Dog Weight

[Cedarswamp]

Most vets won't tell owners the truth on weight. I've seen a vet tell a man that his dog looked great...the poor little dachshund was so fat his "manhood" drug the ground!

I had one puppy that I sold that was like that...I want to say that he said he was 45 lbs at 4 months and warned him then that it sounded like he was getting too big too fast and 80 lbs @ 6 months old...dam is 65 lbs, sire was 75 in working condition. That puppy was dx with OCD in his shoulders not too long after 6 months if I remember correctly...OFA says it's genetic, other studies say conditional from overfeeding. I think it's the same as HD, there's a genetic factor and a conditional factor (otherwise we wouldn't say keep them light, no excessive jumping, when they're young, etc). That is the only puppy out of 4 large litters that the female had that was reported to have that problem, there was one more that was a bit heavy when I saw her at just over a year old and the owner thought she was solid muscle...I gently told him that she should loose a few pounds.

Which puppy is sitting on the GSD?

[windycanyon]

dog was weighed at the vet, he asked the vet about the dogs size, if she was fat, vet said no. my guy out of the same litter is 60 pounds and looks 50. one other male is 70 75 pounds
also, one other female was 10 pounds lighter than my male. Attachment 9008

MOst of mine are 45-50# at that age. One, years ago was 65# at 7mos (this pup grew terribly fast and liked to eat too). She ended up being my only pup (of ~12 raised here) in 20 yrs w/ HD. I'd be nervous and tell them to knock off the supplementation!

[Cedarswamp]

Agreed, with cutting the supplements...the purpose of the Large Breed food is lower protein and calcium to "grow them slowly"

[Wayne Nutt]

It is hard to tell anything about the picture of the dog. It just looks like a black blob in the body.

My puppy weighed 45 lbs at 5 1/2 mo. He will be 6 mo. on Sunday. I was looking at him last night and decided to cut back on his food by 1/2 cup. I am going to get him weighed at the vet again on Monday.

[Brokengunz]

I have never had a fat dog, maybe cuz I work mine all the time. Been my experience if I over feed, I get a mess in my kennels. AT seven weeks I had two pups that were bigger than all the others. My nephew has one, he is also big now, over 70 pounds, the other guy owners says his dog stopped growing after a certain point. when the pups were born I recorded their weight. I monitored their weight every week until they went to homes. Some of the pups just grew faster. The smaller ones I fed separately but they grew at the same rate.

Rio, at 3 months she weighed 40 pounds, 5 months 67 pounds(pictures), 7 months 88 pounds The dog in the pic. the shepard is 130 pounds.

riosheptrk.jpg

[dpate]

Study after study show that overfeeding during the first year significantly increases Hip Displaysia. It's one thing have a fat dog but I think that a dog should actually be on the skinny side, at least during the first year.

[windycanyon]

I have never had a fat dog, maybe cuz I work mine all the time. Been my experience if I over feed, I get a mess in my kennels. AT seven weeks I had two pups that were bigger than all the others. My nephew has one, he is also big now, over 70 pounds, the other guy owners says his dog stopped growing after a certain point. when the pups were born I recorded their weight. I monitored their weight every week until they went to homes. Some of the pups just grew faster. The smaller ones I fed separately but they grew at the same rate.

Rio, at 3 months she weighed 40 pounds, 5 months 67 pounds(pictures), 7 months 88 pounds The dog in the pic. the shepard is 130 pounds.

I have found that weights thru 8 wks don't always hold. One of my girls will be 2 in Dec. Consistently, she was just in the middle of the pack size/weight wise w/ her littermates. The girl that had the most bone, and consistently weighed more than the others (by 1.5 - 2# at 8 wks) is now only ~53# whereas mine is 62.5# in good working condition. I've had the opposite happen more often than not too. I co-own a half sister of the same girl who is weighing/measuring significantly smaller than the littermates. I've given up trying to guess based on puppy data. The most important thing we can do is feed them and exercise them appropriately, not too little and not too much. Then hold your breath til OFAs at age 2!

[Brokengunz]

litter mates
tank on right 95 pounds
toby 68 pounds

17.5 months

compare.jpg

[Brokengunz]

Toby, Tank, and /mom Kate


IMG_2226.jpg

[Wayne Nutt]

It is a little difficult to tell by the pictures but Tank looks overweight to me. I don't see much definition between the chest and stomach. A picture standing up would be much better. But the real definition is the layer of fat around the ribs. Is there a layer of fat or can you feel the ribs? When the sun hits on the dogs at a certain angle can you see the ribs definition a bit?

Hope this helps.