Having now gained two young dogs and needing to combine dog walks and training, I now train most of the time with my four legged friends.
We run two to three times a weeks and they insist on coming along.
If I come downstairs in running gear they go bezerk - If I wont to run without them I have to get changed outside in my car so they don't see me.
I looked into Dog running races, known as Canni-cross and entered our first. The Longhorn Half. A crazy race with dogs sprinting from the start. Very fast paced and exhausting, but not only do I need to train, they need to train, learn instructions for turning and we have to factor in "pit" stops when they want them.
That said we finished 3rd overall and first male team!! great start.
We then entered a 10 miles race Thoresby 10 - again a crazy race. This was very tactical and we led the field (after a few "pit" stops) and were neck and neck with another man and a much more stronger looking dog. This went on for four miles to we took an opportunity to pull away on an uphill to eventually complete in 1 hour 13 minutes coming overall first place.
This is the first time I can relate to commentators describing a marathon when trying to pull away from the pack. Every time we moved forward his dog wanted to be in front and gaining a lead was extra effort to try and demotivate the opponent enough to allow you to move forward.