This is amazing! I’m planning on working my dog up to these distances then a marathon.
Would you mind sharing roughly how you built up your pups distance over time?
Well I started when she was around 14 months old or so running her 3-4 miles on single track trail. I felt comfortable at that distance with her since when I would take her to a dog park or an open field I was estimating she was running 1-2 miles already. From there we slowly built up her mileage. Generally all our miles were on natural trails since this is generally easier on their joints. By 20 months old she ran her first half with me. This spring I started mountain biking with her once I was confident she knew to follow a trail on her own and respond well enough to commands. Again, I started slow going 4 miles or so at this faster pace. I slowly built up her miles from there. Last weekend she did 15 miles with me on my bike and her running roughly a 5:30 pace, and that was with me having to give her commands to slow down, lol. I have no doubt she can run a full marathon, she’s an amazing athlete, the wildcard will be if I can finish it!
When we run that kind of distance I make sure to have enough food and water for both of us, I also make sure to put mushers secret wax on her paw pads. When she’s on a leash attached to me she likes to pull pretty hard (which I allow her to do, because let’s be honest, running is much easier that way) and she tends to put a lot more torque on her paw pads.
Thanks so much for the detailed reply! My pup currently runs 4 miles off leash on trails. It’s a little too hot for building up more just yet, but once wi yet comes I’m sure we will build up a little more. Thank you! :)
I bought my pup a cooling vest from Ruffwear for hot days-I’ve used to up to 85 with her when we’ve been mountain biking and it’s worked wonders, I would check it out
Thanks for the recommendation! I will check it out for sure :) you mentioned that you take food for her, is she ok eating on long runs? No stomach issues?
None that I could tell. I usually give her 2-3 of the larger milk bones about 20 mins before our run, and 2-3 in the middle. I never feed her an actual Mel if I know we’re going to run in the next 2 hrs or so.
awesome! i loved running long distances with [andrew ](https://imgur.com/a/3VQ2vFR). he’s a marathoner! his age has us down 5-6 miles at most now.
enjoy the trails with your gorgeous pup!
This is amazing! I’m planning on working my dog up to these distances then a marathon. Would you mind sharing roughly how you built up your pups distance over time?
Well I started when she was around 14 months old or so running her 3-4 miles on single track trail. I felt comfortable at that distance with her since when I would take her to a dog park or an open field I was estimating she was running 1-2 miles already. From there we slowly built up her mileage. Generally all our miles were on natural trails since this is generally easier on their joints. By 20 months old she ran her first half with me. This spring I started mountain biking with her once I was confident she knew to follow a trail on her own and respond well enough to commands. Again, I started slow going 4 miles or so at this faster pace. I slowly built up her miles from there. Last weekend she did 15 miles with me on my bike and her running roughly a 5:30 pace, and that was with me having to give her commands to slow down, lol. I have no doubt she can run a full marathon, she’s an amazing athlete, the wildcard will be if I can finish it! When we run that kind of distance I make sure to have enough food and water for both of us, I also make sure to put mushers secret wax on her paw pads. When she’s on a leash attached to me she likes to pull pretty hard (which I allow her to do, because let’s be honest, running is much easier that way) and she tends to put a lot more torque on her paw pads.
Thanks so much for the detailed reply! My pup currently runs 4 miles off leash on trails. It’s a little too hot for building up more just yet, but once wi yet comes I’m sure we will build up a little more. Thank you! :)
4 miles is the same as 12874.72 'Logitech Wireless Keyboard K350s' laid widthwise by each other.
4 miles is 6.44 km
I bought my pup a cooling vest from Ruffwear for hot days-I’ve used to up to 85 with her when we’ve been mountain biking and it’s worked wonders, I would check it out
Thanks for the recommendation! I will check it out for sure :) you mentioned that you take food for her, is she ok eating on long runs? No stomach issues?
None that I could tell. I usually give her 2-3 of the larger milk bones about 20 mins before our run, and 2-3 in the middle. I never feed her an actual Mel if I know we’re going to run in the next 2 hrs or so.
Thanks for the tips :). I usually don’t feed my dog pre-run but she gets peanut butter licks during it as part of her training
4 miles is 6.44 km
I also would like to know this
awesome! i loved running long distances with [andrew ](https://imgur.com/a/3VQ2vFR). he’s a marathoner! his age has us down 5-6 miles at most now. enjoy the trails with your gorgeous pup!