit lame, seemed cured with rest, but then suffered greatly in later life due to athristus (SP?) She lived to a very good age, but the last 5 or so years she was on medication and couldn't walk more than a few hundred yards.
It really is not worth the risk.

lgtuk

Don't want to scare you but a friend of mine used to take his black lab pup (maybe 9 month old ) running after a month of it suddenly dropped dead on one of his runs so be careful.

I take my cocker spaniel running but I walk him to the common on a lead till it open enough for him to run before I start or he just cuts me up constantly.

saints_forever

I was only planning on taking him for small runs if I did, as he runs round and round in circles in the garden for ages, looks like someone's come in with a car doing donuts lol. I know their hips etc are prone to injuries in later life hence why I was wondering about running times; my thinking was if he can run like a lunatic in the garden then why not come out with me for a bit. But if people think I should wait for a while then I am quite happy too, I know there are certain things you cant do with puppy's, I still get the other half to lift him in and out the boot - much to her dismay as she's only tiny and he now weighs 38kg!

billythekid

Keep an eye on that weight, 35kg is already towards the top end mate. At 9 months the dog will only be at about 80% adult weight so you still have another 6 - 8kg to come..

My GSD is only 31kg at 24 months and people often say she is small etc but she is bang on target for a bitch and she is on a couple of supliments for muscle so if she was off them she would prob only be 27/28kg.

At 9 months she was about 20kg..

saints_forever

I think he's just a big dog. Mum and dad are the same, both working dogs used by a gameskeeper. He's by no means a fat lab, it's all muscle. He has two meals daily which are balanced out by weighing scales to make sure he's not over eating, if we give 'reward treats' during the day we compensate on the evening meal, he gets his 3 walks each day plus play time and he never gets any food off our plate.

adamb87

our DDB is 46kg and is now 13months old !! they are supposed to bulk up for about another two years as well so god knows when he will stop gaining weight. it is all muscle though with no fat at all.

saints_forever

They can reach some big weights, my mates first, Archie, reached just over 14stone, just a big slab of muscle like you said.

adamb87

ye think we will be expecting a similar weight. can be quite amusing when play fighting once he uses the muscle on ya. pretty much impossible to fight back !!

GazTheHat

Why not consider Cani-X or backpacking? We do both for ours, but he's a working sled dog.

JDM_333

The second paragraph in your post is a good tip (I'm sorry to hear about the first, that is sad), I'll try this myself, sometimes takes the gf's parents jack russell for a run with me and after a short while he jumps up at me / cuts me up, thanks!

eelz

iTrader: (10)

just don't run them after feeding them (bloat can kill), wheezing is a good indicator of heart/lung problems too..

my Rhodesian Ridgeback died at the age of 5 due to fluid on the lungs and irregular heart beat. wheezing were the 1st signs.