Quote:
Originally Posted by Chloe2
Karla, how did you start running with Sherman? Did you start with short distances and work up? I'd love to run with my dog but I don't know how it would go. He has to pee and sniff everything and I don't know that I could get him to keep a steady pace. He NEVER seems to run out of energy.
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Sherman is a dog like none other in my life. I adopted him about 3 years ago while I was doing jury duty in the small rural county where I live. He was about 8 years at the time and clearly had no clue what being indoors was about. He did not know what toys where or furniture or not to pee indoors. LOL! He also had this obvious and sad fear of male people and distrust of people in general.
Today he not only lies on the beds and couches throughout my home, but has learned that pillows are nice for heads. He lies in the middle of my bed every night and then growls at me when I move him. LOL! He has a filled toybox and his toys are everywhere and he seems to love and trust everyone now. Most especially he loves me and trusts me and that bond is strong and obvious.
I the beginning I started just walking him everywhere and taking him everywhere. We walked downtown, out in the country, in the suburbs near my office, in Farmers Markets. Today he comes to my guitar lessons and lies at my feet, in the Volvo waiting area he lies at my feet, and same for all my home visits and also to cafes and other dog friendly places. In all of this "doing" of stuff together he became accustomed to the leash and to following me. In this relationship, I am clearly the "pack leader". He is natural follower and was in search of his leader his whole life. He is happy to be in my pack and to please.
So when it was time to try running with him it was just natural for us. He follows, I lead just like when we walk. Of course there are times when I allow him to have the full 16 feet of line and go explore and sniff and pee on everything and all of that doggie stuff but that is not all the time. It is used as reward. When I am on narrow rural roads around my house I keep his leash to about 4 feet or so and he runs in the shoulder and I on the road. It works out well except he really doesn't seem to have the stamina to run much faster than 10 min miles or farther than 4 miles at a time.