# Running Long Distance



## LV1 (Mar 21, 2014)

Hello,

I was told not to run my dog until she was over a year. She is now 14 months and I want to take her on distance runs. I took her on a 2 mile light jog which took 27 minutes and she was exhausted towards the end. She was so tired when I took her home she didn't even eat dinner.

I am worried about over exercising her. Any advice?


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Start her with a mile then. It sounds like you started her with to much.


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## Palydyn (Aug 28, 2014)

If you were taking her for walks, how long were they and how brisk? If you weren't walking her 2 miles briskly then I would start with walking her to build up the distance and pace before taking her for distance jogging. You might also want to watch the surface you are walking/jogging her on. Softer surfaces (grass/dirt paths) to start and build up to hard surfaces. 

Good luck, GSD's can be great jogging companions.


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## Sabina22 (Jan 5, 2015)

I started taking long walks(with a faster walking rithm )when my girl was 6-7 months, and I gradually increased the speed&lenght and now she is 14 months old and she can run 5-6 km with me ( me on a bike-moderate speed, about 15-20 km/h) without feeling tired or even breathing hard and we are currently training for the endurance trial where she has to run 20 km with 3 breaks of 10 min. So I don't think you're over exercising her,but you should take it gradually if she is not used to making effort so you don't put stress on her hip joints that are still developing. Besides, my vet told me that regular exercise can even help if the dog has hip dysplasia because the more muscles she/he has, the less pain. Regarding to HD, my girl was x-rayed when she was 6, then when she was 10 months old and she is ok,or so I've been told and I intend to re-do the x-ray when she is 1.5 yrs old, and I recommend that you x-ray your dog before putting her at a greater effort. 
Best wishes,
Sabina&Lara!


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## HOBY (Aug 12, 2013)

2 miles in 27 min. Sounds ok to me but bring it up easy take more time to get her used to it. Are you running on a soft surface to start? Check the toes and legs for possible strain. Anything tender to the touch? Paw pads for cuts, ligaments, in between the toes, check the nails for splits, squeeze real easy, see if you get a response like strong nosing or mouthing may indicate some pain. 

And always remember:
_Over hill over dale we will hit the dusty trail as our K9s go rolling along!_


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## MayzieGSD (Aug 28, 2006)

I agree to build up slower. I just started running with my 3 year old male and I've just started him with 1 mile runs. I've run with him twice, around a 9:30 pace, and he didn't seem to tire at all and seemed to easily complete it so I will likely bump it up to a mile and a half for his next run. 

If she is that tired, I would back off. Start with less and increase slowly. I know I couldn't do 2 miles for my first run and they need to build up to it just like we do.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

It really depends on the dog. I have a 14 month old that my husband is just starting to take on short runs. He's done a few 2-3 mile runs and comes home acting like a spazz and trying to chase my other dogs around, but he's an active guy. If he came home tired, then I'd ask my husband to shorten his runs for a while. They're also still growing at this point so personally I would not do more than 2 a week. If she won't eat after a run, that's not bad. I'm not sure how soon you fed her but I would wait at least one, more like 2 hours before I feed my dogs after hard exercise.


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## Saphire (Apr 1, 2005)

My son started running with Gus around 16 months I think. He now runs 5 miles most days with no problem. He does "relax" for abit when he gets home lol.


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