« Roomba vs. Shelby — A Roomba Product Review | Main | Dog Food »
The athletic pug
I'm quite suprised how athletic Shelby is. I read a lot about how pugs don't need that much exercise, and therefore assumed that they weren't strong dogs. Shelby is quite strong. But she overheats so quickly because of her short snout that I wouldn't describe her as having "endurance." She's more of a sprinter. Sometimes, Steven has taken her jogging with him on the trail. He gives her walking breaks and water breaks, and Shelby keeps up pretty well for about 2-3 miles.
Here is a camera phone photo of Shelby walking up a hill with us on Memorial Day weekend. It was pretty hot, so we kept the walk quite short. Shelby had a good time, but as you can see she's panting to keep herself cool. We kept an eye on the hawks to make sure none of them had an eye on Shelby.
Afterwards she was quite tired, and found a spot in the sun to take a nap.
May 30, 2004 | Permalink
Comments
I very much enjoyed reading about raising Shelby. I am hoping to adopt a dog in the near future and have already bought "Culture Clash". Keep up the good work!
Posted by: eileen | May 30, 2004 11:08:55 PM
I stand by my assertion that tired dogs are the cutest dogs.
Posted by: James | May 31, 2004 7:23:39 AM
We have found that our pug LOVES to be on the trail with us. He loves to walk ahead of us and scope everything out, if we fall to far behind he sits and waits for us. We take him cave exploring with us and everything. He is a real charmer. I love this sight. I am adding it to my favorites today. We have a larger out door dog and a stray "kitten" that has adopted our dogs not us. Bam, our pug, could not live without either one.
Posted by: Cat | Aug 21, 2005 10:33:34 AM
You know, I've been looking around the net to see what people say about jogging with pugs - 'cause our Babette (1 year and 4 months old) seems to love it. I was worried about her health - potential hip problems, overheating, etc., but I guess it's a question of the dog. I wonder if people aren't projecting fragility onto their animals...? Anyway, it was nice to hear of at least one other pug who can handle a little run. Maybe we'll have to cool it a little if it ever gets warm here (Denmark) or we get up to any real distance running. But so far, she's always in front!
Posted by: Stephan Vernier | Aug 6, 2007 12:41:42 PM
hello, I am planning on getting a dog and I love pugs but this whole "pugs hate excercise" has made me look in another direction, since I am very active and want my dog to enjoy the park and excericse (nothing worse than seeing an unfit child or dog). I was wondering (now please call me crazy) if I could take my pug with me, run a little then put him in a baby sling/carrier and let him rest as I ran on. Mad?
Posted by: barbara | Jun 16, 2009 3:59:33 AM
I don't think that's mad at all. We've taken Shelby on a hike that was too long, and she happily sat in the jogging stroller with the baby. just watch for overheating, and bring water.
And you might want to get a pug on the smaller side. The biggest pug I've ever seen was 30 pounds. (Not fat, just really big boned. His name was Tater.)
Posted by: Winnie | Jun 16, 2009 7:35:08 AM
shelby is adorable! our pug, biscuit, is not quite a year old. she is very athletic and can outrun any of us (which may not be saying much now i think about it...). but sincerely, we have taken her on 3 mile runs and she is always ahead and seems to never tire. we have taken her hiking in the mountains, again, always ahead. (she seems almost like a lab in this respect. indeed her two "best friends" are a huge black lab and an even huger bernese mountain dog!) she weighs about 16 pounds and she does not have a particularly pushed-in face. in addition, we wouldn't do anything like this in intense heat (but normally we're okay up here in new hampshire).
Posted by: Shosh | Jan 17, 2011 1:33:46 PM
We also have an athletic pug. Larry is quite slender and his legs are a bit longer than the average pug. He can run all day with our Jack Russell:)
Posted by: lara | Jan 17, 2011 3:34:32 PM
Our 4 year old Brie loves to run. She does 2 - 3 miles easily when the weather is cool (I don't jog with her if it's much over 70). Her face isn't as pushed in as most pugs so she has a bit of snout, maybe this helps her. If she seems tired or panting excessively we slow down or stop and rest. Our Akita/Collie carries a back pack so she can have water when she needs it. I never thought of jogging with a pug, tried it with this one (I've had several over the years) and as I said she just absolutely loves it and seems to keep up easily in cool weather. That's important! In cool weather.
Posted by: Mason Colbert | Jan 31, 2012 12:10:45 PM
I have a pug and live in honolulu my pug loves to go with me on my morning jogs he is actually my motivation. We wake up he knows my workout clothes and socks make him so excited he knows we are going! He is in great shape it seems he loves to do whatever we love to do as a baby he didn't like water but after some patience and worrying about him falling in the pool he is a great swimmer just don't get water on his face hates that. I had to write this because they are so wrong about pugs and excersize he seems depressed if he doesn't get to GO! A pug is your shadow a mold he wants to be just like you my husband goes sailing with are pug and we have never had heat or health issues in fact some people ask what he is mixed with because he is such great shape pure breed hawaiian pug so happy with him he actually makes me feel young all his spunk!
Posted by: Melissa | Feb 8, 2012 5:24:54 PM
I have a 9 year old pug and he loves his long walks, we did 4.5 miles today... he's a lean and healthy dog...
Posted by: Geno | Nov 19, 2012 9:06:37 AM
Thank you so much for this post and all your comments. I've been wanting to get a pug for ages but am an active person and want a dog that can accompany me on my runs (usually around 3 miles) and hiking adventures. Some of the posts I have read seemed like people were making their pugs out to be more fragile than they really are. I live in the Pacific Northwest and it is usually 50* and rainy (70 in the summer). Is this still too warm?
I am SO happy to see that there are pugs out there who are happy being active and running. Hopefully I will find my own active energetic puppy very soon!
Posted by: Liana | Nov 21, 2014 3:09:20 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.