GSDs over 100lbs... How many ppl have one?

[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by Jd414

He's my dogs sire... He weighs 125lbs

Is your dog from Royalair? That looks a lot like one of their dogs. They have some handsome dogs and their faces are distinctive.

[Mr. Aero]

This is Mister Aero, he is a year and a half today!! He was 99lbs in the beginning of October.


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[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by Syaoransbear

But the bigger difference isn't the 5 pounds, it's that in this picture he's in his summer coat and in the other picture he's in his winter coat. I live in Canada and right now Chrono lives outside, so it's very thick. I don't think one picture is a very accurate way to determine how overweight a dog is.

I agree, a photo can look different depending on the angle, the lighting, etc... Also things like the coat or the dog's muscle conditioning can make them look to weigh more or less and without actually seeing them from all angles or having your hands on them you really can't always tell for sure...

For example these two dogs were both actually a little underweight when these photos were taken--


This was when I first got Bianca, she weighed about 60-62 pounds and my vet felt she could gain at least 6-8 pounds (keep in mind she was an "oversized" female at 26" tall.) You could feel all the knobs in her spine and her hip bones when you ran your hand over her back...


It's hard to tell it from photos but she actually had a lot of fur, especially under her chest/stomach. You can kinda tell in this photo linked below, if you look where the backpack's red strap ends can see the difference between where her fur hangs down to and where her actual stomach is:
http://www.chicagocanine.com/bianca/palisadesbianca.jpg (the red part is the strap, the grey stuff is stones in the background)


Ginger below, in this photo she was a little underweight:




She was the one I mentioned earlier in the thread who had spondylosis and so her stomach lost muscle definition and she lost the tuck-up she used to have at a younger age... She had a lot of trouble keeping weight on as she got older though so she was often thin.

This shows the difference between a back view and side view on the same dog-- this photo was taken the same time as that one, this is looking down from above (her head would be to the left, sorry about the bad cropping job):





Here's a photo from when she was younger, in this photo she is in good shape, at a healthy weight so actually weighed MORE than in the ones above, but since this was before her spondylosis she has a visible tuck-up which makes her look leaner (also I believe she may have been to the groomer recently here, so she is sleeker looking):

[Freestep]

Actually Chicagocanine, both the GSD and the Golden look to be at perfect weight. Dogs are supposed to have a waist!

[LoveEcho]

This is an interesting thread. I will admit, it really grinds my gears when people brag about their "HUGE" 100+ lb GSD's, and how big they are... about 90% of those dogs, as previously stated, are obese.

There is the exception of the unusually and accidentally large GSD-- I have one. He is 31" at the shoulder. However, he is LEAN-- he weighs in at about 80 lbs (good weight, good tuck, feeling the ribs but not pronounced)....the same people who gawk at how "scrawny" he is tell me they think he weighs 90+ lbs. Both of his parents and all of his siblings that I know of are on the smaller side of standard...someone fooled around with a giraffe. He's very, very leggy.... and he's also just two (I also had him neutered at 6 months, before I knew better and I suspect that may play a role). I ALWAYS get "he's so small, my shepherd is 130 lbs!" and I've come to the conclusion that most people have NO idea how small a German Shepherd is supposed to be due to the onslaught of "bigger is better" (at least in the US) and "old-fashioned" GSD's... i.e. obese. I'm not talking about naturally tall or big boned that happened as a fluke...I'm talking about porking up a dog and then breeding way outside the standard intentionally because 'big dogs are tough'. There is an epidemic of that here. I think most people would be shocked to learn that their over-sized GSD is obese, sadly....

[Syaoransbear]

Yeah I kind of think the US must have a higher percentage of oversized german shepherds from the way a lot of people on here talk about their dogs being called small by others. I've never had someone call Chrono average where I live. I get remarks comparing his size to a horse/pony whenever I walk him.

But in my dictionary, over-sized always means taller than average, not heavier than average. Weight is a pretty insignificant size measurement since it can change and since it depends so much on bone and muscle mass.

[TaZoR]

Tazor was 88lbs when he turned 8mos. In this photo he was 9mos. he has since gotten much taller and I imagine he is around 100 at 13mos

[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by Freestep

Actually Chicagocanine, both the GSD and the Golden look to be at perfect weight. Dogs are supposed to have a waist!

That is my point about how pictures can be misleading-- those dogs were actually both underweight at the times those photos were taken, but you can't tell that from their photos.
It's not just my opinion either, it was also my vet (or in my Golden's case, more than one vet) who agreed that they were were, in fact I have a vet report from that time that lists my Golden's body condition as underweight, she had several tests to try to figure out why she was losing weight, although we never found an underlying cause.

[Jd414]

Originally Posted by Chicagocanine

Is your dog from Royalair? That looks a lot like one of their dogs. They have some handsome dogs and their faces are distinctive.

Yes


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[sparra]

Originally Posted by Freestep

Am I the only one who thinks this dog is overweight? Maybe it's just the picture, but it appears he has a fat pad over his chest, ribs, and rear end. He just looks overall a little pudgy and his head looks proportionately small to his body.

Please don't be offended, I only mean this as some objective feedback... especially with very large-framed dogs, I hate to see them even a little bit overweight, as it's hard on their joints.

IMO you cannot tell from this photo. The dog has his hind legs positioned in such a way that is makes him look "hunched" and therefore chubbier than what he probably is.....and no.....his head IMO does not look small for his body.....even is this dog shed a couple pounds which is all he would need to IF he was a bit over weight he would still be a very large (and beautiful) dog.