Oh sh*t! Literally...

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Okay so let’s get into it.

Managing bathroom breaks while running the dogs

I (Riley) was recently asked about the dogs taking bathroom breaks while running and how we manage those.

You know, those “oh sh**t” moments while running with your dogs and they have to go number two…

Well, there’s no one specific answer to this, as it can vary based on several different factors. So I’ll break it down based on my personal experience running dryland races and running the dogs around our neighborhood.

Dryland races

Let’s start with dryland racing because that’s the more “interesting” of the two. What happens when a dog has to poop during the middle of a race? Do you stop and pull to the side of the trail? Do they hold it until the end?

No and no…

They kinda just go while running. It’s very weird to try and picture in your head and even weirder to see it happen in person lol.

I’ve had this happen to me once and it was every bit of awkward and mesmerizing at the same time. It takes some freaking talent for a dog to pull this off while still running.

I had been told about this scenario happening before but didn’t really think it was possible or that I’d ever see it, but sure enough… As handlers/mushers, we do our best to make the dogs go to the bathroom well in advance of ever hitting the trails. While we have a pretty good system down, the dogs don’t always cooperate.

And in my specific case, I was borrowing a friend’s dog last minute for one of my runs. So I have no idea if the dog even had a chance to try before we took off from the starting line.

We were probably three quarters of the way done with our run and out of nowhere the dog started squatting to do his business. It did slow down a little, but make no mistake, he kept running.

And guess where the poop was going… right towards the person being pulled behind him on a bike. I *think* I avoided the flying poop, but there’s no way to know for sure. I was covered in mud splatters…or I hope it was mud.

I mean it makes sense why the dogs don’t stop. They’re amped up and they have at least one other dog next to/in front of them still running at full speed. So it’s either the dog does what it’s gotta do while still running or stop and risk getting drug and tangled up with the other dog/musher.

Is this the greatest thing for the dog or you? Definitely not. But when you’re in the heat of competition trying to get the fastest time, it sure beats stopping for a precious 30 seconds. We do what we can do before the race to avoid this by walking them around, but hey, they’re dogs after all. We can only do so much.

Another method we’ve seen mushers use is putting match sticks, sulfur end in, in the dogs rear end. Apparently the sulfur has something to do with making them poop? Or maybe it’s just because it’s uncomfortable…who knows, but it worked!

Urban mushing/running at home

Thankfully, when running the dogs in the neighborhood we have a little more control over the situation. Before we even put the dogs in their harnesses or on a leash for walking, we let them outside several minutes in advance. We typically leave them outside until we know they’ve taken care of business.

We don’t mention run/walk before letting them out so they don’t get all amped up and distracted beforehand. To them, it’s just a regular trip to the bathroom.

When walking Pence, she’s notorious for pooping right when we round the corner and our house is no longer in view. Even when we leave her outside for 5-10 minutes before we leave, she holds it. I kid you not, it’s the exact same spot.

So recently, I’ve started walking her on leash on the side of the house, outside the fence before we actually start the walk. And 9 times out of 10, she poops on the side, still in our yard. It’s like when she gets her leash on, something triggers her instincts to want to poop. She’s not like this in harness… just when walking 🤷🏻‍♂️

Just like when on the trail, we can only do so much to get them to go before runs in the neighborhood. We usually have a high success rate of them going, but there has been an instance or two where one of them has had to go on our run.

Only this time, we actually do pull over and stop, for a couple of reasons.

1. The dogs do it on their own and we don’t have much control over it. Likely because it’s a different environment running in the neighborhood than it is at a race. They aren’t as amped up and dying to keep running.

2. Even if they didn’t stop on their own, I would stop them anyways. I don’t want to have to come back and pick up poop out of the middle of the road after our run is done. (I’d likely forget as well, and don’t want to be that dog person…)

3. We’re always trying to be safe.. We don’t want the dogs or either of us humans distracted while running in the middle of the road with the potential of cars coming at us or up from behind.

So yeah, stopping kills the momentum and slows us down, but we’re not trying to break any course records when we’re training.

It’s very rare that this happens (I think it’s only happened to me once or twice in all the runs in our neighborhood…), so it’s typically not a big concern for us. As long as we prepare properly and give them the time they need before we head out.

That’s generally how most things are when it comes to urban mushing. You just have to plan and prepare. Think about everything that could happen on the short runs through the neighborhood and try to mitigate any potential dangers/distractions so the run is as safe and smooth as possible.

Okay.. enough talk about poop for one day.

Have any other questions like this?

Send them our way in a reply to this email (or in the comments if you’re reading on our website). We love answering questions like this to help people learn more about mushing/urban mushing!

Looking for more on urban mushing?

Our newsletter is also hosted as a blog on our website! You can go back and read through all our fun stories with the dogs and helpful information about urban mushing.