New to the forum, but already liking it! I have a question some or all of you may be able to answer... I've always run with my huskamute, but just lately he just seems to be slowing down. We usually do between 5 and 6 miles, but this morning he'd pretty much decided he didn't want to play after a couple of miles and he just trotted along really slowly behind me.

It's not a sudden thing, he's just been getting slower and slower of late. Thing is, he's not quite 7 years old yet. I would have thought he's still be easily up for running the distance at his age, or no?

Cheers, Steve.

Two thoughts, first, is he getting arthritis?

Or, are you running the same route every day and he's getting bored?

Has he been to the vet recently for a physical? If the vet doesn't find anything, yeah, he might be bored or arthritic. My Malamute pretty much lost interest in running at about that same age, but he still liked to go on walks. He did have arthritis, but it didn't give him any real trouble until he was ten years old.

I would check for arthritis. My girl started having noticeable arthritis around 6 years old. Slow to lay down. Slow to get up. Slowing down on runs. She's 8 now and a mile of running is all you are going to get out of her but she will walk for days still. The longevity of a dog is determined by so much starting with quality of breeding, diet, how hard the dog was worked, etc. If you aren't giving supplements already I would add a good glucosamine or fish oil supplement. If you are already doing that it might be time to step up to something like cbd oil.

My boy started having issues with arthritis at 6 years old as well. He stopped running, started limping and was slow to get up/lay down and it came on pretty suddenly when it really started bothering him. I don't know how long he may have hidden earlier symptoms as I know animals tend to hide pain quite well. Of course I had him seen by a vet to get a professional opinion on why the sudden slow down.

Oh dear, so he could be getting past it I've been joking that if Amundsen took him to the South Pole he'd be in the pot at the top of the Axel Heiberg glacier.

He does get up a bit slower now, although not too bad. He managed to get up and down our (nearly vertical) staircase OK though. I struggle with that sometimes!