I have recently started on a personal fitness journey of running 5km (just over 3 miles for any american friends) on Saturday mornings as part of a running group and was thinking of involving my 8 year old labrador - Henry - to run alongside me on a short leash. Do you think 5km is too far for Henry to be running constantly? I am able to complete the 5km in roughly 27 minutes so I run at a steady pace. My only concern is that he is getting older and that distance may not be all that beneficial on his joints and body each week. We do currently walk around 2 miles (3km) a few times during the week and he seems to recover well once we arrive home and he cools down with all legs spread-eagled on the tiled floor. He currently weighs around 35kg (77 lbs) so he could probably lose a little bit of weight and figured running may help?
Is that the Parkrun? I’ve started it, too! Snowie is 6 yo and fit. But he gets very hot. Luckily there’s a lake on the route, so he swims twice on the run. He wouldn’t be able to cope otherwise - it’s summer here. Possibly in winter he won’t need to swim. Snowie is not a constant runner, and I do allow him to stop and sniff - we do more like interval training: race from bush to bush! Fastest time has been 37 min (I’m not a runner so I was ecstatic with that time!). Usually it’s around 44 min. I see some dogs trot along at a steady pace the entire time. My guess is that you’d need to build up your dog’s stamina slowly rather than full run on day 1. Also, give his paws time to get used to running on a pavement. Snowie is finished after the Parkrun - all the excitement, which he loves (1000 people plus about 15 dogs), and all the smells, and of course the exercise. He’s walked twice a day, adds up to about 8km per day, but the Parkrun really takes it out of him.
Thanks for your reply MF, you are correct that it’s Parkrun - I go to the Frog Hollow Parkrun in Endeavour Hills/Hallam which is really close to home and the run goes around a man-made lake but Henry doesn’t really like to get his feet wet in the lake. I might take him this Saturday and walk the 5km with him as he’s used to only walking 3km. I’ll be starting up the ‘couch to 5k’ program to build up my own fitness levels and Henry might be able to join me with that.
I would definitely take your time to build him up to 5k as it could be too much for him. Do you run with him at all during your walks? One of my friends built her dog up to 5k by running for 2 mins then walking for 2 mins and repeat. She started doing her normal route which was about 1.5 miles and extended the length and time running over a few months. Good luck
I did couch to 5k a couple of summers ago and my two dogs joined me. In the summers, I now run 10km a couple of times a week. Nothing in the winter (the snow doesn't really allow for running!) so every spring I start building up the distance again for all of us. Run a bit, walk a bit. My dogs don't run on lead for the most part as we run trails, so that's easier on their joints as they can choose their own pace. So, yes, definitely build up the time spent running - for both of you
here’s a photo from the first Parkrun that Henry has completed, we walked/ran the 5km in just under 43 minutes!
He had a good nap afterwards yet he was up for a shorter walk later in the day, he also was lucky to visit a dog off-leash park the next day and socialise with a whole range of different dogs
What a happy looking boy - congrats on your run! For what it's worth, I jogged with my boy Brogan until he was 12. I am the world's slowest jogger, so it was only a walk for Brogan and he kept up brilliantly. I don't know if there was any link, but despite 2 torn (and repaired) cruciates, elbow displaysia and spondylosis, he never suffered from arthritis and he was walking a couple hours a day (albeit very slowly) until the day he died. Plus I have some wonderful memories of our many jogs together.
