Paws In Motion LA

L-R: Boz, Matt Seng, Dylan, Otter, Sophie and Augie at Hahamongna Watershed Park, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in the background)

When you come home after a long day and a longer commute, your dog wants--needs--all your attention and even more exercise. You need to veg out with TV and a beer. If the dog wins, you're exhausted. If you win, you feel guilty. For you, it's a lose/lose.

Matt Seng knows this first-hand. He's done the day-job thing, and the coming home and sitting on the couch thing. Then five years ago he decided he needed a change. He started running. He joined Team In Training. Now he's head coach for the LA American Cancer Society marathon training team. Tomorrow he'll be running his first 50 mile ultra-marathon, the Ray Miller 50/50, in the Santa Monica mountains.

The guy is kind of motivated.

It turns out Matt's dogs Dylan and Sophie are motivated, too. They love running, and Matt loves them. He's one of those people who really gets dogs, you know what I mean? And dogs get him. Fortunately for Dylan and Sophie, Matt is also one of those people who figured out how to turn his passions into his business: Paws In Motion LA. Matt walks dogs and babysits dogs and, if your dog doesn't have his driver's license, Matt will give him a ride to where he needs to go. I think Matt's favorite thing, though, is taking dogs for a run.

Matt gets dogs and Dylan gets Matt.

When I first met Matt I figured the dog running business was an okay idea. But then John and I ran into him out at Hahamongna Watershed Park and I knew Matt was onto something beyond the usual neighborhood saunter. If he's running with your dog out there you are going to have one happy dog.

If it's true that a tired dog is a happy dog, then after our walk yesterday morning Boz was ecstatic for the rest of the day.