Conflicting advice from trainer/breeder/vet on food amounts and feeding
 

Short and sweet.....Ender is three months old, fantastic and super smart. I have no complaints on his attitude or how he interacts with people or other animals...but he just seems so **** skinny....you can see all his ribs.....its not awful but at times you can see them when running around, and when people pet him or get close they ask "are you feeding him enough"? Ive used food charts and the works...slowly upping his food...were at 4 cups a day, 3 times a day....i'm feeding SOJO....


So the issue (aside from weight) is my trainer(and vet) is saying feed on a strict schedule, which i am 6am, noon and 6pm. And my breeder is saying free feed him.....:confused::confused::confused::confused:

HELP

Cute pup:)

It's hard when everyone has an opinion...here's mine! lol

I feed about the same amount twice a day. When my boy was a pup he was fed 3 times like you are doing. His food times vary by hours sometimes, but it's around the same time every day. I am not going to stress about a fixed time...life happens & dogs will survive by eating early or later on some days:)

I personally don't like to free feed. The term can mean different things to different dog owners. To me it means not measuring food and allowing a dog to eat whenever.

4 cups a day sounds about right. We want our GSD to grow slow & steady. You should be able to feel ribs, they should not be protruding. My boy went through a weird teenage awkward stage around 7 months...nothing looked proportioned:rolleyes: To this day I hear that my boy is small for a GSD....but I know better. He's a good weight & height....also not over weight which unfortunately joe public is not use to seeing.

4 cups a day, 3 times a day is 12 cups. that's a lot of food.
i'm not familiar with SOJO. is SOJO a quality food? when my
dog was 3 months old he was fed 3 cups a day. 1 cup in the am,
1 cup noonish and 1 cup in the pm. he also had a snack and training
treats. maybe you have a smaller Shep. rule out anything medical.
it's not written in stone what a pup should weigh or their size in
general. my dog wasn't on a tight schedule when it came to feeding.

nah, he didn't say 4 cups per meal, 3 times a day.
4 cups a DAY.

I would also stick with scheduled meals. You should be able to feel ribs, maybe up it a little bit if he still seems absolutely starving, but he looks fine to me

When I picked up Riley he was 8 weeks and you could see his ribs and hips. The vet said he was to skinny and to feed him 4 to 5 times a day. He is now 16 weeks and 37 pounds. He is eating about 2 to 3 times a day now. I don't use a feeding schedule. They get breakfast and kibble is left out all day. We put a cup of kibble in the bowl when he empties it. He probably eats about 4 to 5 cups a day plus he gets some Natural Balance loaf in his breakfast and as training treats.

puppies shouldn't be fat, they burn alot from activity as well.

3 months, so 12 weeks right? I always fed 3x a day until they hit about 6 months..at 12 weeks I'm usually feeding probably 1 to 1.5 cups 3x a day, depending.

It may make a difference of course in 'what' you are feeding,

I would not free feed, you can end up with either a picky eater or a fat dawg:)

His weight is probably fine for a 12 week old, again, you don't want a fat puppy, and I find those males tend to stay rangey, gangly awkward looking sometimes until they hit 2, depending on maturity

Yes sojo is a freeze dried raw diet, Yes that's the same meaning to me as far as free feeding goes....and the 1 to 1.5 is about(as far as i'm feeding) right per meal....you have to soak the food overnight...so i do a large batch and break it up into three meals....i think he is about 22 pounds and abit over three months.....and thanks for getting back with me...its nice to have other shep owners to talk to...your male description sounds about right as far as i can see with my pup! I've also heard about growing pains???

If it's a raw diet, then there's plenty of info on puppy feeding in the BARF form on here. Good luck with your great looking pup!

Here's one link to check out...

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum...puppy-raw.html