Running with your dog is one of the best ways to spend time with your pet. It not only keeps you and your pal healthy, but it also helps you stay motivated. However, training your dog to jog with you is not as easy as putting on dog clothes. It requires planning and a lot of patience. In fact, if you are interested to learn more, here are some tips that might help.

Take your dog’s breed and age into consideration

Even though all dogs require some form of regular physical exercise, not all breeds are meant for running. For example, short-muzzled dogs like pugs and bulldogs can do bursts or sprints but only for short distances. They cannot keep up with long courses so you can scratch any idea of finishing marathons with these breeds.

Also, if your dog is still growing, meaning younger than a year or a year and a half old, their bones are still elongating. Because of this, regular jogging might put a strain on their bones and cause irregularities in the formation of bones. You need to wait for them to fully mature before you take them on as regular running buddies.

Start with walking

Before you start running with your canine pal, you need to establish certain rules and be clear with expected behaviors during running. The only way to do this is to start learning through walking. While walking, your dog needs to understand that your pace and his should match, whether it is fast or slow. Getting dragged by your dog or dragging your dog during jogs is not only stressful, but it is also very dangerous. After he gets this right, then you can start with loosening his leash and giving praises and treats such as bully sticks and pork pizzles for dogs as a reward to keep him interested and focused on you. Eventually, when he learns all of these, you can then increase your pace and eventually even jog off-leash.

Establish good communication with your dog

Establish good two-way communication with your dog when jogging. Practice cues and recalls and be vigilant about signs of unrest or overstimulation. This way, you can safely stop or continue with your run anytime especially when unfamiliar emergency situations arise.

If you muster all of these, jogging with your dog can turn into a regular and hassle-free bonding exercise with your four-legged buddy.

by Mohammed Tantawy