This is Blue, who was the bacon to Syl and my lettuce and tomato. She enjoyed several years of cragging and camping with us, but left us this summer. She had a great active life, and lived it with gusto!

Cute dog Don. This is my "best friend", she can go for about 15 or 20 whole steps fast then wants to get carried. I am not sure who gets more exercise me carrying her or her trying to keep up.

The following is an artiCLE Jane Welzel pointed me to.

TRAIN WITH YOUR DOG
See Spot Run. See Dick run. See Jane run, too. What fun they're having
By Renee Despres

Johnson's dogs offer him a keener extra set of eyes and ears out on the trail. "I do a lot of miles, and I do a lot of solo training," he says. "My dogs give me an extra reach in perception. If you keep one eye on the dog and look where it's looking, you'll probably see something that you wouldn't have seen otherwise."

While many dogs have only their runners to accompany them, running is an entirely social event for a group of dogs in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Wily, Mikey, Bailey, Tessa and a few other dogs drag their owners out of bed on Sunday mornings. It's an elite group that follows the dogs, including road racers Jon Sinclair, Tina Sono, Libbie Johnson-Hickman and Jane Welzel. "On our Sunday runs, we often have more dogs than runners," says Welzel. "We all love dogs, and it makes the run more fun."

"They know what's going on," adds Welzel. "They get out of the cars while we discuss where we're going, and you can almost see the dogs saying to each other, 'How've you been? Haven't seen you for a few weeks. You been eating lots of pig ears?' Once we get going, it takes a good mile to get everyone settled down."

Bailey, an English pointer who's the speedster of the group, usually brings along her runner, Johnson-Hickman. Bailey is third in a line of running dogs that has accompanied Johnson-Hickman since she began running in high school.

Tessa, a black Labrador and Border collie mix, arrives with Welzel. A relative newcomer to the group, Tessa still hasn't learned to pace herself. "Sometimes she goes out too fast and dies," Welzel admits, but she's learning quickly. "Bailey is a super runner, so when Tessa first started, she was like, 'Hey, it's all I can do to keep up and make it to the end.' Now she can do a few side trips."

Sinclair and Sono usually join the group with Wily and Mikey, both golden retriever/Brittany spaniel mixes. For Sinclair, running with a dog is running in its purest form. "Dogs love to run," he says. "It's an instinctual thing. Most runners can appreciate that love of running. You get out, and the dog is having the time of his life. It's a good feeling. They're the most enthusiastic training partners you'll ever find."