My GSD is 15 weeks and almost 30lbs. How much dry dog food is enough for her. I'm giving her about 3.5 cups a day. The bag reads much less than that.

Also, still have trouble with her pulling on a leash. Can I begin using a choke collar at this age?

Thanks

feed to her body condition. If she is way too chunky, cut back, if she is thin, great, bag of bones, feed more.

choke collars in general aren't great ideas. my 7month old pup wears a prong(not a choke)collar for walking, and i get a lot of flack for that because he is young. My guess is that 15 weeks really is too young.

I agree with feeding, starting with the recommended amount, and then going by what your pup looks like feed more or less.
What are you feeding as far as kibble?

I would work on not getting her to pull by using a high value soft treat reward and getting her to follow you to get those rewards.

15 weeks is a bit too young to start wanting to correct or use tools like a prong collar. Puppies need to be taught what we want as far as acceptable behavior and be able to do what we want reliably before we can start correcting. It is not fair to the pup to do it any other way.

Make sure you are the FUNNEST thing for the pup right now, and to be honest, I would let the pup drag the leash if you are in a secure area where (s)he cannot run off and use the food and making it fun for the pup to be with you.


Adding: I would not use a choke collar. Period. They can cause serious damage if used improperly or placed on the dogs neck in correctly.

I would also recommend going to Ed's e-book section and reading up on his puppy articles as well as (if you can swing it) ordering his 8 Weeks to 8 Months, Basic Obedience and Establishing Pack Structure DVD's. Great stuff in those.

Sounds like great advice on the food.

Walking on the leash in my area is needed due to the traffic and so forth. I will try the treat thing again. As far as fun the beginning of the walk is fun, she is not pulling, and then about half way through she pulls all the way home. I have tried stopping, treats (maybe not long enough of a try) and it is certainly frustrating. She seems too smart not to understand not to pull. Yes I have corrected her on this the last few weeks and of course that hasn't worked.

Thanks for the information