I’ve written in the past about running with Lazlo, our store mascot, Vice President of Customer Relations, and the most loveable Black Lab you’d ever meet! And he is a joy to run with, especially on the trails. I started looking into which dogs are the most suited for the long run. And I found out some interesting facts:
- For a S.U.D. (Sport Utility Dog), you can’t beat a German Short Hair! Originally bread to assist hunters, these dogs are energetic, enthusiastic, and have the stamina to run for long stretches.
- For interval training, the Whippet is the champ! They are sprinters, and so you can’t take them for very long runs. But they are fantastic for speed workouts! Not as fast as a Greyhound, they still possess tons of energy!
- Siberian Husky – We’ve all seen or read about the Iditarod in the Yukon. The Husky is the champion marathoner. Not only can it run for hours on end. But it can adapt to any climate. The coat insulates both in winter as well as summer.
- Smooth Fox Terrier – Another dog, first bred as a hunter, has energy, speed and endurance.
- Border Collie – A quick thinker, they are one of the more intelligent canines of the work dogs. Great companions, they’ll run circles around you!
It seems every time I run with Lazlo, I always have a story to tell afterwards. It wasn’t too long ago, we were running in the mountains of south central PA along the old Forbes road on a cold sub-freezing Sunday. And being a Lab, Lazlo loves to snoop around. Well, he found a nice frozen pond, where the ice was maybe 1/8 of an inch thick. Again, being a Lab, it wasn’t too long before he was playfully swimming around in bone-chilling water like it was the first day of Summer! Needless to say, he was full of ice cycles on the run back! Gotta love those dogs!
~Ed
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