Training with dogs!

[rdb77uk]

Now I don't mean rough birds etc...
Been out training tonight and took the dog with me. I usually take him when I run in the local woods, to kill two birds with one stone (not really)(this post is going to get me banned if I carry on at this rate). Yet tonight I took him on the moors. He's a well natured dog and after attempting to chase the first sheep and being told off he quickly adapted to just looking at them as we passed.

I quickly realised that he is superb as a training partner for hill work as he accelerates uphill and forces me to keep up with him and down hill is just fearless. Just worried that walkers/bikers/fell runners etc... would rather he wasn't up there? Any thoughts, experiences etc...

[southernsoftie]

I've got a Kerry Blue Terrier, who is definitely not suited for training with. He'd run off with any stranger we passed, would want to scrap with every other dog out there, and would be forever chasing the local wildlife.

Would certainly make me run, but I'm not sure I could ever work that hard (nor would I want the potentially large legal bills!)

I have nothing but admiration for your dog if he is so well behaved and energetic. Personally I'd have no problem if you were out there with your dog.

Give that dog a bone.

[Graeme]

I have no problem training with my dog, or other people training with their's. They can be good companions when out on the fells, make sure to take extra water for them on hot days if your not likely to come across any water when out.
Mine can't stand the heat, but there again he is a black lab so it's fairly understandable.
Keep an eye on your dog, particularly their paw pads, and check for stones between their toes too. Regular worming and defleaing should avoid any parasites or ticks being picked up.

[noel]

I too run with a dog (collie-lab cross) and have to be quite sensitive to local farmers/landowners as we're surrounded by sheep farms and moors with ground-nesting birds. I normally keep him on a long lead until the sheep have lambed (I think farmers' main concern is that dogs will cause sheep to miscarry). Also, he stays on the path, as he's too lazy to put in the extra mileage when I'm running with him.

I've never had any negative comments from walkers/runners/bikers - I like to think they share my view that a man out walking/running with his dog is what the moors and fells are all about.

[Trossachs?]

When out on my own I tend to run with my border collie on road or hill. She is fine with wildlife but not always great with people, & will normally bark at one person per run, usually the numpty who goes to stroke her.

Other than that the only risk is she will run off with any fast runner we meet as she is used to running with the club and goes with the lead runner every time. They dont mind so I dont mind.

Also in the winter she sometimes gets scared in the woods on windy nights and I have to make her run with me so SHE feels better.

Jason

[Bob the Dog]

I have found this to be a bit of a double edged sword. My dog (surprisingly enough called Bob) is a border collie and does what he is told (i.e does not chase sheep but does have a glint in his eye that he would like to round them up). However, down my way in the Lammermuir (a shooting estate and sheep grazing) and Pentland Hills (sheep) the landowners have to play the lowest common denominator card with signs up that dogs should be kept on a lead at almost all times of the year. Whilst I understand where they are coming from putting a collie on a lead is like taking me to the pub and telling me to drink water all night.

I have from time to time taken him up in the Lammermuirs, outwith the nesting season, and have encountered estate workers who have not said anything. I would like to think that they realise that I am not out with a pack of untrained rottweilers and that if kept under close control (which can be demonstrated with verbal commands rather than by physical means) he poses no threat to what, I appreciate is somebody's livelihood.

The other obvious downside is how inferior the dog makes me feel as he trots uphill and then stops about 50 yards ahead and looks back with a expression of disdain that I am making such heavy weather of a mere 1 in 2 hill.

[wharfeego]

Just a point worth mentioning if you are running on "open" land covered by the CROW act...

...Special requirements also exist to control dogs on land covered by the CROW Act. There is a general requirement for dogs to be kept on a short fixed lead of no more than two metres in length between 1 March and 31 July, and at any time in the vicinity of livestock. Landowners also have powers to restrict people with dogs from small enclosures for lambing, and across grouse moors...

mainly to prevent disturbance to ground-nesting birds...from the DEFRA website.

public info service

[Slippery Stones]

When out on my own I tend to run with my border collie on road or hill. She is fine with wildlife but not always great with people, & will normally bark at one person per run,

mine too (border collie). sometimes fine all the way even with groups, but then sometimes part way into a group run he will bark at a particular person . can often be brought back on side by flapjack/jelly baby bribes though

apart from that, and sounding like a billy no mates....i often prefer the lone runs with my dog the most. just need to stop him jumping on me if i trip over

[Guick Dotto]

Trouble with running with my dog is she's so fantastic looking (check the avatar) that everybody I meet wants to talk about her breed (Border/Lakeland) which gives me too many rests. Another downside is if I let her off the lead any self respecting keeper will feel perfectly entitled to shoot her as she will hunt any living thing on a moor except people and stock. Plus as she needs a lead she has a tendency to trip me up on the edge of cliffs. I still run with her most days though.

[Britta]

Mine are with me on every run bar races. 2 collies - love running with their pack (Ambleside AC) - great on recces as they seem to have a nose for the best route.

Had 2 really scary moments today though

First an incident with a rather pi**ed off adder (whoever said snakes are more afraid of us than we are of them was lying - or that snake didn't read the rule book!).

Just managed to call the dog back when i heard the hissing and saw the dog barking/shying from something. Snake was quite big and at full strike and when the dog took 2 steps back, it turned to me, i swear!!! (I'll never be able to go for a pee in the bushes again )

Secondly, whilst stupidly trying to cut from Hare Crag to Skiddaw House, in the knee deep heather/moss, one dog suddenly dissapeared!

Luckily she was close by so i noticed & took action straight away. She'd fallen into a drainage channel (thigh deep, full of thick mud & too narrow for her to get out - and the heather had just closed over her - i never would have found her again had i not seen it!!!

It took 2 shampoos to get the claggy mud & stench off her again...