# Anybody run/jog with their poodles?



## lisasgirl

Archie and I started our "Couch to 5K" training program this week, and we're having a blast. We're taking it slow to start with, which it turns out is more useful for me than him (my jogging pace is his "walking kind of fast" pace at this point, so the only difference for him is that he can't stop to sniff things). But we've got a long-term goal to run the Good Dog - Dirty Dog 5K at Folsom Lake this August.

Anybody else out there run with a poodle?


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## zooeysmom

That's great! I just started jogging Maizie now that she is old enough for it. She is fit as a fiddle and I'm straight off of the couch, so I'm looking to her to coach me back into shape


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## Muggles

Rory and I are about to start too! I haven't run regularly since I got him as it felt a bit mean going out without him  I got one of those waist attachments for his leash so we'll be hands free - is that what you guys do? 

We'll be taking it very slowly too - he's certainly very fit but the repetitive running (on concrete) is still going to be different for him to free running. Also as the times I've done small jogs with him he becomes a pogo poodle and wants to eat the leash again like he's a puppy!


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## ChantersMom

I've been jogging with Chanter for a few years. Cool temperatures are the best times for him (Spring/Fall/early morning) before it gets hot. Five km is our distance but I've jogged up to 9km with a few breaks. Running with Chanter is always one of fun and leisure and not real training. There are times he just isn't into it and we walk/ head to the park or head home.
To this day, Chanter has to poop once on our jogs so I pick a route that allows me to dispose to the nastiness. It's illegal to throw dog waste in the city trash bins but there are special bins for that, hence route is very important. Have fun!

Yes, I use a leash that I can put around my waist and a harness with the attachment on the back of Chanter...it gives me a bit more length. The harness is only used for jogging, so when I pull that out, Chanter knows it's time for a jog!


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## Poodlebeguiled

I do some jogging during my walking...alternating. That's when I walk either Matisse or Maurice or both of them. Jose` sometimes feels especially frisky and will run a little bit but over all, pretty slow. lol. Maurice is the best jogging buddy...my teensiest Poodle at around 4 or 5 lbs. Once he's peed and marked a couple of times out of the gate, he couldn't care less about stop & sniff. He loves to go, go, go...tireless that little smidgen of a Poodle is. There are some days where I just walk briskly and some where we do that jog, walk, jog, walk. It kind of depends on some joint issues and how things are that day.

I think that's wonderful that you guys are training for a big deal run. Very cool. Keep us posted on how it all goes!


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## lisasgirl

Muggles said:


> Rory and I are about to start too! I haven't run regularly since I got him as it felt a bit mean going out without him  I got one of those waist attachments for his leash so we'll be hands free - is that what you guys do?
> 
> We'll be taking it very slowly too - he's certainly very fit but the repetitive running (on concrete) is still going to be different for him to free running. Also as the times I've done small jogs with him he becomes a pogo poodle and wants to eat the leash again like he's a puppy!


I got a hands-free leash with a waist attachment, too. Mine has a bungee cord in the middle of it which helps with pulling (basically if he puts pressure on it, the bungee action pulls him back) - which is good because it's a bit shorter than his walking leash. When we're on a walk with his 6 ft leash he's always bouncing back and forth between the end of the leash and right by my side, and that was too hard to manage while jogging. I attach it to his back-clip harness - his regular walks are on a front-clip, so when he gets the other harness he knows he's about to have an adventure.

Archie's really athletic for his size (he's about 15 inches tall), but he's used to sprinting back and forth rather than sustained jogging. So I think it helps that I'm doing fairly gentle walk/jog intervals and I'm not very fast yet. That way he can gradually ramp up. As it is he usually comes back from our "run" and then instantly takes off to chase the puppy around for a while, so it's definitely better at tiring me out than him. :act-up:


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## Quossum

Sugarfoot is my faithful jogging companion.

We've gone through two 5k training programs. One was a "Couch to 5k" plan (through an app) that really built me up gradually. Did that one about a year and a half ago, and there were some weeks that I had to repeat as I wasn't ready for the next week! But we did finally make it!



Then I took a bit of hiatus, running now and then but not very often. Eventually I got the Zombies, Run! 5k trainer and recently finished it. This one, I was able to get up to speed fairly quickly, which was good, because it assumed a somewhat more fit starting point than "the couch," I believe! Completed that one, too.



Now, I'm doing the main Zombies, Run! app and I'm pretty addicted. I run pretty much every Wednesday (barring extraordinary circumstances), sometimes other days as well. Gotta keep collecting supplies for my base! 

On the run below, I accidentally turned off my mission and ended up running an extra mile. Grrr....



Sugarfoot is a great companion. If he has a fault as a running buddy it's that he does pull if he sees a squirrel or rabbit, and we encounter some sassy ones on our usual trails! Usually he stays just ahead of me and keeps pace. He doesn't like jogging in neighborhoods (stray dog danger!), so we stick to parks or jogging trails.

I don't think I'd enjoy getting out so much if he couldn't come with me!

--Q


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## Countryboy

Look like an interesting spot for a run, Good for you, Quossum! 

With Shugah to fend off the Alligators. How exciting!


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## lisasgirl

I've been using the Couch to 5K app! I love it. It's a really good plan.

I still have the Zombies Run app from last time I was running regularly (a few years ago I was running 2-4 miles a couple times a week...now it's like it never happened, unfortunately!) and it's ridiculously fun. Once I finish the C25K program I want to get back to that.


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## ApricotsRock

Lol....DD tries to run with rookie but he is a strictly walking type of guy.


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## StormeeK

One of my main goals for Dewey was for him to run with me once he was old enough. He loves to run and is much better than if we just go for a walk. However, the main problems in my area are loose dogs and no streetlights if we try to go really early. After work is tough because it is now getting to 90 F ! 

I have been running for years but once I hit the mid century mark I have slowed down for sure! I love having a partner to run with but I only take him a couple of times a week. The other days I go alone because it is usually too hot or too hard to get to a place that he can run with me ( no loose dogs ). I think it is great that you have a goal of the dog/human run. We did one back in February and it was really fun. I wish we had more in our area but most races state no dogs allowed. 

Good Luck! but most importantly, have fun training!


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## ChantersMom

I feel the slowing down recently (I'm 53). But I have had 2 different police officers (in their cruisers) stop me and ask to take a pic of Chanter and once a stranger yelled "Beautiful!", pretty sure it was directed at Chanter and not me! Running with a poodle is certainly fun and I think their gait makes it look different from other dogs.


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## Tthompson40

My standard and I run every day. If we run in the morning we take a long walk again in the evening. I was grumbling about it today, did not feel like running but he needed the exercise. These high energy poodles are a great fitness tracker. ?


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## ChantersMom

Chanter feels hurt if he sees me in my running gear and I'm heading out the door without him.


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## sophie anne

Pretty much the only time I run is when I'm with a dog. It's so much more fun with canine company!

Sophie ran with me from middle school all the way through high school. We would also bike a lot with her off leash. She had truly endless endurance as long as the weather was not too hot or sunny; her black fur would get really hot sometimes and if I shaved her short she would get a sunburn on her back! It was with Sophie that I started running up mountains because Sophie was always running ahead of me, so I slowly learned to mostly keep up. We were both in very good shape!

Our favorite thing to do together was to bike to this dam about 5 miles from my parents house and catch frogs, snakes, and turtles in the water. Sophie was the perfect partner in crime and we continued our adventures until I left for college.

Not having her with me in college definitely led to both of us getting out of shape, but I was still decently able to run. I had less desire to without a dog to keep me company (I do not like running with other humans :lol. Sophie's old age has obviously caught up with her, so she only comes for short 0.5-1 mile walks nowadays.

I broke my fibula and fractured my tibia last March in a moped accident and did some pretty severe and probably permanent damage to my peroneal nerve. It was a horrid healing process, made worse by the fact that I walked around on my broken leg for a couple days before finally going in for x-rays and getting a cast. The nerve injury was and is far more debilitating than the broken bones. I got really out of shape and depressed because I could not do any of the things that I like to do. Even walking up stairs was awful because with an injury to this nerve your toes don't lift up so I kept tripping over my own numb foot and falling flat on my face.

Ari helped me heal from my nerve injury... she came home just after I was cleared to start walking around without crutches. It was insanely exhausting to have both an injured leg and a baby poodle, but baby Ari had a way of spraying explosive diarrhea on my walls that kept my leg issues in perspective. :act-up:

Over the course of the year, almost without noticing it because it happened so gradually, Ari grew up and I got in better shape than I've ever been in before from chasing her around, walking with her, and eventually, running with her. Ari is turning out to be a lot like Sophie, in that she can go and go and go, but I am being more careful with her than I was with Sophie since she's quite a bit smaller. We probably will never go for a 10 mile bike ride together, for example (but I STILL cannot pedal a bike normally because of my nerve injury so that won't really be a drawback for us!).

While having Ari I've gone from not being able to climb stairs to consistently running 9 miles over some very hilly terrain. I've had to completely re-learn how to use my injured leg to keep from tripping when the nerve turns "off," but doing so has made me a better runner with more precise form overall. Ari's been my best friend, physical therapist and personal trainer all in one!

A physical therapist would've definitely been cheaper but not cuter! :wink:


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