What’s this about canine Couch to 5K? One of the reasons I got Penny, my crazy little Irish doodle, is that she’s an athletic dog. My plan has always been to teach her to run with me. I decided the easiest way to accomplish that was to use the Couch to 5K app that I’ve used in the past. I don’t know if there’s actually a canine Couch to 5K app. I’m just using the one that I’ve used in the past.
I waited until Penny was a year old to start to run with her. I gather it’s important that her bones are fully grown or something like that before she runs for any distance. Since we’re doing the run/walk plan with the Couch to 5K, she hasn’t really done a lot of running yet so I think we’re fine.
It turns out that when I am running, Penny just has to walk more briskly. She’s rather confused by it. She keeps looking at me, as if to say, “what are we doing, Mom?” I think the important thing is for Penny to know that when we’re running, she can’t just stop to sniff something or dart off in a different direction. We’re working on learning to run beside me.
My daughter-in-law bought us a running leash, one of those things that go around my waist. We’re just starting to use it so I can’t really report on its efficiency. The leash lets me have my hands free while I’m running. I know that will be convenient as well as a more safe way to run with a dog.
We’re still working on this so I’ll keep you posted on how Penny is doing with her canine couch to 5K program. Any advice on how you trained your dog to run? Let me know in the comments below.
My husband was successful with one of our dogs, (Jean, a black lab-English Springer spaniel mix) but our other dogs never really got the hang of it.
I think she was 2 or 3 years old when he trained her.
While I am good with walking dogs… and maybe short runs… I have not been successful with the actual run with dog idea. Probably because I’m too focused on myself, my breathing, my water, my aches etc and so I can’t get into a rhythm of a run with a dog.
It sounds like the canine C’ouch to 5k plan you are doing will work!
I think Jean must have been a great dog, simply based on her breed mix!
I think it’s good for Penny to run but I can already tell that I’m going to like going without her at times. You’re right that there’s a lot of other things to focus on.