Is my dog Ginormica?

[Sioranth]

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who might be able to give me a "guesstimate" about my female GSD's full-grown adult size.

She's 36 weeks old now and weighs 85 pounds and is 25-1/2 inches tall. So, she's still a puppy and at -male- size breed standard. She's actually kind of borderline for "underweight" according to some online BMI calculator, but she gets to eat as much as she wants at this point and is kind of self-regulating herself, I guess.

She is purebred with a mother out of pure American lines and a father out of pure Austrian/German lines.

[Kaiser2012]

Kaiser is 1 year, 2 months (and a few days) at 27" tall and 80lbs. And he is VERY slim/active. At 36 weeks (9 months) he was 60ish, if I remember correctly. Your dog indeed does sound very large. Can you post pictures (from the side and from above)? If you are free feeding there is a chance she is self-regulating because she has eaten too much.

[jocoyn]

That is terribly large. May want to post a picture (800x600 is our max size) to assess whether she is sized properly for her frame. A good side shot and a shot from above. It would be important for her bones to keep her lean while she develops.

[TrentL]

That's pretty Insane Draven is 7months old eats between 3-6 cups a day of food and is only 65-70pounds. I don't know his height though.

Love to see a picture.

[Sioranth]

Here are the pics. By "free-feeding" I mean that I feed her half of the daily recommended food amount for her size/age in the morning and half in the afternoon. Some days she doesn't even finish the morning amount and some days she eats both feedings and some days she eats breakfast but not lunch. She doesn't get many treats (outside of OB in which we use very small, thumbnail-sized all natural hot dogs pieces), so she's not filling up on "extras" as a reason for some days just not eating as much as others.

[qbchottu]

I would take 5lbs off and up her exercise - could use more muscle and development in the neck, chest, and overall. Hiking uphill or swimming. Dog is oversized - keep her active and very lean

[Sioranth]

Right now we're doing daily walks of 2 miles (takes us 30 minutes) around the neighborhood and once-a-week treks to the local State Park (which has hills) for about an hour walk (with a water/snack break for her). I'm still trying to build her stamina up. I originally got her to be my mountain biking/running partner when she gets older. Usually after the State Park trips she'll just be a complete slug the next day and needs a day off to recuperate. We also visit the local dog park maybe once a week and play fetch in the yard at home daily as well as OB training daily. We just completed Intermediate and I'm working on polishing her up before moving on to advanced and possibly her AKC Good Citizenship.

[jocoyn]

I am going to agree she looks a bit overweight. That is not much in the way of excercise and an hour walk should not wear out a 9 month old puppy. I think it is usually good to see the last two ribs at that age and see several of them when she is panting hard. I have never fed my dogs all they could eat, even if I took up the bowl in 15 minutes. I just adjust to the way the body looks, and it is usually gone within a minute or two.

[Sioranth]

Our "walks" aren't very leisurely, usually about 3.7 to 4.0 mph average, although I'm not sure if that matters or not that I doing a very slow jog and she's moving at a good clip although still technically walking since she has 4 legs and I have 2. lol

I read somewhere that it was 5 minutes of exercise per month old (ex. 6 months = 30 minutes a day) as what was "acceptable" so that's kind of what I've been going with for her as "official exercise" beyond the playtime and OB, and I considered the hour walks to be "pushing" to help her build up stamina since she "should" be doing 40 minutes a day. If that makes sense?

If I'm on the wrong track here, I definitely want to know! She's my first GSD and I'm really trying to do right by her. I definitely agree that she needs more muscle build on her frame and peeling off pounds to replace the weight with muscle growth is a great suggestion in my mind.

Does anyone have other suggestions aside from swimming or hiking for that? Swimming is just not doable on any kind of regular basis since I have no access to a pool or pond and especially not in the middle of winter. I really only have time for the State Park trips once, maybe twice, a week and those aren't "mountain hills" but just steep mountain biking trails. I live in southern Maryland and we go to Cedarville State Park which is just 7 miles away. If anyone has suggestions for things locally that could help in this regard, I'd love to hear them!

Oh, for feeding, again, she's not getting "all you can eat." At most, she is offered her daily recommended amount (4 to 6 cups a day). If she doesn't finish breakfast, she gets what is leftover back in the afternoon and sometimes she doesn't eat it then either. So, she only gets 6 cups of food a day -maximum- split into two feedings and many days she is only eating around 4 or even just 2 cups on the days she only eats a partial breakfast and skips lunch. Maybe I do need to increase her exercise to bring her metabolism up if she's overweight on this amount of food?

[qbchottu]

Drop a half cup from each feeding - I will advise against free feeding. Think about it this way...for most dogs (especially pet dogs), food is a major event in the day and something to look forward to and get excited about. If you take that drive and motivation for food out of the equation by making food readily available, it is a disservice to the dog. Schedule, anticipation for mealtimes, building food drive...all that is important.

The dog should also realize that you give the meal, and you take it away. Food should be an exciting event - something to bring excitement and anticipation to the dog's day. Food should not magically appear in her bowl so she can graze like a cow throughout the day - YOU provide food, and YOU take it away - it is not taken for granted. Regular mealtimes, up the exercise, cut 1/2c from each meal, and take up food if she doesn't finish it within 20mins. Yes - there are lots of free feeders, but I just don't think it is a prudent idea for 99% of dogs.

Coat is slightly lackluster, and muscle tone is weak - she lacks substance and muscle. She looks older than her age. Add some salmon oil or coconut oil to her diet. What type of food is she on? Diet matters - up the muscle conditioning - might take some time and effort on your part as some dogs condition up easier than others. Use something healthier and not loaded w/sodium for training - cubed up pieces of Natural Balance food rolls, cubed chicken or steak, Zukes training treats, cubed cheese, Bil Jac are all healthier alternatives. Grind up carrots really really well and add a half cup to cup of that to one meal - or grab a bag of Olewo carrots - coat needs it.