Companions

We have three dogs, as mentioned previously.  We had four, but had to put one, a sweet little spaniel mutt, down over the winter due to cancer.  All four have accompanied me at some point on my runs, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.  Running with a dog, that is.  I cannot, in good conscience, encourage anyone to run with MY dogs.

In theory, both the Border Collie and the Aussie would make excellent running partners.  And, with additional work, they may still.  In theory.  The Border Collie is a bit of a homebody; she greatly enjoys patrolling the yard, chasing frisbees, and hanging out on the deck.  Once she gets outside the back gate, however, she becomes cripplingly fretful.  She's always been noise-averse, but takes it to ridiculous extremes when running with me.  Children laughing, passing cars, airplanes flying overhead are all harbingers of her doom.  In addition to these noises, she has, at one time or another, responded negatively to:

Pigeons
Trees
A fire hydrant
A retaining wall
A plastic Nativity scene outside a church

Her coping mechanism, regardless of the stimulus, is to quicken her pace, crouch down to ground level, and get as close to me as possible, which often results in her leash becoming wrapped around one or both of my legs.  Much as I'd like to protect her, that is difficult to do when I'm windmilling my arms in a desperate attempt to avoid falling.  Eventually, though, we are able to negotiate the various signs of the End of Days, find a quiet side street, settle down and enjoy our run.  This invariably happens when we are within two blocks of home.

The Aussie, on the other hand, is all bluster and bluff.  He views nearly everything...dogs in yards, dogs in living rooms, motor scooters, fire hydrants, as potential threats to be neutralized.  His standard M.O. in these situations, is to charge headlong at the offending object, barking like mad, snarling, and doing his best imitation of a dog that is actually somewhat imposing.  As opposed to him...50 pounds of heterochromic fluff.  His lunges are generally timed so that I am in mid-stride and thus thrown totally off balance.  This gives him valuable extra milliseconds for his attack.
Once my equilibrium is re-established, I haul him away from his quarry and continue on.   This run-lunge-pause sequence, while entertaining, makes it very hard to establish any sort of rhythm, not to mention the fact that it saps his stamina very quickly.  If I make it a mile with him, it's a great victory.

The Brittany is probably the best of the lot when it comes to being easy to run with.  He maintains a nice steady pace, does not get startled by anything, nor does he feel it's his lot in life to challenge any living being within a 100-yard radius.  Problem is, he's old.  Real old.  Plus, he has a ridiculous case of hip dysplasia, which renders him unable to travel more than a couple blocks before it's time to rest.  He is a very willing participant, he just no longer has the ability to do much.  He's more of a cool-down dog than anything.

A lot of people enjoy running with their dogs.  I'm sure I would enjoy running with their dogs, too.  However, when stuck with mine, I get a short, exasperating run completely without pace.  I spend more time apologizing to other dog owners than I do actually running.  God forbid the BC gets startled and slips her collar; then, and only then, does she exhibit the athletic prowess for which her breed is so deservedly known.  In short, I'm leaving the dogs at home and playing frisbee once I'm done with my run...