I have three dogs, their current ages are 9yrs, 4yrs and 12months (and 10days but who is counting?) when we finish a walk I have noticed out of all three of my dogs it takes the youngest, the longest to stop panting.

I would think to myself oh she feels the heat, she isn’t as fit as our other two, but could it be that not only has done twice as much exercise as the older dogs as she is still in the ‘’everything is amazing’’ stage of life and butterflies are new, seasons are new, leaves are new, smells, sights sounds everything is still very new to her.

Or could it be that she is still developing her fitness levels, strengthening her cardiovascular system, sympathetic system (heart, muscles).  There is so much more to consider than the line I hear all the time ‘’wait till 12 months when growth plates closed’’

When considering exercising your dogs and entering into the sport of canicross.  I say this as the ‘’sport’’ of canicross as amongst most UK clubs and races (excluding some Sled dog sports and European races) the minimum age is set at 12 months.  As the chairperson of our canicross club we recommended for larger breeds to further wait till they are 18 months.

‘’The growth plates of intact dogs of all sizes and breeds close by about 14months of age.  The growth plates of spayed or neutered dogs do not close until 18 or 22months of age, depending on how early the dog was spayed or neutered and on the dogs adult size’’
Chrs Zink PDF Puppy exercise

Our dog is a larger breed yet like most other people I am eager to start our canicross journey together.  I will however, continue to wait because when I look at my dog and after we have done say 30 to 40 minutes off lead walk, she is either charging around or sniffing, all at her own set pace, not my walking pace, when she stops for a roll in the grass or a longer sniff I wait.  She is still of the age and not had enough life experiences so everything is new, everything is exciting and everything is wonderful. She is getting enough physical and mental exercise so by waiting to canicross her I am still meeting all her wants and needs and making it about my wants or needs.

Our dogs after a walk will also rest, they may have a post exercise high when they do zoomies around the garden but ultimately, they will crash and they will sleep for a good few hours so at this stage in her life she’s not missing out on anything by us not starting her canicross journey. I will wait. I will wait for her to mentally mature, that being said, I love her personality and playful nature but at least by waiting a little longer will have enough experience to be able to focus on a task and not get too overly excitedly, distracted and even burnt out.  I will wait for her to physically mature and this relates to so much more than the growth plates, in actual fact I was surprised to learn because we only focus on the words ‘’growth plates’’ that they are the fastest structure to finish developing, still to finish forming are the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fat.

Am paraphrasing here ‘’it’s not just about the growth plates it takes time for the dog to not just grow but the whole puppy, the skeleton, the muscle, the soft tissue, the fascia which all allows dynamic movement’’
16 February 2021 Galen Myotherapy – Tilly Talks facbeook live

During this facebook live Cushla Lamen stated ‘’muscles aren’t developed enough or strong enough to cope with any level of training’’ and by that she means that we cant just expect our dogs to be ready to cope, we need to get them functionally fit.

Chris Zink states ‘’majority dogs in performance events are not fully fit.  Cant get your dog optimally fit by just doing the game. Have to target muscles that the dogs need’
(Chris Zink – How to assess your dog structure and why its important 6 March 2018)

Julia Robertson states ‘’we have got to join our puppies up, it’s not just about the skeleton, bones grow quicker than soft tissues so we are relying on the soft tissues to hold the bones in place and securely and atomically where they should be, we have to allow for that process to happen’’
Julia Roberson 16 February 2021 Galen Myotherapy – Tilly Talks facbeook live

So if you have your clubs permission, bring your puppy along – know you are actually starting their canicross journey not by doing a 5k run but by getting them used to a high energy environment, seeing lots of dogs and their humans in a harness.  Letting them try on some harnesses, not all dogs will immediately be comfortable in wearing harness and getting in them comfortably.  Let them just come along and hear the noise and feel the excitement at the start of a canicross meet.

Lets not just assume at 12 months they are going to be okay with being strapped into a harness and attached to their human and understand the principles of running ahead. Don’t necessarily expect them to be able to cope the same way a mature, trained, physically fit and experienced adult dog can cope.  They might just not be quite ready yet, physically or mentally and if you wait then we just might hopefully be able to have a long term canicross fun with your dog.

Once you reach the magic 12months you can initially try some ‘’fire trails’ like they use for starting off in man trailing, where you have a short run with your dog in harness.  There are canicross training plans much like the couch to 5k programs where you both build slowly up so walk then run then walk again (link in post).  I personally would unclip them and maybe even take off their harness so they are able to differentiate between canicross is running to a pull but see how your dog is reacting.  What you don’t want to do is reprimand any pulling while in harness during that walk section of your training.  You can also start building in directional commands so when you come to a club meet and the group sets off you can take your young dog off for its walk and providing they wont chase the canicross group and the group are long gone and clear out of sight start your left, right and most vitally slow down (I use woah). I find ‘’steady’’ is too close to the word sit and I sometimes think dogs get confused by this.

So lets start your canicross journey by making small introductions and quite literally to use the quote by E.L. James: “We have to learn to walk before we can run”

Working at your dogs pace for their best movement health  – Amanda Perriman