Pitbulls: Not distance runners

Poor Arnie is an apartment dog. He has no backyard to run and play in, so whenever we go to my parents house, he spends the entire time in their backyard chasing possums and squirrels and rabbits and whatever else he can stir up.

But in OK, my only option is making sure he gets long walks and runs every morning, and every evening. The funny thing is, he LOVES walkies…. but he HATES to run. He hates it. Its hysterical. Hes like a kid in gym class, forced to run The Mile, stops 100 yards in and just walks the rest of the way, bitching and complaining under his breath.

Arnie will literally stop in the middle of the run, and I can hear his little doggie brain thinking ‘Fuck this shit. Im walking.’

Well today I decided we should sprint the last couple of blocks home. While Arnie hates running, he always seems to find a burst of energy to try to chase after a random duck, so I was like “Hey! We can just sprint a bit! He can do that!”

Wrong.

I was dragging him behind me as we ‘sprinted’.

So I was like ‘Fine Arnie! Im sprinting! Catch up!’ and I drop the leash and bolt to the stop sign, expecting Arnie to be like ‘OMGSHESLEAVINGMENOOOOMOMMIE!!!’

Wrong.

I turn around at the stop sign.

Arnie is still standing exactly where I dropped the leash.

Then he sat down.

LOL!!!!!

Comments

#1 Joshua Zelinsky
May 20, 2008

My family also has a pitbull, Luquillo. Judging by the picture’s she’s somewhat smaller than Arnie. She’s not always fond of running (and honestly we need to run her more, she’s starting to get dangerously out of shape). We’ve found that although Luquillo isn’t inclined to run for long distances with a single person if there are multiple people then she’ll run. I think it is because she’s a very social animal even by pitbull standards so if everyone else is doing something she’s more willing to join in.
#2 Sili
May 20, 2008

well, duh
#3 Natasha Yar-Routh
May 21, 2008

If I tried that with my huskies they would beat me home and then keep right on going, to another county. Be great full for walking dogs.
#4 Rev. BigDumbChimp
May 21, 2008

If I tried that with my huskies they would beat me home and then keep right on going, to another county. Be great full for walking dogs.

No kidding. If I let my husky go on the beach, next thing I know he’ll be in either Canada or Key west.
#5 Mobius
May 21, 2008

Missy is 1/2 Great Pyrennes and 1/2 something tall, skinny and FAST. I was trying to comb her yesterday when she saw a rabbit. Bowled me right over and off to the races.
#6 Lledowyn
May 21, 2008

Your puppah looks like the happiest dog in the world. Personally, I’m used to Greyhounds in that they are lumps on the ground for most of the day, but when you take them out, they are lightning quick. You can’t stop those dogs once they start on a run, and it’s just a matter of them wearing themselves out so that they can go back to their lumpish state. Must be nice to a dog in a loving home.
#7 TyBowen
May 21, 2008

My dog loves to run, but as he is half pug half beagle he can’t. He’ll try to run but collapses. Its really funny. Maybe when he gets older.
#8 H.H.
May 21, 2008

Running? What is this so-called “running?”
#9 Natasha Yar-Routh
May 21, 2008

Missy is 1/2 Great Pyrennes and 1/2 something tall, skinny and FAST. I was trying to comb her yesterday when she saw a rabbit. Bowled me right over and off to the races.

Our first husky saw a raccoon out the back door. Next thing we heard was a great crash. When we went to investigate there was a hole in the door where the cat door had been. Gryphon came trotting back wearing the cat door around her neck. Huskies are strong.
#10 The Backpacker
May 21, 2008

My Labradoodle is the best running partner (so long as no wild turkeys cross the path). But my good friend has two short hair pointers, separatly they are ok but to getther they try to race eachother with you attached. That four mile run goes by real fas but you pay for it the next day, oh do you pay.
#11 MikeM
May 21, 2008

Just be glad you can get your pit to even walk! During our walks my boy will just stop and sit and stare at the world for many minutes at a time. I call him part dog/part tree stump.
#12 Horrified
May 21, 2008

You let a pitbull loose in public! You’re worse than Hitler.
#13 MrMarkAZ
May 21, 2008

ERV,

It could be worse. You could have a greyhound. I tried jogging — well, what passes for jogging in my case — with Raja. He trotted alongside politely, but I could hear him laughing under his breath. OK, whatever you say, Mr. Nice Petmefeedme guy …. Also, I think he gets on the Intarwebz when I’m at work and starts chatting with the other dogs in their plot to take over the world.

Not so sure that would be a bad thing, actually. Free chew toys and comfybeds for everyone.
#14 Rich
May 23, 2008

I love pitbulls they are such misunderstood animals. My younger brother has one – shes a beautiful dog.

Need to watch her round cats and other small furry things but thats only natural I guess.

Arnie looks like a character
#15 ERV
January 19, 2009

For some reason Ive been getting a lot of site-hits to this page recently, from people wondering if pit bulls are good running partners.

I know I make fun of Arnie-man in this post, but he really is a good running buddy. We go ~5 miles a day, but I dont know if he could make it much longer than that (and I really have to watch him in the heat).

And to be perfectly honest, hes also good ‘protection’ for a young female runner.

Oh, and there are several other students in my neighborhood with pits as running partners, so Im not the only one Theyre good running/jogging/walking buddies, just make sure you take your pup to PetSmart or a reliable local trainer so your pit knows how to mind on a leash
#16 pitmama
July 18, 2010

LOL!!!! Your dog sounds just like mine!!! She even starts doing this army crawl thing!!! It is really funny!!! She’s only 8 months old, so I am hoping she gets better!! I have 2 small kids so I take water bottles in the stroller and make sure I take one for the dogs too!
#17 brissa
October 27, 2010

lol dog look tired