Outside Cat, Inside Dog

I believe quite strongly that cats should live indoors only - especially long haired white cats who want to stay clean - but Winter would be an outside cat if I let him.  If there's an open window, he'll be there.  He's a sucker for the fresh air.  Since there's a direct line from the front door to the back door in this house, you can get a serious breeze blowing through when all the windows and doors are opened.  Himself loves the breeze.

I opened up the windows mid-afternoon today, and he hasn't moved since.

No, I still haven't figured out how to make that cat bed less tacky.

In other news, I started running again last week.  I figure that since I'm not sick anymore, I don't have any more excuses.  I'm going to get back into shape, and I'm going to lose a lot of weight.  I tell you this for two reasons:  one is that the more people who know about my attempts to become a jogger again, the more pressure I'll feel to keep it up.  The other reason is because I can't decide what to do with Cotton.

Cotton has definitely become an "old" dog this year.  He's going blind, and he's less active.  But.  he's only 10 1/2.  Maltese can live into their late teens, so I'm not ready to give up on him yet.    A few years ago, based on his size, I left him at home when I took up jogging.  Except, he did go with me one night for about 3km.  I expected that I'd have to carry him, but he actually did very well.  He was happy as a clam the entire time.

This time, I'm not yet able to run straight through the 25-30 minutes that I'm out.  I run for a few minutes, walk for a bit and then go back to running; and will work up to running straight through.  The first time I went out, I had both dogs and wasn't intending to jog.  (I talked myself into it mid-walk.)  Cotton did fairly well, but dragged a bit at the end.  Last night, against my better judgement, I took Cotton with me again.   We jogged most of the 25 minutes that we were out there, and Cotton struggled.  At one point, I had to pick him up and carry him... which really didn't work well for me.  But, after he had been carried for a few minutes and had the break he needed, he went back onto the ground and very happily ran ahead of me until we got home.

So, now I'm torn.  I know that Cotton can't come with me when it gets hot outside, or when I work up to my goal of 5 and then 8km.  But, I wonder if I'm doing him good or harm to bring him with me while I'm at my slowest, and running the shorter distances.  Will it get easier for him, the way it gets easier for me, or am I putting undue stress on his aging body?

Common senses tells me to take him for a short walk before I go jogging, and then take Tallulah for the run and leave him at home.  The problem is telling him no, when he so clearly wants to come along.