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Schooner’s First 10K

I’ve talked about my adventures in running in past articles. How I got started running, how running is a lot like dog training, and how training for a race is exactly like training your dog.

Last year, I was up for an adventure, so I took Schooner, my Great Dane, to a local Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning.

Great Dane, Schooner, running, Turkey Trot, dog training — Schooner runs his first Turkey Trot 5K!

Schooner did a great job running his first race.

So this year we’re going to enter some other dog-friendly races. We’re doing the Turkey Trot again, and looking to find a couple more races we can run with the Schoons.

I’ve been running with Schooner for about a year now and he set a new record for himself: he ran his very first 10K! It was a training run for me (my husband and I have a bunch of races coming up, but I’m training specifically for a 10K in April).

Schooner has done 5.75 miles, but this one was a full 10K (6.2 miles). The weather was nice — not too hot, some cloud cover — and he’d been somewhat stir crazy over the weekend, so I took him with me. He did a great job, I don’t think he even felt the 6 miles — he was ready to race around the backyard when we got home.

Dogs aren’t welcome at a lot of races — and for good reason.

Races are competitive events. Running with a dog can be dangerous if he isn’t trained well, especially if you’re in a large group of runners. There is also dog-etiquette to be aware of if you want to stay on the good side of fellow runners. In addition, I think it’s important to think about health and conditioning issues for your dog, as well. I’m not a veterinarian, so I’ll leave that up to the experts. I strongly encourage you to check with your veterinarian before you start running with your dog to make sure your dog is healthy and can withstand the rigors of running.

This post is about what kind of training your dog should have so that you can both run safely (whether in a race, on the road, or on the trail).

Leash manners is an important skill to teach any dog, but especially a dog who’s going to run with you.

You don’t want your dog to pull you — that’s a recipe for disaster. You could be pulled into traffic, you could fall and injure yourself, and you could really tick off other runners. Here are some articles (with video!) to help teach your dog great leash manners. Start here, then go to this step, and finish with this one.

Another running skill your dog should have is attention to you.

It’s crucial that you can get your dog’s attention quickly whenever you need it. For instance, if you’re running the roads and you see something ahead that you’d like to avoid, you can call your dog’s name, safely cross the street, and continue your run uninterrupted. I wrote an article and made a video demonstrating how to teach the basics of attention. Schooner, the Great Dane is also the star of the second article and video in the series working on advanced attention.

You may think that because you run alone or out on lonely trails, that it’s ok that your dog isn’t so friendly to other dogs or to people.

I can confirm that those “empty” trails aren’t always empty. Sometimes I’m on them. I can’t tell you the number of times people have said to me “I never see anyone here!” as they’re frantically begging their off-leash dog (a huge pet-peeve of mine that I’ll get to in the next article…) to come back to them and to leave me alone. Some trails are narrow, sidewalks can be crowded, and running routes can be tight. If your dog isn’t friendly to people, don’t take him running in public. If your dog isn’t so great with other dogs, leave him home. You may go out 99 times and not run across another person or dog. But that one time you do, and your dog bites someone or gets into a dog fight, will be the one that really matters (angry runner, injured dog, potential lawsuit, etc.).

Fellow “runs with dogs” runners, what training tasks have I missed? What other behavior and training concepts should I include?

Stay tuned, my next article will focus on etiquette when you run with your dog.

I was on a rental car shuttle bus, just making my way back home from a working weekend.

The shuttle driver throws out a question to the two women on the shuttle (of which I am one).

“So who is the dog show judge?”

I don’t say a word. I’m wondering how he knows I’m into dogs. I mean, he got the title wrong, but yes, I’m here to teach dog training.

So I’m quiet as a church mouse, keeping my head down, hoping to avoid detection, when — to my surprise — the other woman says “Oh, that’s me! How did you know I was an AKC judge?” Huh, two dog people randomly on the same airport shuttle — what are the chances.

Apparently she wears her passion on her luggage, because the guy said her luggage gave her away (I didn’t even look, hoping to avoid detection).

I’m feverishly surfing my phone, attempting to stay under the radar, out of the conversation. The two talked dogs, breeds, mixes, etc. I’m an extrovert, it’s hard for me to shut up anyway, let alone talk about DOGS.

But I’ve learned my lesson. The hard way. Let a stranger find out you’re a dog trainer and you’re their best friend for however long you’re in their vicinity. It’s not that I don’t like talking about dogs. I love talking dogs — especially with dog people! It’s the debate over training methods that causes me angst. Dog training is a lot like religion and politics: best not to talk about it in mixed company.

I was tight lipped, engrossed in my phone.

Until.

Until the AKC judge looked at me and saw my shirt. She recognized Karen Pryor’s name (I was running a KPA dog training workshop in St. Louis that weekend) and was wearing a KPA logo shirt.

Asked if I was Karen (hahahahahah, I wish) and then declared “I really like clicker training, but it didn’t work for us.”

To which I wanted to respond “Yes, I get it. Gravity sounds nice, but it just doesn’t seem to work for me.”

I laugh when I hear people say things like that. To be fair, many of them follow up with “I know it was me, not the dog, but I just couldn’t get it to work for me.”

To those people, I am thankful. They understand that it was the application of the science, not the science itself that was faulty. I’m the first to admit, clicker training isn’t always presented simply. There’s some (totally false) mysticism surrounding clicker training that I work to dispel every day.

When it was clear that both of us were heavily into dogs, the inevitable question from the “who’s the dog judge” guy was “So what do you guys think of the Dog Whisperer?”

It’s taken me a few years to hone my expressionless face. But I have it nailed down pretty good now. Dog Judge Lady looks at me, rolls her eyes, and sighs. I say to the guy “He’s entertaining!” as I smile broadly.

Dog Judge Lady laughs.

I continue “It’s kind of like the HGTV shows that show the house renovations in 60-minutes. You KNOW it took way more than 60 minutes and that the guys hosting the show did almost none of the work. But man, was it entertaining and did it look good!”

Dog Judge Lady laughs again and says “Yeah, entertainment. That’s a good way to describe it.”

The two of us didn’t agree on clicker training, but man did we bond over reality tv dog training. It was gratifying to know that people from opposite sides of the fence could find something on which we could agree and then used that as a springboard to talk about other topics within the dog world.

Run With Your Dog: Schooner Runs His First 10K

Schooner’s First 10K

Last year, I was up for an adventure, so I took Schooner, my Great Dane, to a local Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning.

Schooner did a great job running his first race.

Dogs aren’t welcome at a lot of races — and for good reason.

This post is about what kind of training your dog should have so that you can both run safely (whether in a race, on the road, or on the trail).

Leash manners is an important skill to teach any dog, but especially a dog who’s going to run with you.

Another running skill your dog should have is attention to you.

You may think that because you run alone or out on lonely trails, that it’s ok that your dog isn’t so friendly to other dogs or to people.

Fellow “runs with dogs” runners, what training tasks have I missed? What other behavior and training concepts should I include?

Two Dog People Get on an Airport Shuttle…

I was on a rental car shuttle bus, just making my way back home from a working weekend.

“So who is the dog show judge?”

Apparently she wears her passion on her luggage, because the guy said her luggage gave her away (I didn’t even look, hoping to avoid detection).

Until.

Dog Judge Lady laughs.

Dog Judge Lady laughs again and says “Yeah, entertainment. That’s a good way to describe it.”

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Uncategorized

Schooner’s First 10K

Last year, I was up for an adventure, so I took Schooner, my Great Dane, to a local Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning.

Schooner did a great job running his first race.

Dogs aren’t welcome at a lot of races — and for good reason.

This post is about what kind of training your dog should have so that you can both run safely (whether in a race, on the road, or on the trail).

Leash manners is an important skill to teach any dog, but especially a dog who’s going to run with you.

Another running skill your dog should have is attention to you.

You may think that because you run alone or out on lonely trails, that it’s ok that your dog isn’t so friendly to other dogs or to people.

Fellow “runs with dogs” runners, what training tasks have I missed? What other behavior and training concepts should I include?

“So who is the dog show judge?”

Apparently she wears her passion on her luggage, because the guy said her luggage gave her away (I didn’t even look, hoping to avoid detection).

Until.

Dog Judge Lady laughs.

Dog Judge Lady laughs again and says “Yeah, entertainment. That’s a good way to describe it.”

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