We go for our 5K runs without the dogs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, then once back take the dogs for their morning walk. The other days, its just the dog walks. I swear the dogs do it on purpose, but when we get up for our run, they just lay in their beds apparently asleep and are still there when we return. On the other days we used to have an extra 1/2 hour in bed before taking them out, but now we get woken up at the same time by two dogs eager to get out. How do they know??
At the weekend, we have been trying to train the dogs to run alongside us without leads by the river and fields well away from any roads. We see other runners with their dogs at their sides go past with out paying us any attention whatsoever. Our two on the other hand do quite well when nobody is about (other than for the odd essential sniffing spots) but as soon as we meet anyone we know (with dogs) they are off playing. As its essentially their time, we stop and chat until they are finished. We barely manage 5 minute runs (jogging really) before we meet someone else.
On Saturday we were out and met with one of the groups of dog walkers we often see and off our two went. We were all chatting in amongst the chaos of excited dogs running every when we realised that Oscar was by one of the group and barking at her. She looked a bit vacant and was not taking any notice of Oscar at all. The woman's husband went over to her and gave her a glucose sweet and within a minute she was back to her normal self. I did not know she is diabetic and has been having trouble getting her levels right lately. Had she not had the glucose tablet, she could have passed out if nobody else had noticed her.
That's the second time Oscar has brought attention to a situation, previously it was a cat locked in a caravan. He is my little hero.