Author Archive
Master Dog Breeders and Associates Awards
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Pooch to 5k were thrilled to win the best dog website of the year award at the recent MDBA awards night. It’s great to see that others think the program is valuable too.
Running after Cruciate Repair Surgery
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This is a guest post by Jon who runs with his Labrador. Lars is back to gentle runs after injuring his cruciate ligament, an important ligament in the knee, or stifle, joint.
My name is Jon and I have a beautiful Black Lab named Lars who back in July of 2011, underwent a TPLO on his rear left leg. TPLO stands for tibia plateau leveling osteotomy, and is the newest surgery to be developed for dogs who present with a torn cruciate ligament. Lars tore his cruciate when sprinting around our dog park in January of 2011, but unfortunately for him, and myself it took more than five months before he was properly diagnosed.
Biskotouli – Our April Running Buddy of the Month
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Biskotouli lives in Greece with his owner Lloyd Godson and his family. His most recent claim to fame is that he ran the Athens Marathon under 4 hours! This is his story.
My wife, Carolina, and I moved to Greece about 4 years ago and immediately started looking for a house and dog. On the morning that we were due to move in, Carolina spotted an advertisement for a gorgeous little puppy that needed a home. She rang the number immediately and arranged for us to meet him. It was truly love at first sight. Biskotouli was found in the mountains near Athens along with his mother who unfortunately was very sick and had to be euthanized. But her son immediately became a cherished member of our family.
I was running most days and started taking Bisko with me for company. In the beginning I was only covering short distances with him but on returning home could see he was still full of energy. We discovered he was obsessed with rocks, so we started draining his excess energy by throwing them up and down rocky cliffs, which he fetched with the agility of a mountain goat! Over time I increased the distance until eventually he was joining me on all of my training sessions, including my long runs of up to 40km. I just carried a collapsible water container and some snacks with me.
Wildhorse Criterium – Race Report
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This was written by Melissa Kelly, after her first trail race with her dog. Melissa is pictured on the right of this photo, with Chris.
When you think of Easter Sunday, you think of chocolate for breakfast and late sleep ins. This year, this was not to be for a large group of runners who had joined me in participating in the Wild Horse Criterium of 2012.
As I am a beginner, I took part in the 12km race, whereas others had braved 36 and even 60km, yet still had a smile on their faces as they crossed the finish line. It didn’t matter though, there was a large sense of community, and a sense of belonging, even when I had chosen my faithful four legged friend to accompany me through the trails of the Glasshouse Mountains.
Understandably, there were murmurs of doubt that this was in fact, a good idea. Would she obstruct other runners coming the opposite direction to us, would she decide to leave a few presents along the way, all these questions, I already had the answer to in my head, but I still needed to prove that she was an athlete too, and was there for the same reason.
5 Things My Dog Taught Me About Running
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This is a guest post by Vanessa Rodriguez from San Diego, USA. Vanessa is a keen ultrarunner and she is often accompanied by her dog on her training runs. Here she shares what she has learned about running from Ginger, and there’s a lesson there for all of us.
My dog Ginger is more than my running buddy. She’s my teacher. She never lets me down on a long run, and she constantly reminds me how to run with a pure heart and happy spirit. These are her lessons:
1. Always greet strangers.
No matter how far or fast we are running, Ginger will always stop to greet another dog. Sometimes the other dog is friendly and sometimes they are not, but that doesn’t stop Ginger from approaching. And so I have learned to warmly greet other humans. You never know when a stranger might turn into a friend.
Ultra Running and Dogs
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This is a guest post from our running buddy of the month, Sandra from the UK, who runs with her Huskies. You can read more about her dog and her running here.
The day I met Kez for the first time was the day I dared believe that I had finally met my future ultra running partner. Fast forward four years and Kez has proven himself to be far more than just a long distance training partner….
Kez, has achieved world wide fame for his running exploits with me. From sub five minute miles to over 50 mile races over mountains, he has helped me become a better person and a better runner just by sharing time together doing what we love and what gives us so much pleasure. The simple act of running, lots of running!
I was already an accomplished and self trained ultra runner before Kez joined the dog family. The family at that time consisted of three other huskies, varying in age from 7 to 13. All ran every day, different distances and different speeds.
With Kez I has one simple plan, help him become an ultra running husky using my knowledge of huskies and my own experience of teaching myself about running very long distances.
