I've been trying to keep Gunnar on the thinner side to keep him from growing too big, but I don't want to step over the line and be under feeding him. His parents were both 65-75#'s but he was the biggest in his litter, he's from the 3rd breeding of the same pair and in the previous litters, the biggest one wound up being about 100#'s which is quite a bit larger than I wanted. So the breeder suggested keeping him lean as he grows and that will prevent him from over-growing. But now that he's 4 months old I'm more comfortable with him growing into the size that nature would have him be and I'm fearful that I've been under feeding him.
About a month ago at age 3.5 months he looked like this:
Now at 4.5 months he's got lots of muscle in his chest and hind quarters, but virtually no fat over his ribs or shoulders. When viewed from above there is a step from his shoulders down to his ribs, another down to his waist and then a step out to his hind end. His coat covers a lot of what I feel in these pictures:
I've been feeding him 1 cup 3x a day of Blue Buffalo Native Puppy, plus about 15-20 small milkbones for training. but I read on the BB feeding scale that he should be at 4 1/4 cups a day.
ADDITIONALLY:
-he used to poop 3 times a day shortly after feeding. Over the last week or so that has slowed to 1-2 times a day at random times. I assume this is because his body is using everything that I'm feeding him and there just is not a lot left over?
-He was gaining about 3-4 pounds a week over the last 2 months, but that has dropped to 3 pounds in the last 2 weeks despite a growth spurt in his body (not his legs, but he's gotten longer)
Should I increase his feed volume? Maybe up to the recommended amount and see how he looks in another week?
