Our little one is only 4 months old, but I'm really looking forward to eventually being able to jog with him! I read somewhere in this forum about how they shouldn't really run on hard surfaces until they're almost a year old. Is that true? When can I start trying to train him to run alongside me - and how? Right now Ezio's just a puppy and any kind of running we do (sometimes we run back to the apartment from the grass just outside), he BOLTS ahead. Any tips? Before we had him I ran almost every day, so I'm really looking forward to getting back into it and having a buddy this time!

It is absolutely true that you should not run a puppy on a hard surface until they're around a year old. If you do, you run a significant risk of damaging Ezio's growing joints. He can run around on the grass all day with unstructured type play, but seriously wait to start jogging with him.

In the meantime, train him to heel. We had the best success teaching that with high value treats, and we'd walk around with a treat in the hand giving the heel command. Whenever Ghost walked in a decent heel position we'd praise like crazy and occasionally give the treat. Once Ezio is consistently in a good heel position, start weaning off the treats. Consistency is key with this one.

Good deal! Thanks for the info. I'll wait to jog him. In the meantime we'll hopefully get him well-trained.

can I ask how do you train them to heel???
I tried going to puppy classes but my oldest has only become worse in the pulling instead of better =S he used to be a good walker but now it has become quite uncomfortable.
I have figured out a method, which is I start on the step by the front door, and walk with him, the longer he stays beside me without pulling the further we walk, but as soon as he pulls I turn back around and tell him to sit on the step beside me again and I repeat the process but I don't know if this is a good idea, since as soon as I get to a new place, he pulls again ^^;
Bandit and Luna are not very obedient, I am not sure if it is too late to train them ^^;

If he's bolting ahead I'm guessing he's not on lead which is really risky in itself, get him used to walking on a lead while you wait for him to be old enough to start jogging with you. I've found a harness works well for Milla, over just a collar.

What harness do you get?

Hey Jess, your method sounds great. It's very similar to what we did with ours. And it's never too late, and they are never too old to learn. Just stick with it.

not trying to advertise here lol but we had a major pulling issue with Dakota. We didn't walk him ... he draged us So i tried the over the nose lead thing , he didn't pull any but he was misreble and spent the walk trying to get the infernal object off his nose. So i just recently got a Halti Harness. A strap goes across the chest and another is around his girth. The leash attaches to his chest in front, and the harness clips to his collar, so even if he somehow backed out of it he is still connected via collar. He is a different dog walking on this thing. Perhaps it can help you. Here is a link to the harness , http://www.petco.com/product/114796/The-Company-of-Animals-Halti-Dog-Harness.aspx
You don't have to buy it there of course, but at least you can see what i'm talking about.

We started jogging with Onyx around 4-5 months. We would jog in the park and he always goes on the grass, he hates the sidewalk. He wasn't a loose leash walker, more of tight lead with light pulling. As it translates he usually ran right next to us, we never had an issue of him bolting ahead or trying to pull us, unless we had to stop for his business and my wife would jog ahead, then we HAD to catch up...lol.

Anyway, we found it useful to start that early before his nose started getting the best of him, haha. It also helped to do it in area with minimal distraction, that is why we ran in the park and not our neighborhood, that was a disaster when we tried...lol.

Most def too early to start at 4 mos!
Play only at this age on grass.

When he's older, get a harness ( Nordkyn, Adanac, Ruffwear).
If he doesn't just take off with eagerness to pull you into the next county, have a friend run in front of the dog. He'll try to get to the friend and figure out what you want him to do. This works even better if the friend has a dog!

rileyflorence wrote:

Hey Jess, your method sounds great. It's very similar to what we did with ours. And it's never too late, and they are never too old to learn. Just stick with it.

Thank you, its nice to know I might be doing something right ^^; I was starting to lose a little bit of hope, due to bandit getting stronger and stronger =S

Thank you for the harness/halti link, though I think I am going to still try practising the walking back and forth from the front door until he gets it =S though I was still think of a harness anyway since when he is older I will be jogging with him. I know he is dying to run =S he keeps trying to follow other people that jog by us.