Would this be cruel?

UKTigerlily

An alternative maybe would be to take him so far & then drop him at a home boarders so he doesn't go into kennels but gets to come so far with you?

moggymutt

When fit and healthy all my dogs were able to easily outwalk me. At one point I was doing 20+ miles a day with one dog- never even came close to tiring him out.

I'd be very inclined to check it out with your vet. I'd say there's less chance of a healthy dog injuring himself than a human say twisting an ankle.

sharloid

I've got Siberian Huskies so personally I would. They're built for long distances.

With other dogs, I probably wouldn't. Is the dog old enough to be doing long walks? Are they used to long walks? Do you have time to build it up slowly? What's the surface like? Will they be on or off lead?

You can get dog booties to protect their pads.

System

I can tell when my dogs have had enough of walking. I end up dragging them.

Personally I wouldn't force a walk of that distance on any dog. Its your choice but I doubt if it would be his.

lee111s

It all depends if the dog is used to it. If it's a working dog which is out in the field all day then it may well be used to doing plenty of miles. If not I think it's too big of an ask.

Norfolkite

My advice would be not to take him. Last year I had three human friends enter into this event and all three had to drop out by about 10pm. The drop-out rate is incredibly high (you probably know all this, and I don't mean to imply that you won't be able to complete it!), and I think you'll have enough to contend with without worrying about how the dog is coping. Are you able to get a pet sitter for the night? That might be a nicer alternative than kennels.

rising_from_the_ashes

Nope I wouldn't do it either

Over a few days - maybe - but not in such a short time

mountainofdebt

Thanks guys - its nice to know that I wasn't being over dramatic when I told OH that I thought it would be too much for him.

(tbh I find doing these sort of distances with mutt a pain in the backside as every blade of grass has to sniffed and every dog has to be said hello to,lol)

Norfolkite - mutt isn't actually coming on the L2B with me (OH has to see if he can get a self funding place); the 55 mile walk was a training walk that I was going to be building up to. Am looking forward to it,even if I am extremely nervous - its not the distance that frightens me, its the thought of getting lost in the dark lol