Posted: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 03:23 PM - 15,496 Readers

By: Pam LeBlanc

I love it when dogs and runners team up to help each other. That’s what’s happening with Austin Pets Alive!’s new “Jog-a-Dog” program.

Starting Saturday, runners can stop by Austin Pets Alive!’s new facility in South Austin to borrow a running partner. The dog gets some much needed exercise; the runner gets a little motivation, in the form of a four-legged buddy eager to run and some incentives at area stores.

The program is the happy collaboration of Team Spiridon, a local non-profit running group, Hill Country Running Co., Bettysport and RuffWear.

About 60 dogs are typically housed at the Austin Pets Alive! facility in South Austin. They need human interaction, and who among us couldn’t use a little outdoor exercise time?

Participants get a card that gives them a 10 percent discount at Bettysport and Hill Country Running Company. After they’ve run with 10 dogs, they get a $25 gift card for either of those stores. RuffWear, a manufacturer of products for active dogs, is donating special running leashes for use in the program.

The program starts Saturday. Dog runners and behaviorists will be on hand from 8-10 a.m. at Austin Pets Alive!, 2807 Manchaca Road.

The program may expand to include the Austin Humane Society, says Rob Hill, executive director of Team Spiridon. (I bumped into Hill and his dog last Sunday at Maudie’s on Lake Austin Boulevard. They’d just finished running; I was fresh off a morning of boating on Lake Austin.)

Austin Pets Alive! takes in adoptable animals from the city’s Town Lake Animal Center and other local shelters in an effort to help Austin shelters reach no-kill targets.

For more information about Jog-a-Dog, visit Team Spiridon here or on Facebook.

*  Story Contributed by: Pam LeBlanc