My dog does not love to run. Oh, he loves to chase, but not run. However, he’s being trained on Search and Rescue skills, and his biggest detractor right now is his stamina, which his two Ironman (retired) parent’s simply cannot have. So. We run.
Oh my goodness, he hates it. He’s a good runner, as dogs go, in that he stays right on my side and doesn’t stop to sniff or pull in one direction or another; he’ll go where I’m going, and trudges along, but man can he pull a bitch face. During any given run he looks back at me at frequently intervals, with a “So… we’re just going to keep running, then? Like, that’s all we’re doing here. Running. To get somewhere. And then we’re just going to turn around and run…home. And this is…this is by choice, right? We’re just going to run. And – I’m sorry, but let me be clear – at no point will there be a tennis ball thrown or a squirrel to be chased? Is that correct? I mean, for real, we’re just….running. For…fun. Ok. Huh. Sure. Really? JUST running?”
YES DOG. WE ARE JUST RUNNING. FOR FUN. God, kids these days, right?
No worries, though. I’ll show him. See, the way I figure it, everyone feels this way about running in the beginning. But running sucks you in and Stockholm syndromes you into thinking it’s fun and awesome and good for you and then before you know it he’ll be bugging me for a Garmin and tracking his workouts and logging his time and discussing post run fueling techniques and oh God. He’s going to turn into his father.
Whoops.
InnerTeub 
Couldn’t you carry a bag with a supply of tennis balls, and just toss one ahead of you every minute or so? THEN maybe he’d get it. And you could.. slowly wean him off the tennis balls.
As a bonus, it’d a strength-builder for you, running with all those tennis balls.
You know, he would totally LOVE that, but sadly, we run through city streets and blocks, so I have to keep him leashed. As it is, he runs along with a tennis ball in mouth, and looks only SLIGHTLY put out. And then he sleeps all day, which is fantastic 🙂 I can’t wait to get to a place where he can run unleashed with me through trails, and then I would TOTALLY take you up on your suggestion.
I think he would be proud to turn into (an albeit furry version of) his father.