Monday, May 18, 2009

A question

Thought I'd reach out and see what I got on this- anyone have advice on the following?

My husband and I are both runners and eventually want to take Captain with us when we got out to get our exercise too. We've been cautious so far since I've read about waiting for growth to complete, and because the primary place we run is along the sidewalk on the Embarcadaro. Captain is just over 8 months old and we've taken him with us on a few short runs - all under 3 miles, but on pavement- starting at maybe 6 or 7 months- but is it too young to start? I was trying to be conservative and just do 2-3 mile runs a couple times a week, but I don't want to put him at risk for bone & joint problems later. So when is it officially safe to run with them? And I assume, no matter what, they shouldn't be running on concrete all that often no matter what the age, right? (ps- these runs are in addition to daily trips to the park, playing, walks, hiking on weekends etc)

Advise away, readers! And thanks in advance for any input.

2 comments:

  1. I'll be interested to see the advice you receive, since I'll be (hopefully) adding a pupppy soon. I'm an avid runner too & Zoe runs with me several times a week, but I can't remember how old she was when we started going together. She's off leash or on a flexi-leash most of the time, so she can run at her own cadence and stop when she wants. There is a sidewalk where we run & she runs on it sometimes & runs in the grass/dirt sometimes. Drop me an email at ah4zoe-wild@yahoo.com

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  2. Most of the advice I've seen has said a year, but just to be sure I actually just called the vet and they said to slowly build up to my 3-5 mile runs with him, but to wait a few more months (around a year) just to be safe for his bones. So, looks like we'll be continuing our focus on exercise at the park, beach, and hiking!

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