Getting Corgi to run with you?

Hello! My corgi is about 13 months old now so I want to see if I can try to get her to jog with me. I've tried a couple times in the past (once at 8 months or so, once at 10 months) but she didn't really like it and I didn't force her since she was young and I know 1 year old is the recommendation to start something like that.

I tried again the other day and she will trot along next to me for no more than a minute before she plants her feet and gives me the "what the HECK are you thinking!?!?!" look. I am not going fast--I'm not exactly the most in shape runner, either, so we are going at a pace no more than a fast walk for her.

Over the course of our walk, I did about 4 pick ups where we jogged for <1 min at a time and it just didn't seem to go well. Obviously, this is something that takes training and practice, so where do I start?

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Permalink Reply by Steph Bussema on April 11, 2013 at 12:50pm

I jog with my corgi often and she loves it. One thing that helped a lot with getting her to like it was putting her in a harness instead of just using a collar. She was more comfortable with the leash attached to her back rather than her neck. I also started with jogging for short periods during walks, but before we jogged, I would get her hyped up by saying things like, "You want to run? Are you ready to run?" in a really happy excited voice. She would get really excited, which meant that she wanted to run. Then after we jogged a bit, I'd slow back to a walk and praise her a lot. Now she hears the word "run" and gets excited right away.

Pay attention to how long she will run before she wants to stop, then keep your jogs to a slightly shorter time period than that, even if it's only a few seconds. That way you're ending on a more positive note - she still wants to run but you're stopping. Then she will be more likely to want to run again. Hopefully you can gradually increase the jogging times.

Hope this helps. Dogs make great personal trainers and jogging companions. :)

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Permalink Reply by Bogart the Cardigan on April 11, 2013 at 7:03pm

I have a hard time keeping up with Bogart when we run, he loves it. Although one has to pay attention not to go flying head first if he crosses to the other side to smell something. We usually run one mile, although with the stop n sniffs, we probably only RUN 3/4 of a mile, once or twice a week. Bogart is 13 months. Yes, he wears a harness for running, but not otherwise.