1. Never, ever run while your dog is still growing.
2. Wait until the dog is at least a year old.
3. Wait until the dog is at least two years old.
4. Never run on pavement.
5. Always run off leash.
I have come to realize that there are as many opinions on this subject as there are breeds of dog. Also, a lot of the suggestions that I've read are downright impractical. Off-leash? Right. When my dog sprouts wings and learns to fly is the day he will be taken off leash.
We have decided to use the one-year rule, mostly because Miles has pretty much stopped growing. He'll get wider, to be sure, but his paws now fit his legs. I'm not that worried about it. I read this article and found that it made the most sense. There are two main reasons not to run with a dog before they're full-grown:
1. Their growth plates haven't closed. If you run with them for long periods of time on things like pavement, it will cause irreparable damage to their joints, which has obvious implications.
2. Their heart could become enlarged from being worked too hard while it was still growing.
Both of these things make sense, and now that Miles is a ripe 9 months old, I've really started thinking about just jogging with him a little bit. So, for the past two days, I've jogged -very- short distances with him. Yesterday I tried it with the collar - no dice. He pulls way too hard, because he thinks I'm chasing him and is trying to get away. Not only is that teaching him to pull, it's also teaching him that he should run away from me. No thanks on either count. Today, I tried it with the easy walk and had him run next to me (and when I say "run", i mean quick trot. This dog has large legs.). It really, really worked. So, Miles will start training with me and it will be awesome. Being that I'm still getting over the Ebola of The Century, my lungs still cannot support running long distances, which is perfect, because Miles' can't run quickly yet, either.
What else did I want to talk about? Oh, right. What to do when it's raining, like it has been for approximately 4,000 days.
So, the past few days, I have not wanted to take Miles outside.
"It's raining."
"He hates the rain."
"I hate the rain."
"It's raining. I don't want to go anywhere."
Lather, rinse, repeat.
I woke up feeling awesome this morning (by comparison, I had barely been able to get out of bed for the past two weeks, I was feeling so gross) and went to the chiropractor, which made me feel even MORE awesome. So, it was decided - no matter what it was doing outside, Miles and I were going for a walk. He needed exercise (so did I, for that matter) and I just wanted to get him outside.
We walked/jogged for approximately two miles, and it was awesome. Because of the rain, he was a bundle of energy, even when we got home (where he usually flops on the floor and sleeps for hours).
What this taught me is that dogs need exercise, regardless of what it's doing outside. I mean, really - what are we going to do when winter comes? Not take him out to exercise? Just leave him inside all day long every day? That's really unfair to him and will make him both bored and destructive, as well as make him really, really unhealthy. So, as winter marches closer, that is the pledge I'm making to our dog: to exercise him no matter what the weather. Plus, the close second on my List of Favorite Things to Do is walking Miles - it gives us bonding time, and lets me praise him all the time, which he so loves and deserves, because he's such a good boy.
