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How much did your male/female GSD grow between 1 year and 3 years? Curious.

12K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  McGloomy  
#1 ·
Some people said theirs stopped growing when they reach 18 months and some said between 1 year - 3 years they grew 10-20lb more? Just curious.
 
#4 · (Edited)
My female is 21 months I do not expect her to grow much more but and did not notice a notable change in the size of her from 1-2 she is 65lbs. Max is 3 1/2 years old and he seems to have filled out and grown till three. I have to get a more recent weight on him last was about 84 lbs.

photos -max at one years old and three 1/2. Luna at 14 year old and 21 months old. Different lighting changes their coat colors a bit .
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#5 ·
My last GSD gained like 15 pounds from age 1 to 3. Height stayed the same. So he was 75 lbs at age 1..by age 3 he was 90 and lean.

This guy now? Shoot I hope height is done. @cloudpump you just scared me lol He is 27.5 at the withers at 11 months old. Much taller than sire or dam. He is 88 pounds and lean.
 
#8 ·
So the males pretty much filled out huh? Good to hear. Some handsome shepherds here in the forum! I'm just a little upset right now, my boy has been refusing to eat for a good 2 weeks now, I've been hand-feeding him throughout his meal times.. It was really sudden. Checked to the vet; he's totally fine physically (so that's $65 out of the window), so it's a behaviour issue. Have tried everything pretty much: add some broth, wet food, changed the brand once (ate the new food at first, now back to No No). He used to be so crazy about his meal time. He still eats if I give out the kibbles as 'treats,' but never from the bowl. He hasn't gained any weight in a month, for the 1st time since I got him at 2 months (now he's 10 1/2 months). Just talked to our trainer this morning, looks like I've come to my last resort: gonna put down the bowl for 15 mins, if he doesn't eat, well too bad you're gonna be hungry. My trainer said once she had to do it to her dog, the dog gave in after 3 days. So I'll see what happens then. It's very upsetting as an owner. Times like this I wish us humans can communicate with animals through language. Wanna let him know how lucky he is to have a home and to be fed twice a day premium food, whilst so many other dogs don't have the luxury. Just a little too agitated I suppose, that he's being difficult and ungrateful for food with so many other living beings would kill for it. I don't believe I've ever been so disappointed in my dog. First for everything they say.....
 
#9 ·
I'm not much help in terms of the weight and height gain, as my girls only 7 months old.

I might have a few suggestions for the food because my hound/shepherd(?) mix has the same issues. He ended up losing a lot of weight in the shelter then started gaining, but all of a sudden lost quite a bit. Which in terms of weight was fine because he was a bit overweight but his sudden lose of appetite was unsettling. We tried over 5 different brands of food with zero change in appetite after 2 or 3 days of eating it.

What we found that worked was changing him to a high quality food which was stinky and smelly. We chose Orijen for this purpose (averages about $40 a month since he's not very active and is only 60-65 pounds.) But I know there a quite a few high quality (smelly) foods that don't get nearly that expensive.

Then we add pumpkin (he loves the stuff) which works really well for him, he hasn't missed a meal and we're on his 2nd bag. So pretty good for our major picky eater. We previously had tried adding his favorite treat (string cheese) 100% pork and beef and regular canned dog food plus way more. He wasn't interested until we switched to the Orijen and pumpkin combo, now instead of missing meals or walking really slowly to eat he comes up really quickly and eats.

I think the major reason he stopped eating was because of stress. When he was at the shelter he way underweight due to the constant barking and motion (other dogs) at the shelter, he's very much a non vocal (by choice) coach potato so I think it was to much. Then when we got Olivia a few months later (profile pic) he again went off of food.

So it's possible that if your dog is anything like our Murdoc he could be stressed out and just not wanting to eat. Our maybe just changing up there diet to something else that smells could work, seemed to do the trick with Murdoc.

If your dogs lose of appetite bothers you could try to give a beef knuckle or other such meaty treat. That way your dog has at least something in their stomach. However there is that fine line between getting a dog to eat and rewarding them for being picky so that's something you want to gauge.

Picking up Murdoc's food never worked for us, that's why I mentioned this. He would just flat out starve himself and go days without even a nibble. However I know a few dogs that picking up the food trick has worked for, just not ours :)

Thanks,

Alyssa
 
#10 · (Edited)
Luna’s picky she will eat her food plain occasionally gets bored easily I had found the less food I put in her bowl -she would eat it up but that would include feeding multiple times a day. So I just choose to add fresh food this makes dry food not so boring so will add either fresh meat, dehydrated patties, raw eggs etc. Luna will not leave a crumb behind. I always pick up there food bowls up right after they eat.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for your advice guys! I just went home from a petshop. I went in and asked for a TOTW sample and met the manager. I told her about the situation, and she immediately performed her training abilities: my dog ate the sample she gave. I said he would most likely eat fish formula. Went home from the shop with the TOTW Pacific (Fish) 30lb bag. He just ate food for the 1st time in 3 days............ So grateful. Hopefully he will REALLY like this one and stick with it. Fingers crossed...
 
#14 ·
Haha, I hope you're right about them being done growing "up" by 11 Months... Sheba has just turned 10 months old and already stands a whopping 27-1/4 inches high. She is quite lean, but because she is so long and tall, she already weighs 86 lbs. If this girl ever decides to fill out, well, I hate to think what she will weigh! But perhaps we should consider ourselves fortunate that she never seems too interested in food of any kind. (even treats don't really excite her) We even tried the "pick up the bowl after 10 minutes" thing, but she still would not eat. We have actually witnessed her go for 5 days without so much as a bite, so we continuously have to coax her along, and often must resort to feeding her by hand to keep her from starving. So, anyone who believes that an otherwise healthy dog will not allow themselves to starve, has never met Sheba!

This was Sheba at just 5 and 6 months of age...

Glen
Focus On Newfoundland

Sheba at 5 months


Sheba at 6 months
 
#18 ·
Wow, he's very handsome, McGloomy! And he is already the size that he's supposed to be.

Our Sheba started growing very quickly right from the time we first brought her home at 8 weeks, and she just kept growing SO fast! Pretty amazing, really, considering that she has been so hard to feed, particularly during her multiple bouts with Panosteitis. As of yesterday, she is now into her 6th Pano flare-up since January.

Sheba already looked pretty darned huge by the time she was just 5 months old. Here's a pic of Sheba in only her 5th month. (I know you've seen this one before, but is still one of my favourite photos of her)

Glen
Focus On Newfoundland