Running with the dog

We now have a Great Dane that I can use as a running partner. He's great. He loves being outside, and actually has started to enjoy going for a run. There are just a few problems with using him as a running partner. One would be his being out of shape. The girl we got him from was not an exercise person, her version was a walk around the block. So, while he's getting better, I still don't want to run him a full 2 miles yet. Needless to say this may put a crimp in my running schedule. But I think I can work with it. Another problem is his dislike of other large dogs. He's the sweetest dog in the world, lets the kids crawl all over him, is really lovey dovey, but show him another dog and he turns into an idiot. I run at the nearby park and people walk their dogs there all the time, all day long. So there is seldom a time when there isn't an encounter. Just this morning we were running and someone with a Golden Retriever was coming the other way. Oy, what a pain. Luckily he has a choke collar on him and he listens pretty well. Does anyone have any idea what it's like to stop 130 pounds of dog. I'm just hoping that the chain doesn't pop one of these days when he's ready to attack someone. I must say though, he's getting better. I don't have to fight with him near as much as I did when we first started running. He's nothing like my Yellow Lab that would run right next to me and wouldn't leave that spot, unless he spotted a deer or a squirrel, and then he didn't really try to go very far. I'm hoping that as I increase my distance Riddick will be able to go with me, so I won't get too bored. Since the rest of the people training for this thing seem to be otherwise occupied when I want to run.