Triathlon for pet owners?

all dogs are different, but I would never bike with either of my dogs attached to my bike. They weigh about 75 and 95 lbs and would easily pull me over if they suddenly decided to chase an animal or follow a scent.

i wish I could run with them, and probably could run with my husky, but our golden is too slow and would be crushed if I took one and not the other.

Back to the point, I am not familiar with races Tris involving pets, and I suspect there might be too many potential safety issues with multiple dogs and bikes. good luck and give you training partner a few pets!

For the bike ride, there are a few harness setups out there that prevent tugs and pulls...

Here's one. Also, I was thinking of getting something like this so we could ride a little faster or a little further....

 

We have "dog jogs" around here - a fun running race where owners and dogs run together. I assume they must be common in other places as well.

 

Edited by ScottoNM 2007-05-31 10:57 AM

Not to mention it's probably not the best thing for the dog's either.

Having animals in a tri would just be too much liability.

I've never seen a Tri to do with dogs but I've seen Doggy Duathlons listed though.  Look on Trifind.com for your area.  I recall one being held along with the Miami great escape tri weekend last or year before.

I don't know what specific one, but I've seen dozens of articles like the below in the past year, which leads me to believe that they are being allowed somewhere. I'm not a marathoner, so I have no interest in locating a race of that distance where we'd be allowed.

http://i-run.com/2006/06/30/marathon-dog-helps-raise-money-for-cancer/

Interesting to see the springer product... but it makes me laugh thinking about my dogs being tied to a bike and having to run alongside without any kind of practice like they claim. I wouldn't make it around the block, but like I said... all dogs are different.

I am familiar with the carts which pull dogs / kids behind the bike. That seems safer, and would be a great workout with 150+ lbs of dog to pull!

Just because the media throws out the phrase "marathon dog" doesn't mean "people can do a marathon with their dogs," which was a basic premise of your original post. In the article you cite, I see no mention of the dog doing the marathon distance.

Edited by the bear 2007-05-31 1:05 PM

Whatever, Bear. I put it up as a quick example I have googled. I have seen many references to it in other forms of media, including running and pet based magazines. I'm not sure why you chose this point to nitpick with me, but it isn't worth it to me to argue with you about it any further.

There are a handful of Dog Jogs or 5ks around here that you can bring your dog. I'm just a little surprised that nobody has ever arranged a super sprint or something of that nature. Personally, my pup is very well behaved while swimming (we need to work on her jogging etiquitte a little), but I can understand that there are a ton of liabilities.

To anyone in the area that is interested, I found a dog "triathlon" in the Minneapolis area. It looks like the bike is substituted with a mini agility course (probably a better idea for the dog).

just can't get motivated to do a race, and if I don't have a race, I can't bother myself to train. The novelty of doing something fun with my mutt may have been the kick in the butt I needed, but alas, not meant to be. I will now return to lurkdom.....

How old is your puppy,, usually I've read it's not all that great to have a dog under 9 months or a year be a running partner.

The running store I train for marathons with, will let people bring their dogs on group runs, but there are only a few that will run with their dogs over 5-6 miles.. there are a couple that run up to our 12 mile runs. So i'm a bit skeptic about doing a full marathon with a dog, I'm sure someone has done it, I just don't think it's that great of an idea

My lab is mostly an 85 lb anchor if I attempt to go any faster than 10:30 min/mile. which keeps my hr rate down, but I need to stop more often for his water and bio breaks. Last year when it was still cool outside I was able to work him up to 9-10 mile runs with me, but once it gets warm outside I usually won't even try to take him over 4 miles..


My personal opinion about riding a bike while having your dog on a leash is it's a bad idea, There have been a couple of instances where when I'm out running with my dog, someone on a bike has their dog on a 25ft leash and of course that dog will cross the road, get tangled up in my legs attempting to play with my dog, even worse both times it happened at night and I ended up pulling the guy off his bike since his leash was directly tied to his bike handlebars.

I so think it's great that your a dog owner and are outside running with your dog.. I know playing/running outside with mine always cheers me up

gary

First of all, I'm sorry about the failed pregnancy. I am sure that it has been really hard to recover from that. You have done triathlons before? How did you feel when you worked out? I think that exercise is one of the best remedies for the blues. Just get out there with your doggie and have fun. I am sure you'll find your spirits lift before long. Maybe by then, you will have found some races you can do with your dog.