I was wondering if anyone had experience jogging with their Great Dane. I have a 5 month old Dane (SaDee) who I would like to take jogging with me but have read that I shouldn't until she is at least 1 yr's old. When I do start taking her out with me how much is too much? I only jog about 2 miles a day at an average of 11 minute miles. Is there anyone out there running or jogging with their Dane's and if so how many miles are you putting in with your dog and how fast are you running? What did you do to get them started and can you tell when they've had enough?
Thanks!
no help
on the jogging info but you've gotten the answers from some pros here. please remember, even if they're walking, they're feet are going to be on the very hot pavement. check it with your bare foot before you ask your dog to take a long walk in the high temps.
your pup is beautiful. we all love the puppies but only a few are brave enough to want one in the house lol!.
thank you for coming here for advise. please seek guidance here for any issues you may face in the future. there's plenty of experience available.
she is adorable!
She looks like Barnum and they are the same age! She's a cutie pie! No advice on jogging (my mile average is a 35 min stroll) but I love the picture!
JOGGING
With Gandalf being my first dane, I am in no way an expert. I do have opinions, though. I take him to a baseball field to run when it is cooler. He will run full out for about 3 minutes, then he just trots around and after 10-15 minutes looses interest in running completely. We have a good sniff and walk around. I would see if your dog has fun with running, go short distances at first, like others have suggested.
I used to run 3-5 miles a day with Daisy
I used to run 3-5 miles a day with my Daisy dane (years ago!). My vet at the time was very dane-saavy and knew I was a jogger because I had taken my springer spaniel in with an injury not too long before I adopted Daisy-- at our first vet visit he told me absolutely no running with her until she was 2 years old. Once she reached 2, we started with <1/2 mile and took months to build up to the 3-5 miles. I just altered my running route and would go with my springer for most of my run then circle back to the house and swap them for the last part-at first just 1/2 mile, then 3/4, then a mile and so on. But we really did it very slowly.
Not all of them will like it. You'll have to really tune into whether your guy enjoys it or is just being dragged along out of loyalty to you. I had two other danes while I had Daisy and neither one of them really seemed to like it for more than about 1 mile or so. Daisy was my only real runner-- she loved it-- she would just go nuts when she saw my running shoes come out and even sometimes would bring them to me (more than once at about 3am i got a stinky running shoe shoved in my face). Daisy was a long and lean, narrow faced, greyhoundy type Dane-- i always thought that was maybe why she took to it like that-- my other two were blocky-headed mastiffy types and they were happy for about 10 minutes then pretty much wanted to head back to the couch.
I did not really answer you question though, huh!!
I dont think danes could with stand a 11 min mile. I ran track in HS and that is still pretty fast. I would wait to start her jogging, and a slow one at that, untill she is 18 months to 2 years old because they still have a growth spurt at 18 months. Then when you start her out, remember that she has to get back. So if you start headed off and she is panting and slow, you still have to come back whatever distance you have gone. I would start off with very slow and short distances. Even if you went a little, walked, a little bit etc. I have actually never ran with my dane nor do I know anyone who does to the extent of what you are wanting to do. Not to say it can not be done, but they just really are not built to do the long distance stuff.
Does that help at all??? Cassie, who is a vet, can probably answer this better than I can. I would hold off for a bit longer...
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big huge NO NO
At 5 months old, you could REALLY jack up her joints. With their rapid rate of growth, it is best for them not to push it too much with over using their joints in a strenuous way. Most Danes enjoy a good run. but it does not last very long. They have very large bodies and large hearts which usually do not make a good combo. Now, my female really likes to jog. She is 2.5 years old to 3 years old and we might go to the end of the block or so. We dont take her on long runs because she just does not have the stamina!! Me either sometimes!! HA.
But with your puppy, their bodies go thru a lot. I would keep her on a high quality ADULT food ( not puppy) and give her a about 18 more months to grow into her gigantic body!!! I love puppies. My husband and I have fostered over 100 Danes in the last 5 years and most, if not all, were puppies.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE puppies, esp the under 10 month age!! :) Little Devil dogs....
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