Dobie gets tuckered after a run

Question
Hi,

I have a 1 yr old female black/tan dobie. She is a rescue dog; she was a recovered stray who was half-starved when I got her 2 months ago. She has also been spayed. I put forth the effort to put weight on her with a good regimented diet 2x a day with also 1 1000mg fish oil capsule with her evening meal for general heart health/shiny coat. At her initial vet visit on 28 Apr, they said we had done a great job of putting weight on her and that she looked great, so we could stop with the extra food. She weighed in at 57 lbs. Since then we have cut back to the recommended amount for her size of 1.5 cups 2x a day, morning and evening.

That is the background info. My question is regarding her stamina during a moderate jog. I started her jogging with me about 2 weeks after getting her (mid April) and all seemed pretty normal. I live in SW Ohio and the weather had been cool to moderately warm. She was doing good, albeit plenty of panting. However, the weather has been getting warmer, still not sweltering, but warmer, like high 80's to low 90's. The last 3 times I have jogged with her have been a slightly different story. 3 times ago we went for a 3 mile jog, and at the end of the run she was more tired than normal, wanting to stop and lay down when we were less than a tenth of a mile from done. I took about a week break from running her but she is really crazy about going with me, so last week I took her out again for a bit longer run, about 5.5 miles, thinking maybe the first time was an anomaly. about half way through the run, I stopped to walk a bit on an uphill shaded grassy part. At this time, she nose dove to the ground and laid on her side panting rapidly with her moth open and her tongue completely lolled out. I let her rest for a few minutes before continuing on. The rest of the way home consisted of slow jog/walk/rest, but I got her home. The last time was a few days ago. 3 mile jog (I am actually pretty slow) that we had to stop 3 times and rest before getting home.
  She starts out strong, trying to drag me into a full gallop, but settles into a jog. She gets excited and displays full strength at anything on the trail, such as bikers, other runners/walkers, or woodchucks or other critters. But towards the end of the run the last 3 times she has been tired, panting, tongue hanging out and has to be coaxed along to finish the run.

Does she have a problem or is she just out of shape? Am I doing anything wrong with her diet/exercise? This is the 3rd adult Doberman I have owned, and have never experienced this before. Any advice you could give me would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Dion L. Frymark

Answer
My concern here, and you didn't mention anything except about her weight, is what kind of shape is her heart in? I know that she is young, but cardiomyopathy and cardio-megaly can strike these breeds at any age.

Was she heartworm tested as well? If she didn't get tested or her heart was not checked I would take her in and ask for an ultrasound or an xray of her heart and at the very least a heartworm test.

Yes she seems to have exercise intolerance but why? We ask these questions to rule out the obvious:
At 1 yr of age she should be bouncing for hours right?
So the questions here are:
What does her heart look like?
Does she have a murmur of any kind?
Is she heartworm negative, really negative?
Does she look cyanotic (blue or purple tinge to her tongue/gums) when she is gasping for air?

The reason I am asking these things are because you need to ask your vet about them. Dobermans are notorious for developing heart issues and cardiomegaly is a common one. That is an enlargement of the heart.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscles that causes a weakness in the contractions of the heart.
Here is an article about it. Notice the dog at the top...

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/cliented/dcm.aspx

So these are the things I would take back to your vet Dion. I am not a vet,but that is the best advice I can give you. Dogs are generally not "out of shape" like we get although it is advisable to build them up slowly to an exercise regime just like we would do for ourselves.

So if her heart checks out to be fine, then you should look online under endurance training for dogs and find a program to get her started on.

Good luck and please let me know what you find out.