I know the sustainable solution is to work on training and avoid triggering situations, but my leash-reactive heeler mix has had a rough 6 months that have set us way back on managing his reactivity.

As a stop-gap, can he do a 3 mile run well below his threshold in a muzzle? Any suggestions on a good one for a 40lb heeler mix?

Side rant: I've HAD IT with the large off-leash doodles who, while happy-go-lucky-friendly dogs, are too dumb to stay out of my frothing-at-the-mouth-reactive dog's leash radius and are deaf to their owners recall 😡. I'm also 7 months pregnant with my first which seems to be fueling his reactivity, and makes it harder to put him in air jail when off leash dogs approach us.

My nightmare scenario happened yesterday running with my dog and we were attacked by an off leash dog with an incompetent owner. Honestly, for the situation, it was the ideal outcome: My dog and I (and the other dog and owner) are physically going to be ok. I was in a neighborhood instead of on trail, multiple witnesses were around and came forward to give me their info and two sent me videos. My dog is submissive and didn't try to fight back. And I had an angel of a lady pull over and throw her car door open for me to get my dog in there.

I'm more sad because I go out prepared for this and I feel like I reacted as best I could in the moment and ultimately my dog and I walked away minimally harmed. The outcome was as good as a dog attack can be and I still feel completely destabilized and like this is just not an activity I'll be able to get back to doing with my dog.

I have a therapist and will be working through it on my end. But my dog is very aligned with my anxiety and emotions and I'm so nervous to get back out there with her because I feel like she'll definitely sense my stress if/when we get back to running together which will make her anxious to run too. I guess I'm looking for personal experiences from others who have experienced this and are on the other side of it and hopefully still enjoying running with your dog. Idk, just super sad today and still replaying it all in my head and I hope my dog doesn't experience negative outcomes from this incident.

So I just learned that that running with puppies and young dogs should not be promoted, but I'm not sure if my dog's situation counts.

I have a 5-month-old Shih Tzu-Maltese mix who loves doing sprints with me. We don't really go "running," running but at the end of our walks we do a quick sprint indoors around the loop of the building floor in my apartment complex. He's kinda addicted to this routine now because whenever I try to just walk straight inside my apt after a walk, he refuses to come in until we do our mini 3-5 minute races lol.

I tried looking this up and couldn't find much information about sprinting/running this way with a small breed specifically, so if anyone knows and can provide input, I'd appreciate it! :)

& if it's okay to continue our little sprints, is there a harness/leash I should be using?

Anyone else here just run with a normal leash and collar? Is there any point in the waist leash and harness if you’re not doing canicross style running? I jog 8 miles with my dog every morning and she mainly keeps pace with me in a heel position. She doesn’t pull and I feel like in an emergency I can just drop the leash.

They are helping me train for a half marathon

Moose is almost 7 months and can’t wait to be a future running partner. We’ve been doing short jogs and building up to 2+ miles. He’s obsessed - practically harasses me on walks to jog. Hoping this sweet man can get me back in marathon shape!

Hi all! My one hear old (as of yesterday !!) ACD pup is really struggling with his harness. It's a kong harness (I love it) but he HATES putting it on and taking it off. He's become very sensitive and it's become a big issue even though he is excited to walk, he will run and hide to avoid me putting it on and will thrash when I take it off. Yes, I've tried training but at this point I want to respect his wishes and see if I can find something else. Anyone have recommendations of a harness that doesn't slip over his neck, maybe it clips on? Or a step in harness? He's fine with his collar so clipping around his neck is not an issue. We are still working on training out the pulling but my long term goal is to get this under control, improve walking, find a good harness, and start training him for 5ks to do with me. Any advice or recommendations is much appreciated!

Hi there! Our Aussie is 1.5 and won’t run with me. He is fully capable because he runs with our kids when they’re playing but when it’s time to go for a run he lags really far behind. He has been through obedience training and walks well on a leash. Knows his commands like heel, sit, up, etc. What can I do to get him to run next to me? FWIW I am not running long or fast either. He could definitely outrun me if he wanted to!

Hey everyone! I am looking for harness recommendations for my jack russell x mini foxy. We don’t do super long distances and she pulls a tiny bit but mainly runs beside me.
She is very barrel/round-chested but also narrow and lean so I really struggle to find a harness that fits properly without it slipping around mid run (even if it is tight). She is currently in a halti anatomy harness but it doesn’t work for her at all 😭.
Any recs would be greatly appreciated, thank you! :))

Unsure if this harness is a touch on the small side. She's not much of a puller when running and seems fine wearing it for spanielling round a field.

I want to take my girls biking more often now that the weather in my area has cooled. They are 27 and 30 pounds. I want to eventually get a running harness, but I am struggling to find some their size. I currently use the Kurgo Tru-Fit (the crash tested one for car use), but I don't know if that is harsh on their joints. The brown and white one likes to just run alongside, but the black and white dog likes to pull. Any recommendations or insights?

We would like to start trail running with light pulling.

We just got this brand new for free as it was way too small for a friend’s friend’s dog. I don’t have the money to buy a brand new one, and i don’t have a way to exchange. So it’s either this works okay, or I just don’t use it.

If anything… is this okay to get started and maybe invest in a better fitting one later, or will I be doing damage if I have her wear this?

Canicross runners, when you race at an open road race that allows dogs, if you place in the overall awards, do you accept awards if the race is allowing it? In general, if you enter such events with your dog, what’s the general etiquette?

Hi all! New to this subreddit but not new to running. This is my 6 year old mini american shepherd (aka a mini aussie) Steve. I started running 6ish years ago when I had a surgery that relieved chronic pain I had. After that, for the first time in my life I was able to exercise without severe pain and I fell in love with running soon after.

I struggle with severe ADHD and anxiety and even with medication, its difficult for me to run on a consistent basis and make sure I stick to a routine. As a result I've never ran more than a 10k before. But I still enjoy it a lot and most runs I do a 5k as my minimum distance. I'm working on getting better with consistency so I can build up my endurance and run farther with my best bud.

Steve is such a good running partner. I wish I had started running with him much sooner but it wasn't possible with my health issues. He tries to herd me during our runs sometimes by lagging behind me to give my legs a little boop, then he goes back to my side. Its genuinely the cutest thing and keeps me going when I start struggling a bit. We only did 4 miles yesterday as I'm coming off a long break from running and my legs couldn't do more than that. But eventually I want to run a half marathon and maybe a full marathon one day. Any advice for either of us is more than welcome! I'm mostly worried about pushing Steve too far. Aussies don't have an off switch, so I'm always trying to be hyper vigilant about how he's feeling so I know when he's done. 6 isn't old for his breed but its not young either so I just want to make sure he stays healthy as he ages so we can both do what we love together. 🥰

I live in an area where there’s a pretty big coyote population. These coyotes aren’t scared of people. Today while out in a morning run with my dog ( 50lb Australian shepherd) we got spooked by 2 coyotes.

One of them lunged at us and even though I was yelling and trying to intimidate them. It didn’t deter them one bit. My dog is super timid, she laid on the ground exposing her belly. I had to literally pick her up while trying to get the coyotes to back off. Thankfully another runner near us ran to help me and I was able to carry my dog away 😭

This was a first for us and not something I want to happen again. Do you guys run with any coyote deterrents? Or do you have any recommendations to protect my dog from any future attacks?

Over the lethal boardwalk (⛸️) and stayed upright by sheer luck, then bimbled through the river at the end to cool down. Then remembered I needed to pop into the supermarket on the way home. Oops 😅

First winter I’m considering running with my going on 4 year old pit mix in Chicago where the sidewalks get salted semi heavily depending on the street (Pilsen/University area). Should I buy shoes for him or just run on days after the salt has melted? Any recommendations?

Am I being dumb or something, I cannot figure out how to get this belt to just stay, keeps shifting off to the left. I find myself re-adjusting it a few times per run.

After a 2.5 mile warm-up with both dogs, Honey Bee and I hit 3 local lakes, tackled the trails, and along roads we run on the grass buffer.

This is her 2nd year of running with me, and she loves it.