I love running with our dog, Zaro. OK, on the roads he can be a pain in the neck, he is frightened by traffic and wraps his lead round my legs when a truck goes past. It's also particularly frustrating to be moving along at what to me is full speed only to be brought to a complete halt by a dog with a sudden call of nature. Then again, when you are out in the hills on your own, there is nothing better than having a dog trotting along behind you. Sitting on a hill top and sharing a bit of flapjack with Zaro is one of the best things about running.
However, over the past few weeks, I've been going out on my own. After Zaro runs (or walks) about four or five miles, we find that he develops a limp in the evening. He's fine when he is moving, but after he's settled down for a while, he develops a very distinctive limp on his left forepaw. So, I've been resting him, but he doesn't seem to be improving. Yesterday, Sue took him to the vet and it appears that he has inflamation in his elbow joint. He's been given to some anti-inflammatories and some omega-3 tablets which hopefully will sort things out. However, the vet warned that this can be an ongoing problem with Australian doodles.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, I was running up towards the Lancashire border, just about to start climbing some hills after a long slog up the valley, when I stuck my left foot into a rabbit hole. There was no one around to view my spectacular head over heels tumble, but it would have made a good TikTok video. I've now got a left ankle the size of a tennis ball and what is termed an avulsive fracture of my talus.
It looks as though it will be a few weeks before I can lace my running shoes on again and, at the moment, it's not certain that Zaro will ever be joining me on those long runs.
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