Walking/running with your dog(s) - Page 1

Just curious what other folks do with regard to walking/running your dog(s).  How many walks per day?  How far do you take them or how long does it take?  If you run with them, is it in addition to the walk(s)?

The whole clan goes for 2 2 mile hikes.  it takes about an hour and half each time as we run a bit , walk a bit. Keep in mind i am an old broad so running isnt going to happen.  In addition twice a week they run behind the car for 12 K at around 20 KM per hour.  i will floor it to 25 as one of the gals likes to go for a sprint :)  you would think I would at least kinda be in shape, no such luck i still gasp when i have to run.  Go figure on that one.

We go used to go for miles, but my schedule only allows a hour for walks (love finishing my doctoral, so much to do, so little time :0)  ) so we go a far as we can in an hour, keep in mind they are older dogs and my female has a bad hip.  We also swim when the weather allows and spend a good hour there.  If I am able to get into the football field that is fenced with a gate, then I throw the ball for a bit.

Brynjulf - sucks to get old doesn't it lol?  Just can't seem to catch my wind like I used to....

Ya it does i remember doing some 21 K hikes and not having a sore bone in my body.  We were avid hikers when we were youngster, I think it might kill me now....

Dog and I walk and about 4 to 5 miles per day 6 days per week. That takes us about 1 1/2 hours per day.

I used to hike & rock climb with my kids, now I'm huffing & puffing to walk up the hill to get the mail. My hubby's been walking the dogs the last few weeks since we were both sick, he recuperated way faster than I did. But, before our illness the dogs would go out with us early in the am for a mile each, on the flat road above our house, LOL, 'cause at 2 dogs at a time we go 2 miles. Then in the evening while I was at work, Carl would take them each out one at a time for a shorter walk & some bouncing around. And they get their play time indoors, too. Now I'm only allowed 10 minutes of walking at a time, hopefully the doc will clear me to go back to normal (& work!) on Friday. Basically, they live dang cushy lives. And yes, getting old sucks. jackie harris

It appears that there are too many of us old cogers here (me included) truely sucks !!!

Where have all of those young folk gone????

We go up to 5 miles at approx. 12 miles an hour.  I just let them run beside me as I jog the horse.  Much easier on me, and easy on the horse.
We worked our way up to that though. 

In the cooler weather I find it is much easier on them, and they do not heat up and tire out. 
In the summer heat 3 miles seemed to be enough at that speed (and that was before 10 in the morning).  In the summer, I also take them for a bike ride or walk later in the evening.
In the winter, I am a wuss.

I guess we cheat :)

Some of the dogs can run together, some can not so they take turns.
Ours run with the 4 wheeler 3-10 miles 6 days a week. We're working on endurance with 4 out of 6 for the AD, and the other 2
get a shorter 3 mile run.

Melissa

@Mindhunt- LOL. Doctoral work leaves no time for fun....I  probably should have thought of that before getting a new pup. Who needs to sleep? :)

Martin takes Senta out at 6 AM every day for 35 minutes (7 days per week) to the school yard near us to play a very active game of 2-ball with her. He can throw the ball the full length of the field and he does really short, fast throws as well. He also throws in random downs (ie. drop on recalls) when she's running back or going out to get the ball. When she comes home, all she does is lay on her side in her crate and wheeze. He repeats this routine at 9 PM. At lunch time, I take her out to a park near us that has a really steep hill, we play more 2-ball (she would play 2-ball until our arms fall off) and to work her obedience for an hour (short obedience bursts are mixed in with the ball throwing). I'd really like to thank Slamdunc for an old post that he wrote here describing in detail how he exercised his dog using 2-ball- it was very helpful for us in the beginning. (I think this post disappeared from the database as I've never been able to find it again.)

We're old but still active hikers so we take her out to conservation areas /provinicial parks on the weekends. Senta swims all year that there is open water (I'm in Ontario but it's never too cold for her) so she also swims on weekends as well. In the summer, when we are at my parents' house on Lake Erie or say hiking in Algonquin Park, we have to be careful to limit her access to water as she will swim for 4 or 5 hours at time, leaving her with zero body fat - a skeleton with hair. She is really fit!

The new pup has complicated things a bit since Senta hates his guts so we can't walk them together. He's only 14 weeks so he doesn't need as much exercise as Senta. I take him out when Martin is out with Senta (and vice versa) so he gets around 1.5 hour of just walking around split into 3 sessions. He clearly signals with a specific grunt when he's tired and wants to go home. When the pup is older and has figured out that constantly biting Senta's ears is a really bad idea then we'll be able to walk them together sometimes.

Right now, I feel that my life only consists of reading stuff for school, grading undergraduate papers, and walking GSDs. That's it. :)