No offence but running for 4 hours with a 6 month old puppy isn't exactly the best idea.

no i agree labradork- far far too young

It sure isn't a good idea !

Cani-cross is a sport for dogs over a year old. I think I remember reading that until 2 years old they can only enter 2.5k races.

We have a 7 month old pup. He'll run for miles when off-lead in the park. But mentally he's not mature enough to run at a steady pace. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I have an injury that prevents me from running. It'll take a good few months of physio to get me back running so the pup and I will be in training together while the older dog runs with her fit dad! We'll just walk then break into a jog for a little bit - basically he'll just do his thing as he would on a normal walk and I'll keep up as best I can. We'll use the cani-cross kit and get in a bit of training in on directional commands etc.

This might not be appropriate advise for you two as you both have breeds that are prone to joint problems. You should probably consult your vet before taking up something like cani-cross (and your doctor if your aren't in the best shape yourself ) However, a rule of thumb that my vet suggested to me was to let the puppies play off-lead and do as much as they want. Never restrict exercise as underexercising a healthy pup will cause far more health problems than over exercise. If we do anything where they can't stop when they want (such as walking on lead) then be sure to have regular enforced breaks and always aim to do considerably less than the dog would do when playing off-lead. And as the puppy matures it can do more and more. It's a huge mistake to wrap it in cotton wool until it hits adulthood and then expect it to have the fitness needed to perform like an adult dog. This apparantly leads to lots of injuries.

But it's important to remember that advise given in relation to one breed isn't relevant to all breeds. A puppy's play prepares him for the life he will lead as an adult. Obviously a greyhound pup's play will be very different from a husky's play. So common sense should dictate that exercise that you control should be appropriate to your breed of dog, and to the degree to which the breed suffers from genetic orthopedic conditions (such as hip dysplasia, elbow displasia). Our first beagle is a very different breed from our youngest. She's light and agile. He's heavy and solid. I'd do less with him than we did with her simply because there's more strain on his joints. You need to really know your dog and plan his exercise accordingly.

A 7 month old pup of any breed shoulnd't be walking 4 hrs up and down hills or be pulling anything for longer than 2 minutes!!

Absolutely! Darn humans don't know what they're doing. No self-respecting wolf mummy would let her 7 month old babies walk a whole 2 miles up Ben Ledi AND back down again at a speedy 1mph pace. God forbid! If she really had to go somewhere and couldn't get a babysitter she'd tuck him into his little buggy until he was at LEAST a year old.

Seriously, I think you should have a stern word with mother nature because according to this paper on the habits of wolves:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.ed...nis_lupus.html

Think about it - If the pups are born at the start of the spring they'll be 6 months old when the wolves enter their nomadic phase. During that phase they can cover up to 200 km per day. The paper also says that wolf cubs start hunting with the pack by 10 months old. So lets assume that the pack doesn't start covering 200km per day until the pups are 10 months old. Don't you think it'd need to be doing a darn site more than a very occasional 4 mile stroll by the age of 7 months in order to build up the capacity to cover 200 km day by 10 months?

I will have to show the pics to my boyf Akna! as i ran up a long sloping hill on one of our runs last week and didnt stop once, until i hit my knees 2 strides from the top gate! Didnt have the boy attached though!! He thought it was great diving all over me as I lay prone in the set-aside panting! ) Boyf said i didnt need to do runs like that as i need stamina not power (apparently his rugby lot do hills to develop power) but it is near on exactly the same!! Cripes! I better get up there again! My time at fineshades was 25mins through all the mud and I want to do as well as I can (think last years winner at cheltenham did it in 19mins?). the run i did with the hill in it on the return leg was 5.8km and i did it in 30mins (the first part of the run is uphill but zig zags so not as daunting!) had tun attached up the zig zag part, let him off as i ran down the long sloping hill an ran back up then re attached him for the run back down the zig zag. (Basically from just outside Caldecot on a footpath to the eyebrook reservior and back if you know that neck of the woods, great views over the res. at the very top!)

Fabulous contribution to the thread guys! Well done. I'll be sure to pass on your research to my breeder, breed club and vet! I'm sure they'll be very appreciative

Moving on then....

We got the rest of our kit yesterday so headed for Pollock park to try it out. The dogs were already used to their harnesses but we wanted to see how they'd react to being attached to us without the scent of the open country to drive them.

We ordered two belts and lines, but also a double line so that one of us could run with two dogs if we wanted. We replaced the safety releases as they looked as if they could be accidently released - not something you want with beagles hot on the trail! In order to get video we put both dogs on a double line. At first they didn't want leave the person holding the camera. But after a couple of minutes they got right into it. It seemed to trigger a strong instinct to pull. They both really enjoyed it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27172079@N08/3381306409/

So what about the command training aspect? I don't think we'll have any problem teaching them to pull a it's instinctive with them. I guess we need a left, right and most definitely a 'steady'. The older one understands 'wait' and will stop in her tracks.

Before I injured my hip I was doing a lot of training for 5 and 10k road races. I was working with a running coach for about a year and got really good results. The basic approach that he took was to think in terms of a pyramid.

First you must build up endurance (both aerobic and muscle and ligament) - this is vital as it'll allow you to train safely and make good progress. He said running time was more important than distance - he used to have me run anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes. My target distance was 10k's.

Next he had me working on various distances at speed - so 4 400m laps with 30 second recovery between; 4x 800m laps with 30 seconds recovery; the killers were 5 x 1k reps with 90 seconds recovery. I never completed that one.

The speed work that got me great results in all respects was hill sprints. Find a hill about 80m - 100m long and not too steep. Get someone to time you with a stop watch. Sprint up the hill as if the devil was on your heels then jog back down. Turn immediately and sprint up again. Repeat this 4 times, each time trying to beat your previous time. Take a five minute rest then repeat. It's a killer but you get fit fast. At one stage I was able to do 12 reps of this! You feel fabulous AFTER it - it really gets the endorphines flowing!

I live near the bottom of a hill that has a 12% incline and is 0.8km from my drive to the top and the hill that was in the middle of my run the other night was 0.5km and boss reckons (we've just been trying to work it out using gradient lines!) its about the same incline but a gentler slope. Showed boyf pics of the finish and he has changed his mind and said 'get back up that hill'. the local running club use our hill, you always see groups going up and down. I got some right funny looks from a few of them the other night as i was just setting off with me and the boy in our high viz gear and him all harnessed up!

Im busily trying to work out a 10k route i can have a go at that doesnt involve much road work (dont like to pound him if i can help it!) in preparation for the run at the end of april. Longest ive done so far was 8k so am keen to see if i can do it!

Akna! Isnt there a chap not a million miles away that has a team of dobes that pull him in cart? im sure ive seen a website? Ive tried tun out with me on my mountain bike, never again! ;o)

Oh dear. I love how you have completely ignored what has been said because you know it is true. Poor dogs.

yeah mine too..