My wife took our dog, Baggy into the vet for his regular checkup a couple weeks ago. He weighed in at 33kg which as the vet advised is 8kg overweight for his breed and age; a Australian Shepherd.
I was shocked. He gets at least one walk a day and we're quite strict in how we feed him but nevertheless he's become a little plump. It is really not good for them over the long run as it leads to joint and hip problems down the track.
To add a little extra bit of exercise into his routine, I have now recruited him as my running partner. Now I know when he's in a dog park he can sprint with other dogs for easily 2 - 3 hours and probably cover 7km in that period so I had no doubt that he would keep up with me.
We tried a few short distance runs to get him used to the concept and it did take time, but just this week he and I ran 5.5 km together. It was at a very slow pace of about 8min/km by his choosing. The interesting thing was that I conserved so much energy at this pace that when we completed our loop I felt like I could do it again.
After all, my initial goal from the start has been distance, not speed.
Accomplishments for the week:
Running
1.3 KM mountain hike
5.5 KM run
1.2 KM beach zig zag sprints
Swimming
800m ( 100m & 50m intervals)
In conclusion
I have a fresh new approach to my goals now and will be pursuing them with new tactics.
Thanks for reading....