Beanie & Biggles’ swimming buddy Cullin likes to do a bit of running with his mum. I had emailed her to let her know that we’d got some reasonably priced cani-cross equipment and she replied to tell us about a regular race venue right on our doorstep.
There’s a weekly 5k (3 miles) timed race held in Pollock Park every Saturday morning at 9.30am. And the best bit – dogs are welcome provided they are on lead! It’s free to enter – just register on the website. You don’t need to be a good runner – no reason why you can’t walk the course (the Biggly boy and his mum will be). It’s just you against the clock.
More info here
Do any of Beanie and Biggles buddies fancy joining us? Especially their fellow Beagles! Kathleen – what about Neil and some of your gang?
EDIT:
Kathleen from Muchisle Beagles asked where we got the cani-cross equipment. They sell kits here, but they don’t do harnesses small enough for Beagles (not small enough for ours anyway). Also, we were warned by an experienced cani-crosser not to get the x-back harness for beagles. The reason being is that they are really designed for sled dogs pulling a sled as it directs the forces along the dogs back. It’s great for running with large dogs but with little dogs the line pulls the harness upwards and puts the strain in all the wrong places.
We each got:
A delux belt with key pouch
A Bungee
A single line
The bungee attaches to the belt, and the single line attaches to the bungee. There’s an emergency release clip so you can separate yourself from the dog quickly. We weren’t keen on this as it looked as if it could be released by accident. Fair enough for a big dog with reliable recall but I think on balance you’re best having your Beagle firmly attached! So we also purchased a carabiner to replace the clip.
We also got a double line so that we could have both dogs running with one person. You could manage this with two single lines, but it gives the dogs more scope to run off in opposite directions!!
We were told that the fleece harness from here are better than the cani-cross ones because they are completely fleece lined so much more comfy for short haired dogs. Ours are very happy to wear them.
Susan
Thanks so much for posting this up, a couple of questions did you get the double lead bungee or the cani cross line double lead as I presume the double lead bungee allows 2 dogs to pull at different strengths? Also regards to the fleece harness do you think size 3 would fit majority/all of my beagles? Won’t be going to racing at moment as Nollaig can’t be left on her own just now, have to keep an eye on her and also her immune system is strongly suppressed with all the drugs she’s on so not to be around a lot of other dogs as she is very susceptible to infection.For that reason I don’t want any of my other dogs to catch anything either from other dogs as they could pass it on to her and her immune system wouldn’t be able to fight it!! We are hoping and praying that she can make it through this,but she might not.It’s a horrible disease we’re dealing with.Please cross everything for her. I take her out to the park at my Mum’s with Dillon (both on lead) but don’t let them near any other dogs.
Cheers
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
We got a single bungee lead with a double cani-cross line, so the pull of the dogs is dampened at the connection to the belt only. I *think* this is the way it’s supposed to be. Didn’t notice any problems when Beanie and Biggles took turns being the lead puller on our (admittedly short) test drive.
Talking harness size, the size 3 is still fractionally too big for Beanie even when adjusted to the minimum – we may buy the next size down for her if it’s too mobile in serious use. It’s a better fit on Biggles, but there’s still loads of adjustment room left. I’d be surprised if size 3 wouldn’t cover all of your Beagles (if in doubt we could meet up and do a test fitting!)
Re Nollaig: what disease has she been diagnosed with? I know you’ve rung us and Susan’s called you but we’ve kept missing each other – the last we heard she was having tests on her bone marrow.
Hi Susan,
Are the 5k walks/runs still on at Pollok Park? I realise this blog was strated a while ago but if it is i think Fudge in particular would benefit, (she has some how managed to balloon to 16.5kg’s despite being walked for 3 hours a day!!), plus i’m training for the race for life 5k and the Great Scottish Run in September.
Also, i’ve just read the message from Kathleen above, we have Elvis, aka the other Fudge, who is Chino and Tischa’s brother, Nollaig is his mum, I hope she is ok?
Hi Sarah,
As far as I know yes! We haven’t actually got around to doing it yet but I’d be very surprised if it wasn’t still on. I believe you need to register first on-line, then just turn up with your dog and run.
Nollaig hasn’t been at all well. The last update I had was positive but Nollaig isn’t out of the woods yet. Kathleen and Neil have had a lot of bad luck recently and she’s so busy I haven’t seen her for ages and don’t get much word from her. They really need cheering up so if you can think of anything. But keep everything crossed for Nollaig.
Have you considered swimming for Fudge? It’s a great way to exercise them without overloading their joints when they’re heavy. I don’t know where you live, but we take ours to Allers Farm Kennels Hydrotherapy. It’s a bit pricey at £25 per session, but if you take two dogs to share a session it’s not so bad.
Another thing that might help – we feed ours on Burns and actually find it hard to keep weight on them! I know a lot of it is down to genetics, but it might be worth a try? It’s designed to keep dogs lean.
Where at pollok park does the race begin and what time does it start on a Saturday and how do you register?
Register online at the Glasgow parkrun page:
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/glasgow/home
The race starts at 9.30 every Sat, next to the car park by the Burrell Collection.