For the "smaller" GSD owners out there

[Rua]

I'm just back from my walk with Juno. We encountered a lady in the park who told me she has a GSD as well and she asked how old mine was. When I told her Juno is four months, she and her friends nearly fell over and exclaimed, "WHAT? Only four months! But she's so small! Are you sure? Why is she so small? Blah blah blah blah small small small." This woman tells me that her four month old boy GSD is double the size of mine and so on and so forth.

Juno will be 4 months old tomorrow and weighs in at nearly 26lbs. I had difficulty measuring her, but I believe she's about 16.5 inches at the shoulder. She has a glorious shiny coat and overall seems to be in good health. (Although, she's gone "off" her food the past couple days. She's still active and playful, and she does eat, but not as much as normal. She seems to be going through a phase. At least I hope that's all it is. After speaking to this woman in the park, I'm feeling rather paranoid about Juno now and worried that something is wrong.)

Juno's granny and father were both rather large. Her mum was on the delicate side. She wasn't a massive GSD, which is partially why we opted for Juno over her sister. We felt a non-giant GSD would be good choice for a first dog for our kids. And Juno seemed to be most like her mum both in appearance and temperament.

I know these dogs can vary a lot in size. But I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance that she's growing the way she should, and if there is anything else I should be doing to facilitate healthy growth in her.

For all you "small" GSD owners out there: Did you get reactions like this from people? Is my dog normal?

[bianca]

Yes x2! Lucky me!!!!

Molly (2 years) is 27kgs/59# and compared to almost all others I see around here, she is small. I get asked often if she is a puppy It used to bother me but now I just think meh.

Cooper (15 weeks old) came home at 8 weeks and was even smaller than Molly at the same age. When I first took him to training I had so many comments saying he was the size of a 4 week old.

Cooper's weight so far to compare (although he is obviously a male!) and he has been sick from a vaccine reaction.

Cooper
8 weeks 3.8kgs / 8.3#
9 weeks 5.0kgs / 11#
11 weeks 8.2kgs/18#
12 weeks 9.6kgs/21.1#
14 weeks 11.2kgs/24.6# (was unwell for a week)
15 1/2 weekw 13.7kgs/30.2#

[Rua]

That makes me feel a bit better. On this forum, I know there are heaps of people that have very large GSDs. At first I thought it was more of an American trend, but then when this lady over here in Ireland started on at me today about how much bigger her dog was than mine, it got me wondering if my girl is unusually small.

But when you look on Wiki, it says the standard breed weight of the female GSD is 22-32kg (49-71lbs), so your Molly is spot on with her weight.

Maybe we aren't the weird ones after all. Maybe we're the normal ones! haha

[Anthony8858]

My Kira is a West German Show line. Not being too familiar with the "breed standard", I was also concerned like you.
AT 3 months, she was a tiny 13 lbs, 4 months, 20 lbs, 5 months 33 lbs, 6 months 43 lbs, and at 7 months, she now weighs 55 lbs. The breed standard is 49-69 lbs for a female west german show line, so I feel she's right on target. I expect her to be about 68 lbs, just like her mother.

I wouldn't worry, don't let the uneducated get you down.

[jocoyn]

My little female WGWL is 52lbs at 9 years old and even with her HD is surprisingly agile and fit. Small can have its benefits!

I keep worrying about Beau being such a huge tank (23 inches 65lbs at 7 months) but then realize my current adults are simply on the small end of the standard (Grim is 23 inches and 75lbs, all bone and muscle though, no fat)

[Castlemaid]

LOL, don't worry, even if you have a dog on the upper side of the standard, to the general public your dog is going to be small, unless it is 30 inches and 125 lbs!

[LaRen616]

Malice was 23 pounds at 12.5 weeks old.

She's almost 8 months old now, she is 22' at the shoulder and about 50 pounds. She seems very small to me but that's because my male is 28' at the shoulder.

[Acejin]

I've had these thoughts also when my puppy weight 26 lbs at 4 month old, I was sure something was wrong in his development but now at 9 month old he weight 81 lbs!
I guess like humans dogs have different growth rate, He developed drastically between 6-8 months.

[counter]

Nara is 4 years old, 25.5" and 88 lbs and we're still told how small she is. Just ignore their ignorance. The larger a dog is, the shorter its average lifespan. So be happy knowing you should hopefully get some extra years of love and life out of your dog. Bigger isn't always better, especially when it comes to the size of a dog. I'd take a few extra years over a few extra lbs and inches any day. They can keep their oversized, beyond-the-standard dogs. Haha! Nara is just perfect in my eyes! We've been told that she must be a mutt because she is too small to be a pure GSD. I used to get offended, but now I just laugh at them and their ignorance.

[Anthony8858]

Oh, I forgot....

Just yesterday, someone commented how they used to have MIXED BREED SHEPHERDS LIKE MINE!!!

Does Kira look like a mixed breed to you?
People just don't know what they're talking about.