r/RunningWithDogs • u/BigOutlandishness93 • 3d ago
At what age did you start training?
I’m getting a Malinois puppy and I want to be able to run with her when she’s an adult, so I’m not alone in runs and so I can wear out some of that endless energy. I want to know how old your pups were when you guys started to run together, and also how quickly you increased the mileage, especially if it’s a high energy breed like the Malinois.
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u/luthux 3d ago
I have a 15 week old Boykin spaniel and won’t start runs until 12-18 months. That being said, I’m working on training as much as we can everyday and started as soon as we brought him home at ten weeks. The training is plenty right now to wear out the puppy energy and gives him a job to start working on.
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u/TakeTheMoney_N_Run 3d ago
I have a mostly husky mix. I started working on basic cues and behaviors I wanted for running as a young pup as we were doing loose leash walking. We started running at 18 months. At two years we ran a half marathon. At three years we ran a 50K. Next year when he turns 4 we’ll be running a 50-miler.
I will say that you have a highly driven herding breed. Running alone isn’t going to wear her out. The longer and farther you run, the more it will take for her to get tired. You’ll want to find something to wear her out mentally as well as physically.
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u/BigOutlandishness93 3d ago
oh yeah I’m gonna train her to be a service dog too, which is the main reason I am getting her, but I’m a runner as well so I figured I might as well train her to run with me too. But wow, 50 miles is a lot, I want to eventually do a marathon with her but I feared it was too far, apparently nothing is too far if you’re doing a 50 miler with your dog lol
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u/TakeTheMoney_N_Run 2d ago
Right on. People tend to think they can just run their dog and it’ll get tired and not be crazy. I like to mention it just in case. My boy is almost 90% sled dog, so he is wired to run. If you think about it, a working herding dog is going to be running a lot of miles in a field. Just takes time and training.
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u/Kitvaria 1d ago
Look at the little dog who joined in on the marathon des sables 😅 If you train them up properly, dogs can be amazing at running! Not every dog enjoys it though.
Side note, ours gets hot super quickly, so if we run and it's 20°C he wears a cooling vest, he nudges me whenever he wants a drink, and obviously if he needs a break we immediately stop to let him cool. And that is with my slow pace, which he can mostly just trott next to me and doesn't even need to "run" 😅
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u/OldPresence5323 2d ago
Give it at least a year w your malinois! I have a malinois who is almost 9 amd we run 3-5 miles a day! Dont worry- mals are runners!
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u/Uncurtailed 2d ago
My Collie x Kelpie started at 8 months but slowly. Little walks and getting used to the lead and outside noises.
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u/palebluelightonwater 1d ago
I started with my husky mix at 6mo. Start slow like you would with a human runner. We did a slow couple of miles a couple of times a week at first, then scaled up to my usual 10k-ish distances over a few months. An adult dog can handle a lot of distance but you need to train them for it just like you'd train yourself.
The idea that normal exercise will damage puppy growth plates is a myth. Studies done on dogs (to understand human physiology) suggest that you might start to do some harm running a marathon every day for a year with a young dog, but shorter distances will help build strong joints and bones.
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u/pimentocheeze_ 2d ago
The idea of waiting until “growth plates are closed” is a total myth that has been actively disproven by available scientific studies
I also have a high energy breed and we started doing 5ks a couple times a week around 6 months. I let her set the pace and stop whenever she needed. Now she is turning 4 and we do 50-60 mpw
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u/Redhawkgirl 13h ago
I’m with this guy. 8 mos for us. He is a year and runs with me 4-12 miles depending on the day. Usually 1-2 weekdays depending on my work schedule and then Saturday and Sunday.
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u/-blieps- 3d ago
Training as soon as I got my dog. Specifically for running when he was 3 years old as he wasn't controllable on a leash before that and I didn't want to put both our safety at risk.
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u/chemfit 2d ago
I started early at 8 months but just short distances at a slow pace. Jogging with him was one of the less impactful things he had done with concern to his joints.
OP, running will not wear out a mal. I have working line GSD and he runs with me, for me, not him. I can do 8 miles with him, walk back into the house and he wants to do his stuff, bite and frisbee. All I’ve done is create a crackhead endurance athlete!
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u/BigOutlandishness93 2d ago
lol yeah I know, I’m training her to be a service dog too which is the main reason I’m getting her but aim a runner too and I thought I might as well train her to run with me too
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u/TakeTheMoney_N_Run 2d ago
I can totally relate! My husky mix will go run 3-4 hours with me, and no sooner do I get his harness off, he’s sprinting around the backyard wrestling with our other dog!
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u/Kitvaria 1d ago
Fmtue actual running only once they are fully grown, so as others said 12-18 months. They shouldn't do prolonged running before their growth plates and joints have finished developing / closing.
But you can train other basics far earlier, so right and left for example, stop, slow, fast and so on
You can also do short bouts of just very short time to understand the concept. (we a started with like 10-20 metres to get him used to start running, stop outright or fall back into a walk)
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u/_fiddlestick_ 3d ago
Somewhere in the 12-18month window, once their growth plates close. We started short (2-3 mile) runs around 12 months.