Hi Alison. The best person to help you with this question is your vet, as they can answer in the context of Gryff’s current health and physical exam. Many dogs do run this far without problems, but it does depend on your dog’s own joints.

Hi Louise – as well as building up slowly you’ll need to keep an eye on your pup’s total exercise time until they’re a year old. We recommend a maximum of 5 minutes of formal exercise (eg leash walking, running at heel etc) per day, per month of your pup’s age. So at 4 months a maximum of 20 minutes out with while you jog and/or walk. I hope that helps!
Sammie

1) “If she were in the wild, would she be running more or less than she is likely to do as a pet?”

2) “When she is off the lead (which is most of the time as we live in countryside), what does she do?”

The answers to these questions should tell you what you need to know about the individual needs of your dog. Mine is incredibly energetic and has no family history of health issues. At the moment she is already doing 3km runs with me, while breaking off for playfights with 4 legged friends and scratching her head at how humans are such useless athletes (and I run a 40 minute 10km).

I wouldn’t dream of running my dog on hard surfaces or pushing her on if she wanted a rest, but I think the modern world is getting as over-protective with dogs as children. Just read their needs and respond to them.

Our lab crossed with collie is two tomorrow and my husband runs between 3-5 miles and wants to take Lily with him. Is she old enough to start running with him if what mileage do you suggest.

Thank you

A dog is fully grown at about 8-10 months so it shouldn’t be a problem taking it out for a run ?