My 2 year old and my 3 month old - Page 2

 loved the pics

Great pictures!  What a beautiful puppy!  She looks like she's worth the drive, adorable.

Jenni78....thanks for the info.  I think he just is a large puppy.  I had seen the entire litter and he was the biggest, by a significant amount and the breeder said he was big when he was born.  Although they are not long time breeders this is their third litter and they said this is the first time that they have had a puppy markedly larger than the rest.  He is gaining 3-5lbs a week.  I will weigh him again tomorrow and see where he is at.  I'm not allowing him to become heavy.  He is beautifully lean.  He is just growing this way....his meal plan is outlined below.

I am away from home right now....just picked up the new girl on Sunday, but when I get home I will post some more pictures.  He is really starting to look nice, although he has that Horse in Dog's clothing look to him right now.  His gait is lovely.  I love to watch him "trot".  He has his guard hair now and his coat is gorgeous.  I can feel his ribs and his tuck is perfect.  My last male was large as well, and it was with him that I learned about "controlled growth" or that was what my vet called it, to prevent the male from getting too heavy to be suported on their young, growing bones and joints.  He followed a similar growth pattern to Ace and ended at 97-105lbs depending on conditioning.  He reached his full height and weight late in the second half of the second year.

I think that my feeding regimine is suitable, although I am ALWAYS open to suggestion, criticism and critique, as you can never learn it all.  Ace gets one small (2 cup) scoop of Kirkland kibble in the AM and one in the PM and rarely finishes the morning scoop, and only finishes the evening scoop if he isn't getting raw that evening.  He gets Raw Meaty bones a couple times a week and we have been feeding raw fish (usually salmon whole) or other raw meat a couple evenings a week in addition to his small scoop (though on Raw nights he pretty much doesn't touch kibble).  We have friends that have an organic cattle ranch and will be getting green tripe from them, though I don't know when that will come, that is where we get our RMBs right now.  My hubby also hunts and we will feed the heart and liver of the animals he hunts along with any other suitable parts.  I would do 100% raw, but 1, my husband is not onboard and 2, we spend a lot of time at the lake in the summer with little to no suitable storage for raw food and 3, I'm not sure how to do it safely with 3 young kids and a small house as our dogs are fed inside 100% of the time and short of disinfecting the floors in my house after every feeding, I don't know how to keep things clean.  I don't have time to bleach floors all day.  I was considering doing a 50/50 mix of Orijen with the Kirkland.  I just can't afford to feed 100% orijen (see 3 kids and I'm a stay at home mom), but also think that the addition of salmon and tripe should make up for any shortfall in the Kirkland Kibble.  Bowel movements for my 2 year old who is on a 2L scoop of Kirkland once a day in addition to the raw I mentioned above are once a day.  My 16 week old is twice a day, once in the am once in the pm....maybe a 3rd after a walk.  The new girl, is still getting settled in, so no patterns for her yet.

Janna is definitely more in line with what I expect in a GSD puppy at 8 weeks.  A rolly polly fluff ball, weighing in at what I estimate to be about 12lbs.  I can't wait to share her photos and her pedigree, I'm really looking forward to opinions on it.  I already love her to the moon and back and can't wait to home this weekend so she can get properly settled in at her new home.

can't wait to see photos....:)

Awww!

I had to laugh at that pic of her looming over the puppy. "I said 'don't touch my toy'!"