Cavalier as a Jogging Buddy?

My cavalier is seven months old and has boundless energy. I like to jog (although I am not very fast) for exercise and thought it might help expend some of his energy to bring him along. Right now we begin with a five minute walk, then alternate 60 seconds of jogging with 90 seconds of walking a total of eight times, then have a five minute cool down walk. We are moving for a total of about 30 minutes. I only take him out if it is below 80 degrees. It seems like pretty light exercise to me, but I worry about whether or not it is healthy for him. My concerns are partly related to breed issues, and partly related to his young age.

Does anyone have experience jogging with a cavalier? I know that they tend to have heart and joint issues. I'm also aware that their shorter noses mean they can't breath as well as other breeds. Finally, I know that because he is so young his joints haven't finished developing. So, is it safe to keep jogging with him using the routine above and VERY gradually increasing the running time over the course of six months (say to a 10-15 minute slow jog at most)? Is he too young?

I should note: He seems to LOVE it! When we get home he is very amped up and romps around the house for another 10-20 minutes before he plonks down for nap.

Thank you for posting, yes at 7 months your Cavalier is too young to be jogging. It's not something I would do with a cavalier anyway, too much strain on the joints running on a hard surface. Cavaliers live to please and just want to be with you, so would run until they were exhausted if you let them. (obviously you are being very sensible and not doing that with him)

The usual recommendation for exercise is 5 mins per month of age of offlead exercise ie 7 * 5 = 35 minutes, plus play in the garden.

Mental stimulation is just as important as physical exercise, a 10 minute training session will usually tire them out!

I don't jog myself but have seen several people do this -- they walk/jog with their dogs for a little bit, and once their dogs have had enough they load them up into a dog stroller and continue jogging whilst pushing the stroller. Here is an example of one such dog stroller:

http://www.amazon.com/Pet-Gear-Generation-All-Terrain-60-Pounds/dp/B000O5FYU2/ref=zg_bs_2975338011_4

phaines said:

My cavalier is seven months old and has boundless energy.

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I agree that jogging for any length of time, no matter how short, on paved road or path is not good for their bones and joints, at this young age. Their bones are still forming and growing.

Our Sophie had boundless energy at the same age, and we did a lot of walking. Even then, I felt guilty about it being on a paved neighborhood road, but she had to burn off the energy somehow. I tried to guide her onto the lawns, whenever possible.

We do not have a fenced in yard, so there was no hope of extreme play to burn it off, either. I limited the walking to twenty minutes (one mile) and still worried about her bones and joints. It may have not been good for her, because there are all types of ideas and opinions in the world, but she does not appear to have suffered. If we had not let her walk it off, she would have driven us insane with the hyper energy. She finally did calm down around between two and three years of age.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I guess that for the time being I will avoid running with him. I might ask his vet about whether or not he could go jogging with me once he's a little older. I suppose it might depend on how well he is built and his overall joint/heart health.

I'm in the same situation as you Waldor... We live in an apartment complex and don't have a fenced yard. I walk him for 15-20 minutes a day on the sidewalks. I don't much like walking him on the grass because they are constantly treating it with pesticides :swear:

In addition to walking, we already do daily training sessions for 10-20 minutes and play indoors , so I will increase that a bit. We are also close to a fenced dog park that we go to 2-4 times a week. Maybe I'll add in one more visit a week and see if that helps drain his energy.