Born to Run

Hello Homies,

Sorry about the silence at this end. It’s been a crazy few months over the Summer but I’m back and we’re going to talk about world records… And yours truly.

Did you know the oldest dog in the world lived to be over 29 years and 5 months? And he was an Aussie, which has got to be a good omen for me!

I am 1 year and 5 months, so that’s only another 28 years to go.

Most of me has stopped growing, although I’m not totally sure about the ears. Yep, I’m hearing you ask the question and the answer is ‘Biggest doggy ears in the world = 35cm’, so that one’s not in any danger from me, hopefully!

Here are a few more canine World Records and how I stack up against them:

• The world’s heaviest dog was 155kg, in other words almost ten of me!
• The world’s longest dog is 210cm, but from nose to tail tip, I only measure 110cm. 
• The world’s tallest dog was over 111cm tall. I stand 49.5cm high at the withers even on my tip toes. 
• Most tennis balls carried at once = 5. Seriously tho’, why would you bother? One’s enough and that’s only for when there’s no other dogs around.
• Longest tongue – over 40cm. Just think about the places that could get.
• Shortest dog – 15cm long and she fitted in a tea cup
• I could go on. There are records for riding skateboards, catching frisbees, balancing cans on your head, catching balls…

So, it’s clear I’m not breaking any records, at least not until they find a reliable way to measure ‘koolness’.

That said, there is a record for ‘most consecutive treats caught’, I fancy a crack at.

Anyhow, as of last month, I now have an official height recorded on my Agility card, which tells us how high they should set the jumps. I’m not sure how the calculations work; I can jump way higher than they say.

Agility is pretty awesome and I’m starting to get the hang of it but more about that next time.

I can’t run as fast as some of my friends and never will now my legs have stopped growing. But that’s okay, ‘coz I sure can run for a lot longer than most of them, which means I will always catch up.

And my wardrobe finally fits me!

I tried walking once…

And got pretty good at it eventually…

But it was hard work and nothing compares with running. Bet you didn’t know that some dogs can run at over 60km per hour? That’s almost twice the average speed you guys can run and four times the speed my folks can move.

Why are dogs so good at running? Well, there are several reasons. One, we have a strong spine that allows us to stretch out as we run. Some us also have long legs and powerful muscles to help with speed and endurance. In the good old bad days, this was essential for catching the prey that allowed us to survive.

We don’t have collarbones, which means we have greater flexibility and a longer stride for sprinting. And some of us have aerodynamically shaped heads, as long as we remember to pin our ears down.

I will run anywhere but my favourite place to run is at the beach, especially on the sandbanks where I can keep (and look) super cool.

I also like jumping.

By the way, did you know the record for the highest jump by a dog is 172.72cm? That’s 68 inches!

The good news is, I only need to jump 32 inches. Why?

Because that’s the height at which I can ‘counter surf’!

I’m also partial to a bit of leaping.

Quite a lot, in fact… in all directions

And just the occasional bit of pouncing

Longest jump in the world? Over 9 metres, which means I’ve got some serious practising to do.

So as you can see, when it comes to records, I’m pretty ordinary in the dog world but the folks think I’m special and I make the most of that, especially when they have food.

See you soon…