How Far Can a Jack Russell x Patterdale Walk (Daily)?

[MrsMozart]

I've had a fit of insanity and booked a place on a Kiltwalk in June. For the uninitiated it's 18 miles and seems to be a fun(!) thing to do and many folk raise money for charities (mine's Macmillon).

Anyhoo, on the grounds that I'm fat and unfit I've come up with a walking plan to build the required stamina. It would seem an idea to take one of the dogs, get us both fit. I lost a Rottie to dementia two weeks ago and the remaining one is too arthritic to be doing such things, he's an old lad now and it's not his thing, so that leaves me with the Jackrat.

We sold our yard last year and going for walks, whilst something we did a lot of before the yard, hasn't been a major fixture given the age of the Rotties, therefore the Jackrat, whilst far fitter and leaner than I, isn't long-walk ready. We're going to build up together and I'm wondering, at aged seven, what her cut-off point might be.

Lots of lanes, verges, fields and beaches to hand. Will obviously have to build up her pads to deal with any tarmac distance. It doesn't matter if she can't do the full eighteen miles as I won't be taking her on the Kiltwalk itself.

Any thoughts from those in the know what the reasonable max would be? I'll always have a rucksack to slip her in if she gets too tired during training.

 

[Jinx94]

This sounds a bit like a 'how long is a piece of string' scenario. My approach would be to closely watch her as you're building up the distance and keep an eye on how she recovers afterwards.

My friends had jack russells of varying ages and would walk a lot around their property. My friend would do about 10 miles a day and two of the terriers did a heck of a lot more as they were off lead and liked to have an adventure. The old boy would take himself back to the house when it got too much, but he was in his teens.

I would imagine that the youngest averaged 15+ miles a day, aged 2-4. The middle lad (5-7) probably did a little less, but he was a fan of a comfortable life. His adventures didn't include bogging off after every little thing that moved!

I run with my almost 3yo German Shepherd but she always has at least one day of pottering after a longer run. Our furthest running distance to date is 14km. On one occasion we did a hike that ended up being a 24/25km round trip but she was on the lead for 90% of that so didn't put much more distance in than I did. She'd probably do half marathons with me every day if I asked, but I'm not that fit I know how I feel after a hard day and want to make sure that her body has plenty of time to recover, even if her mind disagrees!

 

[rara007]

Further than you’ll have time to do!

 

[Lois Lame]

Further than you’ll have time to do!

That's exactly what I think.

We had a Jack Russell x (half Kelpie). Best dog we ever had. He had perfect conformation imo (brilliantly proportioned). The elegance and brain and the desire to work well from his Kelpie mum/dad, and the naughty-I-must-investigate-whats-going-on-here from dad/mum. She'll do you proud, Mrs Mozart.

Start off by telling her that the training for the great walk is starting.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Exciting times to be getting fit for the Big Walk, and all for a very worthy cause .

My suggestion is to check if her nails need trimming back. Our JRT does a fair bit of road walking but doesn’t self trim her nails, they were more like the ‘before’ than the ‘after’ pic .

I’m too wimpy to trim them myself in case I catch her quicks, but she now gets her nails done without drama every 8 weeks or so by a lovely local dog groomer who charges £10 if the dog is in just for a nail trim. No stress, all done in 5 mins.

 

[Smitty]

Have you tried putting her in your backpack before? I imagine mine would need to be about to croak before he would submit to it, if then, and would be trying to hurl himself out.

 

[DabDab]

Depends on the dog I suppose, but jacks are pretty resilient to large amounts of walking-type exercise. My current small - a jrt x pom - takes in excess of 4 miles just to stop excited squeaking and turbo-trotting at the full extent of the extendable lead. No idea what she does daily in terms of miles....probably around 7 miles at a guess

 

[pistolpete]

They are tough little dogs. Love them. Mine used to run and run. She was so enthusiastic. Proper little worker. Depends a lot on temperament too I would think but doubt distance will cause an issue.

 

[I'm Dun]

Well considering most whippet owners get an attack of the vapours if they are let off lead, never mind taken on long walks and think a mile or two is their limit, mine will do 10miles all off lead running. We havent gone further than that as thats where I tap out. The younger boy would do the full 18, sleep for a night and a day and get up ready to do it all again. So way more than you think!

 

[Nicnac]

Firstly well done you Mrs M! That's a fantastic goal for great cause.
Marathon runners often don't run a full 26 miles in training with lots doing 16-18 miles max.
Jackrat could therefore work up to the 12-15 mile mark with you. If he's on lead you can pace him rather than him doing 5km in the first 15 minutes snuffling and wasting energy.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Have you tried putting her in your backpack before? I imagine mine would need to be about to croack before he would submit to it, if then, and would be trying to hurl himself out.

Same, it would’ve like trying to squish a tantruming toddler into a car seat!

Mine would go on forever I think as long as the weather conditions were to his liking!

Well done Mrs M good luck!

 

[misst]

Another who thinks you'll give up before him! They are very good at switching off afterwards once they are proper adult dogs. Enjoy yourselves together and I hope you'll put up a sponsorship page when the time comes.

 

[tda]

Very dog dependant, the bitch we had was full power if needed, she never gave up the boys , (her hubby and her sons) not so much

 

[MrsMozart]

Thank you all. Wise words as ever

Will get pics as we go along.