ATHLETE: Bentley Dionne

CURRENT GOAL: Half-Marathon  21.1K

CURRENT WEEKLY TOTAL: 39K

LONGEST TRAINING DAY: 14K

Let me introduce you to my training partner.  Puppy (officially known as Bentley) is a one-year-old Golden Doodle.  Puppy joined our family last July and we began training together in January 2011.  The ultimate goal would be to get her to marathon distance, but we are playing it mile-by-mile.  She will tell us when she has had enough.

Puppy enthusiastically heads out the door with me to train.  It did take a while for us to find our rhythm, but these days we seem to have it down pat.  While she has not caught up to my long distances,  her long training day mileage is building.

There are issues, such as the upcoming warm weather, that I have to monitor closely.  It is entirely possible, if we get a particularly hot summer, that her training will have to stop.  With Puppy’s thick coat of hair she warms up very quickly.  Last summer she spent the days lying on the floor vent whenever the air conditioning was on.  Something tells me that this summer won’t be any different.

If you train with your dog, I would love to hear about your experiences of training a dog for long distances.  Happy Walking!  JJ