Monday, June 25, 2007

Dog running

To support my triathlon lifestyle, pay off the huge yoga bill I have accumulated at Be Yoga, and push back the yonige (see my May 2006 blog posting), I have been thinking I need to find other sources of income. Since so much of my time (15 hours again last week) is pure training time, my colleagues have encouraged me to generate income from the sport I enjoy so much.

Alas I would have to improve by extraordinary lengths to generate prize money, my casual, instinctive training mindset does not lend itself to coaching, and as far as I know this blog does not achieve the level of traffic that could be monetized.

One thought is to hook my indoor cycle trainer to the electric power grid. Even better is the huge new industry of "dog running" as outlined in yesterday's New York Times article "They Take the Bounce Out of Bowser" In New York the going rate is $20 - $40 per dog , per run and business is growing 20% per year. Apparently pet owners find their dogs are too hyper to deal with, and simply walking the dog does not adequately exhaust the pet. I know from my own vast experience running with dogs how much they love to run and they are fine training partners, especially for tempo runs on trails.
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3 comments:

  1. Keren_m1:25 PM

    You can start with Tasi! The little bugger is peeing all over the house at the moment and maybe this will tire him out. But of course, I can do it for free.

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  2. Stephen Lacey12:32 PM

    Maybe Tasi could take the place of the Steeden in the SOO, that'd cure him of his peeing.

    Interesting idea Jay. I do a lot of running in Komazawa park and there are always people walking their pooches there. Maybe I could pick up a few yen on my regular runs. The hard part would be doing it day in, day out, if that was what the client required.

    One guy up there runs his two springer spaniels tethered to him while he rides his mountain bike at breakneck speed. The dogs are very fit, they all move fast, it is a sight to behold. I also once saw them flying along and then stop on a dime when someone stepped out or another rider came the other way or something. They really have it worked out.

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  3. Christian5:34 PM

    hm... i made some experiences with that, unfortunately without earning money. carefully picking the dog's race seems to be a crucial point. back in switzerland, our neighbor's dog used to bark at everybody. as he did not ever get a walk in days, i believed that this resulted in being that aggressive and barking all day. i offered to take him for a run, what he obviously did not like at all, i even had to carry him ;-)
    furthermore, going for a run with a beagle in a forest can be a challenging task, too.
    plugging your home trainer to the power network seems to be the best idea...

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