Catahoulas are great running dogs, but they love to flush birds out of bushes and shrubs, so be prepared to make some unsceduled breaks everynow and then. I had a catahoula last year who I'd take running early in the morning, she'd get on kicks where we had to stop at every bush so she could point out any birds to me, we couldn't start up again until I had said thank you. They can run for days though.

Matt

I find my border collie is the absolute best to run with (as opposed to my jack russels, who are just major spaz-attacks and don't like to listen to me). He can go fast, but he likes to stay somewhat near me. As a herding breed, border collies know to stay near their owner. Sometimes when we approach hikers or runners he'll try to herd them along with us, but he's usually unsuccessful. I like to take him on trail runs, as it's a safey and companion thing. On the steep hills though, he'll get way ahead of me, double back and give me this look, "what's taking you so long, let's go!" It's adorable. He's afraid of water though, which bums me out, and he barks at my pump when I pump up my tires, which is really annoying. :)

I do not run with a dog, but I have been known on occasion to run from someone else's dog while training. :D

I do very little running with my dog. I run after her for the first half, and she usually trails me for the last half. She's a black lab.

Kelli

i run with my chilean desert hound all the time. he looks alot like a black and tan mutt and is most likely the offspring of a ridgeback and a white tailed deer. no kidding, this dog has a 6' vertical leap from a dead stop. loves to run! he provides excellent motivation as well, he is always ready to go.

Even though, this was posted awhile ago, I thought I'd still contribute. I trained for a marathon with my 6 year old pit/shephard cross. She LOVED it! She went all the way to my last long run of 24 miles. A REAL trooper. Though, I think that her knee ran low. This past December she tore a ligament in her knee and had to have it repaired (not running distance at the time, just a stop and turn type of thing). So, she is on the recovery road, ready to get out again as soon as I get out again too!

Watched a PBS episode on dogs once. ;)

Actually it was informative. Dalmations, the firetruck dogs, apparently can run an easy 30-50 miles in a day. They're bred for motion. Which is why they go crazy when people buy them as apartment dogs. For us triathletes, that's the equivalent of a permanent recovery week.

As for myself, no dogs yet, too much travelling. But I might stick with the family tradition and get a Doberman - I grew up with runner Dobermans. They're sweet dogs (if raised right). But then that dalmation endurance thing is pretty cool. Maybe they could be adventure racing dogs?

:)

Happy training.

Hey SB, lol. I loved your quip about the Jack Russells! That's so true.

TdB, in England about 20 years ago we had a Dalmatian - Sammy dog. He went out with the horses when Mom rode out in the New Forest - open heath and forest trails, and yep, he covered twice the ground the horses did. So when I came home on holidays from University, he wanted to go running with me, but never on a leash. It was the forest after all. I loved that dog.

From 1983 to 1997 I had a terrier. He ran with me until he was 10 years old - on the leash where necessary, but around the University in Calgary, he could run free and chased rabbits, Marmots, squirrels, never caught anything but he was fun to watch. When he got older I still took him out for long walks but I had to run alone.

I've seen people run in 10k races and take their faithful mutt along on a lead. Hey, they trained together so Fido gets to race too!

A note of caution though, a dog is so faithful that even if he's out of shape he will hurt himself to stay with you so be careful with him.

PoC

When we got married I had one dog and my husband had two, so now we have 3 active sporting dogs in our family -- 1 English Springer Spaniel and 2 crazy Chocolate Labs. The Springer trained with me for my first two marathons - getting up to the 13mi range before I got nervous about taking her any further. Running with all three is an adventure though - you get a real upper body workout the first mile or two while the Labs lunge ahead and the Springer lags behind! So, if you're ever running the trails of NoVA/DC and see a woman yelling for Joe, Nick and Ally to slow down...stop and introduce yourself!

In addition to my first 2 tris this year, I also just began training for the Marine Corps Marathon in Oct, and intend to have the Springer and one of the Labs (the alpha and omega of our little pack) train with me. The third dog was hit by a car a few years ago, and lingering shoulder problems mean he can't do more than 4-5mi. I would LOVE to race with them (a 5K or 10K) but every race I've ever entered has seemed to be pretty strict about the no pets rule.

I used to run with my dalmation till he died. Now our beagle is my running partner. He hates it when I put on my running shoes and go outside with out him, he will bark and bark. If you've ever heard a hound bark you know how loud they are and at 4:45AM this is the last thing my neighboors want to hear, so just about every morning run he goes with me. The most he's ran with me is 12-13 miles. Now that the temps are up he only goes for shorter runs early in the AM.