# Running on Asphalt



## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

After a short lull of a month or so in my 10 month old Dutchy's activity level is back up to 10 on the Rictor Scale. 

I live close to a beautiful level paved bike trail that winds around the lake.

Is 10 months old, old enough to run him along side of the my bike for a mile two times a day? 

How tough is smooth pavement on a dogs feet?

I hope I get the right answers to this post because he is driving me nuts.:grin:


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

How do you want to run him? Just hanging on to the leash or are you thinking about getting a Springer? http://www.springerusa.com/ As just holding on to the leash while on a bike is a recipe for disaster. 

10 mos I don't think the growth plates are closed yet so I'd be leery of running him on asphalt any ways even for shorter runs. Unless there is grass or the like where you can make him run on. 

How about letting him have at a eGGe toy http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=336&ParentCat=39 or the like? I have one of these and my dog goes ape for it, she will spend hours chasing it all over the back yard. Makes it easy for me to exercise her as I'm a lazy slob any ways! Ha ha!


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## Dan Long (Jan 10, 2008)

10 months is too young to be doing repetitive, pounding type runs on asphalt, and a mile or 2 run is nothing for a GSD, that's like a walk around the block for us. You are better off getting him to run wind sprints by playing 2 ball or something like that. Short bursts of speed over and over. 20-30 minutes of that is better than a 10 mile run. Get his mind working too, that'll tire him out just as much as physical activity will.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Geoff, I like that egg thing. I have a dog who destroys every toy I ever gave him but Kongs. And that may be because Kongs don't interest him much. When I say destroys I'm not kidding. He does this many times in a matter of minutes. Do you think it might stand up? I don't mind spending the bucks if it will hold up awhile.

Run might have been the wrong word to use. Trot, not even gallop, would be closer to accurate. The bike is a retro. I think they call them beach cruisers now. It doesn't even have gears and I'm old.

I don't need a leash in that area. I plan on bringing one but I don't need to attach it while riding. He doesn't bolt with distractions anymore. He just races back to me if I stim him with the ecollar. The ecollar will be on.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Dan, what age do you think would be more appropriate? I'm doing the mental stuff, plus two ball with small volley balls, plus play with the frisbee, plus with the various tennis balls, DAILY. I just wanted to add more because he still wants more. 

This pup is a full time job. I'm lucky I work from a home office. I put him in the crate at 5 PM, let him out at 8PM and he's there till 4 AM. Then it starts all over again 7 days a week. The reason he's in the crate at 5 PM is because I'm worn out by then.


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## Mike Schoonbrood (Mar 27, 2006)

I would wait till 14 months and start slow and short and build up to 18 months.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Lee I'm with Dan on that one. Too young. Bones, tendons, muscles are all developing and excess stress isn't good. I would equate that to doing full defense in a bite suit with a young dog. 14 or more months for some working breeds is a good rule of thumb.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Geoff, I like that egg thing. I have a dog who destroys every toy I ever gave him but Kongs. And that may be because Kongs don't interest him much. When I say destroys I'm not kidding. He does this many times in a matter of minutes. Do you think it might stand up? I don't mind spending the bucks if it will hold up awhile.


Well my dog destroys everything as well. The toughest toy i've seen are Kongs and other Kong like toys. i.e. She will usually kill a jolly ball in a matter of months. I have heard Jolly balls are not the greatest for their teeth either. If the kids leave out a soccer ball or the like might as well throw it in the garbage. 

The eGGe is hard plastic and the way it is designed is the dog can't get their teeth on it all. Every time she touches it, it goes one way or another she tries to hold it with her paws and she when tries to bite it goes flying. 

As for it being indestructable, the last snow storm we had was almost 3ft so we had 6-7ft drifts in the back yard. I cut paths with my snowblower so the dog has a place to go for a crap. Anyways I couldn't see the eGGe and hit it with the auger of the blower .. bang ..bang ..bang. It took off the shear pins bolts of the auger and the blower gouged the eGGe but I just pulled it out of the snow, shaved off the little hanging bits of plastic with a olfa knife that the auger gouged and the toy works just the same. 

I'll try to take some video later today and post it up for you. Here is a pic of it in action.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

OK Geoff I see. It looks great. I will order today. Thanks everyone for the advice.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Personally I'm so paranoid about doing any possible hip or elbow damage to growing young dogs I wouldn't do more than walk on the asphalt until the dog is over a year or 14 months or so. 


I have one of those eGGe toys too and I've never seen a dog that doesn't eventually go a little gaga over them. I wonder if it's because of the strange way they roll? Ny current young dog sort of wraps both front legs around it and drags it around making all sorts of strange vocalizations at it. I think they are one of the few toys that are close to indestructible - they can however, eventually work a pretty big hole into them.


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## Chris Wild (Jan 30, 2008)

I would not plan on taking a dog running until a minimum of 14 months old, preferably closer to 18 months. You want to wait until the bones have fully calcified and growth plates closed before doing this.

When you do take him running or biking, try to figure out a way for him to run on the grass, not the asphalt. Asphalt can tear up their pads, and pounding pavement also puts undo stress on the body. Human joggers are supposed to avoid asphalt/concrete when possible too, because of the stress of running long distances on unyeilding surfaces. Grass has some squish to it that reduces impact stress, and is much preferable for running the dog on.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

susan tuck said:


> I think they are one of the few toys that are close to indestructible - they can however, eventually work a pretty big hole into them.


Still a pretty good investment for under $20, hours of fun and exercise!! I've had mine since November. She bounces it off the bricks on the side of the house and the concrete steps plus we have using it in sub zero temps. If that didn't kill it the snow blower hit should've!

I get a kick out of when she puts in under something then she has to figure out 
how to get it out. So she makes all those funny noises too like your dog and works and works at it,until she pops it out. I even use it to work obedience and recalls with her.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Geoff, maybe that's your calling. Did you ever consider being a "eGGe" salesman?


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Geoff, maybe that's your calling. Did you ever consider being a "eGGe" salesman?


I'd probably just end up with eGGe on my face as usual ..


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## Dan Long (Jan 10, 2008)

Geoff Empey said:


> Well my dog destroys everything as well. The toughest toy i've seen are Kongs and other Kong like toys. i.e. She will usually kill a jolly ball in a matter of months. I have heard Jolly balls are not the greatest for their teeth either. If the kids leave out a soccer ball or the like might as well throw it in the garbage.


Our black kong has lasted the longest out of any toy. Jolly balls are a joke. My GSD tore thru one of the giant sized ones in a couple days and he wasn't more than a year old, probably 7-8 months. He was carrying around the handle with a flap of rubber, but it was still a good toy as far as he was concerned. The smaller ones seem to be a little tougher but I've never had one last long. The most recent one, our Dane ate the handle off in a couple hours. Now we only use it under supervision and put it up when we're done. We have the one that has the big rope thru it too, they like that one.

The are definitely not good for teeth. I found that out the hard way, as my GSD has flat lower canines. He'd get so obsessed with it that he'd hold it on the ground and chomp up and down, and it would have dirt and sand on it that just ground his teeth away. He will work them until he makes a permanent dent in it then work a hole so he can tear pieces of it off. 

Lee it sounds like you have a machine for a dog! That is a lot of kennel time though, and there are a lot of little things you can do inside while you are relaxing that will keep the dog occupied, maybe instead of keeping him in his kennel. One thing I've done for a long time with mine is to put him in a down, throw his toy, then make him wait 5-10-15 minutes before releasing him. Saves your arm! Sometimes I'd forget and a half hour later he'd whine and I'd realize he was still waiting for me to release him. Those are some of the mind games you can do. Another one that is good is having him do object finds, indoor or outdoor. Put him in a down somewhere secluded, like around the side of the house or in a certain room in the house, then take his toy and hide it somewhere else, and then have him find it. If he's that drivey, he won't give up til he brings it back for another round. Mine can find it anywhere in the back yard in minutes, so now I'm upping the ante by putting it high up in bushes where he has to jump for it, and using things like hats and gloves instead of toys, then use the toy as a reward for a good find. Be creative! You have a young dog, and he's going to be like this for a good while, so get used to it!


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Dan,he is a machine. He is a great dog. I've had a lot of working dogs in the past. None of them matched this boy's attitude. I thought he was calming down there for a while. I was wondering what happened. Then he went wild again. He is doing great obedience work. The best of any other dog I owned at this age. But when I cut him loose his energy knows no bounds. He is a real happy dog and very social. I'm fortunate to have the time to devote to him. I still haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to handle him when the new pup arrives in a week. 

That's when life gets real interesting for me. Thanks for the hiding toy idea. Somehow I forgot about that.


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Interesting. I know a few people who have those horse Jolly Balls for their dogs and they swear by them. I haven't ever seen one myself. ARe they hard plastic with a handle or soft?


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

susan tuck said:


> Interesting. I know a few people who have those horse Jolly Balls for their dogs and they swear by them. I haven't ever seen one myself. ARe they hard plastic with a handle or soft?



Susan they are sorta of a medium soft. Not like an eGGe hard more like a thin skinned kong. It is like the consistency of leather with the feel of tough rubber. 

My dog gets a kick out of hers she just drags it all over the place by the handle banging it off her head and everything else around her. The handle barely lasted a few days though she still pounded that ball for months after she killed it. Tore it to peices .. I wouldn't buy one again especially a large one just because of the teeth and it is not a good value toy that lasts like the eGGe. 

I use the smaller jolly ball I have now as a reward for tracking she loves to find it after I hide it in the bush. But I just won't let pound on it like I would the eGGe.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Here's a good article. http://www.siriusdog.com/articles/ausdauerprufung-ad.htm


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Thanks Bob, that's a great article, I've added it to my favorites to refer back to as needed.


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

Now for something completely different. Go ahead and run the dog. I run my dog on the bike, and do minimum of 3 up to 12 miles pretty much every night. It is on asphalt and concrete. My only warning is to take it slow at first until you figure out your dog. There are signs that they are done, like the head goes down, and so forth.

The weak should die off anyway, and I have not had a bunch of problems, although I did start off slow, to get the feet used to the concrete.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

Lee, is your pup reliable off leash yet? Any reason you couldn't be on the bike riding at a slow/moderate pace while he runs off leash in the grass or whatever at his own pace? My pup turned 11 months old a few days ago and we've just started this last week. Before that, the other dogs were off leash and he was on a 30 foot long line as I walked. Currently, we go 1.5-2 miles and they tend to do a mix of trotting, sprinting, and walking. I've found that even for some dogs who like to wander off when off leash when you're walking on a trail will keep up better going at a slow to moderate pace on the bike.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

The general consensus is grass is the way if I'm going to trot him with a bike. He is quite reliable off leash. I have the ecollar for backup just in case. I have a great area with mowed lawn adjacent to pavement for exercising him.


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