Why Dogs Are Such Great Running Partners

One of the best runs I had this week was with Rudy, Paul's big black lab.  We have been on several runs together in the past and he has always been pretty well behaved, but tends to pull for the first few miles and I get tired of having the tension in the leash pulling my arm; but this time he was unusually good.  He was not pulling like he normally does because my pace is much too slow for his standards, and he seemed to keep looking up at me to make sure I was doing ok.  I decided that since I was running with him, i was not going to bring my music and weirdly I feel like running without it helped me connect more with him.  While we were running I was realizing that dogs really make better running partners than people for many different reasons:

• He ALWAYS wants to go with me, and is sooooo excited about every single run...
• I never have to worry about him flaking out on me, his schedule always works with mine...
• I don't have to worry that I am slowing him down, or that he is going to slow me down, he keeps my pace...
• I feel safer with him by my side...
• He truly appreciates our runs together...
• I get to give him his exercise, and tire out some of his crazy energy...

Even though Rudy is a dog instead of a person, I still feel the companionship of having someone else there with me, motivating me to keep going.  It makes the run go by faster, and It makes me feel closer to him, like we get this special bond because we are running partners.  I know that he can't go on the longer runs with me, I wish he could run the full marathon by my side, but I am going to start bringing him on my shorter runs more often because it really benefits both of us.  I'm truly lucky to have such a great dog in my life :)