Hi Jenni, I had just hit "reply" after your post and was speaking generally. I tend to agree with your post.

Jenni, just to clarify, I would never dismiss a dog because of weight (I'd never dismiss a dog, period!), rather I wouldn't breed toward a larger than standard GSD intentionally.

When I posted the quote "90-100 lbs", I admit I was focusing more on the 100 lb part of the quote. I do think 100 lbs is too much HOWEVER if that's the dog's structure, it is what it is.

Your Caleb is gorgeous, beautiful bone structure, beautiful head, nothing at all to dismiss there. If he weighs more than 90, he looks right for that weight, not at all overweight.

Lear, at last weigh-in, was 80 lbs but I could see he looked a bit overweight. So I did slim him down, to about 75. He's just over 13 months and might grow a bit more, hard to say. If he does, it will probably be more in bone mass and muscle than height (now about 27"), and if that's the case, he'll put on more weight as well.

What I'm against, stated simply, is GSDs that are purposely bred for extreme height, which would necessitate extreme over-standard weight. I wouldn't go looking for that type GSD on purpose, but certainly would take one in like I said previously, and wouldn't dismiss the dog because of his size.

I had RJ at the vet last night. He's a shade over 4 months old. He weighed in at 47 pounds and he still looks thin. For those who breed or raise pups, is that normal or am I going to have a larger dog than his pops (Working weight of 85 lbs)? Momma weighs about 85 as well and is not overweight.

Howard

Wow, Howard I was wondering the exact same thing about my puppy.

I just came back from having Aja weighed and she's 49 lbs. at 4.5 months old. She's also very thin and her parents aren't that huge (80 and 95 lbs, I believe).

I read that doubling the puppy's weight at 4 months of age will give you an estimate of its adult weight.

I'm just worried because my male, Taro, weighed about 40 lbs. when he was 4 months old (less than Aja at the same age) yet he's now over 95 lbs and slowly closing in on the 100 pound mark (he's only 16 months so isn't even done filling out yet). His parents are 75 lbs (dam) and 95-100 lbs (sire).

I was hoping that Aja wouldn't exceed 80 lbs so that she could handle competition schutzhund training without over-stressing her joints.

Is there some other way of estimating a puppy's final size/weight besides their 4-month weight? Maybe measuring the bone size or something?

Howard, I can't remember what Lear weighed at 4 months but it was probably around the same as RJ. He's always been a big guy, 13.5 lbs at 8 weeks. Here's a chart, the only one I could find on the net, so take it with a grain of salt (it does say it's an approximation of course):
http://www.nwk9.com/weight_height.htm

I was hoping Linda Shaw had a chart on her site, but she doesn't.
http://www.shawlein.com/The_Standard/Index_Page/Index_Page.htm

Lol Sandy, Taro may be nearing 100 lbs but I kept him extremely thin growing up. As a puppy I made sure I could always see 4-5 ribs on him when he was panting or running. Even now at 16 months you can practically see his entire ribcage when he's breathing hard or moving around.

His height is well within the breed standard and he doesn't look oversized either. He's just incredibly dense with thick bones. He has great muscle tone too.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/204/466133038_370a9da862_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/203/466102046_8b84c0c926_o.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/184/466102036_9e1e7ba831_o.jpg


I really feel as if he's as thin as he can get without starving. He doesn't look overweight to me
He's a little big to do a lot of high impact activity every day (although he doesn't realize it and is quite an athlete).
He soars over fences and jumps (without my approval ) and loves scaling steep walls. Like Jenni I also cringe when I imagine the impact on his joints when he lands from a 6-foot jump. I encourage him to scale walls instead of flying over fences (less impact), but otherwise I really don't see much of a problem with his size.

You just won't see me entering him in frisbee catching competitions anytime soon...

Jenni, Caleb is absolutely striking. He looks so powerful and serious, what a dog! No wonder you're so proud of him...

Sandy, thanks for clarifying. I was a bit surprised when you said "way too big" to 90lbs, as I couldn't imagine Lear being a 60 pounder...
And Caleb says thanks!

Caleb fluctuates summer to winter (doesn't really like to eat in summer)from low to high nineties. High nineties means his hip bones are visible and last 2 ribs are visible. Low nineties mean hips protrude and all ribs show. He looks way better at the higher end, but as long as he's eating well and is healthy and happy, I don't push him to gain weight. He's far too active to put any extra weight on those joints. He's really just filling out the past 6 mos or so at 3.5, so he was reeaallly sloooow to mature, which I was warned he would be.

For those who are asking about pups, I think (if I remember right) that he was about 50lbs at 4-5 mos...but I kept him away from the vet, so he wasn't weighed very much at all. I do know that by 6-8mos, no one thought he was a pup anymore, and was well into the 80's. My little one, Xander, is about 50lbs at 7 mos (tomorrow!), and while he's a scrawny little fellow, his sire and dam are way smaller, so I hope he'll be around 65-70; I only need one moose. His dam is only around 50 and his sire is around 70.

Caleb's sire was around or over 100 in his prime, and his dam is 80ish. I knew he'd be big, but the pros outweighed the con of size in that litter. I don't think I'd have bought him, though, in all honesty, if his sire wasn't already nearly 11yrs old and extremely healthy and in great shape. He did have spinal wear from so many sleeve hits with such a big body, but it was only visible on film; you'd never know it to watch him in action.

So, Howard, yep, I'd say you're in for a bigger boy. What are you feeding him? Kibble will definitely speed up growth. Xander never ate a piece of kibble and never, never, looked awkward, out of proportion, or like he was going through a growth spurt, and his ears have been consistently up since the day I met him at 4.5 weeks, so it's possible that he'll be bigger than I think but is growing more evenly and slowly due to only raw food.
If the dam weighs 85lbs, I'd definitely say you could be in for a monster from her side...since that's what Caleb'd dam weighs.

Yuko, thanks! I think he's ok. I'll probably keep him.

I have tried to get him to do things in a little safer manner, but he give me a "I'll do it my way...biotch" look, and I must admit, in over 3.5 years of his antics, he's never injured himself.

Edited by Jenni Williams (08/07/2007 02:06 PM)
Edit reason: Saw Yuko's post

deleted - posted the same link that Sandy did...

Edited by Yuko Blum (08/07/2007 02:08 PM)
Edit reason: oops, same link that Sandy posted

 Quote: jenni williams

Sandy, thanks for clarifying. I was a bit surprised when you said "way too big" to 90lbs, as I couldn't imagine Lear being a 60 pounder...

LOL, you with your 90+ Caleb and Yuko with her almost 100 lb Taro, I'm going to have to eat my words. Heck, Lear himself may end up making me eat my words. He hasn't been 60 lbs for many months. Like you (Jenni), I haven't taken Lear to the vet often, actually only twice when very young, and once just to get on the scale (when he weighed 80 lbs).

Of course that was April. Although I got him down 5 lbs after that, he may have gained it back by now. So hard to know without weighing him.

Now I'm waiting for someone to post their lean looking 120 lb, close to standard height GSD, so I can further eat my words

My Czech boy is at 94# and looks a little thin. No way could he lose 15 to 20#. He is not oversized or tall in any way.I really looked him over after reading this when we went swimming yesturday and ribs are definately visable. We feed raw at around 2# a day.