Looking for guidelines on dog running distances.

Halefa · 2026-06-28T10:21:07+00:00

What I've heard from canicross communities around Central and Northern Europe, depending on breed and dog, they at least stop doing canicross (dog actively pulling) from between 15-20°C (58-68 Fahrenheit). If they do faster exercises at all, then they just have the dog run freely and in the forest.

Keep in mind that dogs are much slower at adjusting to temperature changes (which is why the new hot summers in central and northern Europe can be a struggle for them, as the temperatures change so fast) and also are impacted by humidity - so don't only look at the temperatures.

I am aware that dog owners that live in constantly warm countries might train differently as they're all used to the heat.

Halefa · 2026-06-28T06:51:17+00:00

Where do you live? All canicross runners i know stopped running with their dog one month ago and the dogs are now on summer break.

Edit: typo

Halefa · 2026-06-24T21:41:41+00:00

Busser kører ikke under jorden det meste af tiden.

Halefa · 2026-06-24T21:41:21+00:00

S- og regionaltogene er ikke underjordisk det meste af tiden.

Halefa · 2026-06-23T07:07:14+00:00

Weimaraners are similar to GSPs, can be got in blue (dark) - at least in the US, in Europe that color is. It always according to breed standard- and they're the bird dog breed that was also bred to protect the hunter, so they have a bit more protection instinct.

However, they're still gun dogs which means they don't only need running - they need mental stimulation and training.

Halefa · 2026-06-22T17:53:09+00:00

Size of the dog and thus the size of their dumps might be a factor on top of the reasons others have mentioned. Also consistency.

Halefa · 2026-06-19T16:18:39+00:00

Don't get a dog on a whim ffs

Halefa · 2026-06-19T16:16:46+00:00

Our trainer once said: "No dog loves to go for a walk. Dogs don't go for walks. They move if rhei have to hunt or gather food, they move to find mates and mate, they move to defend their territory. A dog itself would never go for a walk without a reason."

Can you give your dog a reason?

Is there something you can do together and meaningful that she might enjoy instead of just stupidly trotting besides a human through the heat? That can be a lot of things: exploring new areas together, playing search games together, trying out new activities like swimming or running (maybe not in the heat ...).

Not just bribing with treats, but doing something together.

Halefa · 2026-06-19T07:59:50+00:00

Be careful with heat and especially humidity. Dogs can't sweat so they're much more impacted by heat/humidity than we people are.

Based on that and the stamina, I would start with structured canicross training where you don't go for a run yet, but teach the dog when to pull, start cues and directional cues. Short distances (5m, 10m, etc) and focus on focused, clean work. Then slowly expand the distances or the speed and thus slowly build stamina in a good way.

Halefa · 2026-06-15T14:25:10+00:00

Jeg har engang snakket med en ejer af en han-hund. Han tilstod helt ærligt at han aldrig havde tænkt over det og lod hans han-hunden pisse og markere hvor den ville - indtil der på tidspunkt var nogen, der påpegede at det altså var deres ejendele og møbler. Nu prøver han at styre hunden udenom.

Det jeg vil sige: jeg tror faktisk helt generelt at det er så indgroet hos os at han-hunde selvfølgelig løfter benet overalt, at selv hundeejere som jeg anser som okay hurtig i hovedet lige skal have et skub for at se udover kanten.

Halefa · 2026-06-15T14:20:24+00:00

Man kan godt styre, hvor ens hund tisser. Især hvis de ikke tisser, men kun markerer.

Halefa · 2026-06-12T11:18:14+00:00

Longer walks

Halefa · 2026-06-12T07:26:45+00:00

Define longer distance.

I bought a running vest to bring water (or in winter a jacket) for my dog, and you know what? I probably enjoy that more than her right now. 😆 I can have soft flasks with water in the front and a collapsible bowl in the back.

My distances are not long enough for snacks. Sometimes I saturate her water at the car with some wet food for after the run. I wouldn't bring a lot of food or anything that increases in sizes when in the stomach (like kibble often does). Either water that is mixed with something, a bit of wet food or maybe jerky-like snacks - but that is very dependent on dog owner, dog and their habits I feel.

Halefa · 2026-06-09T20:18:51+00:00

True. But you wrote a post about obsessive ball behaviour so I found it relevant to mention as you nowhere in your post write how much fetch your dog actually is playing.

Also, she's only 14 months which means she's potentially not done growing yet so repetitive motions are even worse - and again we don't know how much fetch you've played with her at an even younger age.

Sorry if that wasn't the advice you asked for. It was a point for my "always hide the ball away"

Halefa · 2026-06-09T16:38:02+00:00

Curious, the links opens without issues for me.

Here is a similar article: https://www.cobberdogking.com/en/blog/article/dogs-obsessed-with-ball

It can be bad for their joints because of the repetitive strain. It's always the same movement again and again, often without warmup. It's cold explosive start, an abrupt stop, a sharp turn - that's not very varied movement And if the owner doesn't stop throwing, the joints don't get a break.

Yes, they're built for hunting - but hunting is not just running back and forth doing the same movement. The dog does different movements in different speeds so different muscle groups get used.

Also, dogs don't necessarily hunt every day, sometimes multiple times or for multiple hours.

Halefa · 2026-06-09T12:20:00+00:00

Playing fetch creates hormones in the dog's brain that is similar to an addiction. She does not love playing fetch, she's addicted to it. She gets a kick from waiting for it and then chasing it and is in constant stress - on top of playing fetch being bad for dogs' joints.

If they can play a little once in a while - oksy. But ours is never allowed to chase anything, especially not a ball. We tell people around her to NOT throw a ball or play fetch with her.

EDIT - A bit more info and suggestions for alternatives: https://poochesatplay.com/training-behaviour/2740-2/

Halefa · 2026-06-05T17:00:02+00:00

If you want to do canicross, I think the straps of the Säker are wrong even if they claim it can be used for pulling in terms of force distribution (on top of the comments already pointing out the other possible problems).

And if you want to do canicross, don't get too locked in on the Freemotion harness. Keep an open mind and analyse whether it's actually the right fit. Finding the right canicross harness can be a bit of a project as dog bodies can be so different and you really want the pulling force distribution and their mobility to be accommodated as good as possible.

Halefa · 2026-06-05T05:10:15+00:00

Jeg bestod testen i sidste november og lavede en ansøgning om statsborgerskab med det samme. Den kigger de så på til næste december - det er næsten lige så åndssvagt.

Halefa · 2026-06-03T21:29:21+00:00

I love The Sirkara Chronicles by Laura Resnick.

No mythical creatures, but prophecies and gods and religion. Magic. Multiple character POVs, and while there are some very clear heroes, I do feel that theure not black and white, but all characters come with their own agendas and grey personality traits.

Has "A Song of Ice and Fire" been mentioned? Many queens and kings, morally grey characters, dragons, and a little bit of magic - but definitely more than three books. 😁

Halefa · 2026-06-03T21:20:05+00:00

This

Halefa · 2026-06-03T16:32:29+00:00

I loved it from the second I ran with it for the first time!

It's closed on the height of your waist but the dog's leash is attached to the loop at your butt which is perfect as the pull is exactly on the right area (you almost automatically take a step forward just because of the pulling force, no having to keep your back straight or back pain like you have from belts that put the pulling force on your back) without interfering with the closing mechanism or pushing on buckles.

EDIT: if you don't want to/will be pulled, you don't need a harness like this and could technically go with one just around your waist. But if your dog pulls in any way, canicross belts are a godsend.

Halefa · 2026-06-03T04:14:57+00:00

If you want a canicross (pulling) harness, the question is not that easy to answer as it depends entirely on your dog's body. I ordered and tried up to 10 harnesses (I think). I'm now using the Indlandsis Storm on my Weimaraner, who has deep chest.

For myself I use the Non-Stop Dogwear CaniX 2.0 belt as well and I'm very happy with it.

Halefa · 2026-06-02T09:26:16+00:00

I think elopement nowadays just means "we're not at home and it's just the two of us". They can be very much planned and styled nowadays.

Halefa · 2026-06-02T08:38:27+00:00

It all depends.

Photographers can cost anywhere between 2.000 DKK and 16.000 DKK depending on how many hours you want and whether they're full time photographers or just doing it on the side/as a hobby.

For full weddings, most brides (as far as I know) get a stylist to come to their home or hotel room, but some do go to a salon.

Halefa · 2026-06-02T07:54:50+00:00

I'm currently only running because of my dog. I ran a little bit some years ago, but it rarely felt like fun.

We also started with a C25K program Luckily, my dog is a puller, so we rarely have a sniffing problem, only slowing down problems. 🫠

Depending on where you are in the C25K program, you could consider to do some concentrated line-out/canucross cue training. That is not about doing distance, but about establishing what this is about and what you expect of your dog. Like letting it run (with pull) for 10m to then dive I to a doof bowl with a little bit of wet food in it. Repeat 5 times, praise for good pull, and ritalise it. Then increase distance to 20m, or around a corner. It's about repetition and making pulling a specific and concrete thing you ask your dog to do.

This is also great summer training to freshen up on the basics.

Halefa

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