Is it normal for her to be this big? - Page 4

Franquie,

Echo just turned 9 months on June 30th. 

She is very pretty (: I hope Anna looks as good as that when she turns 9 months old. All 3 of my dogs are going to the vet today for a checkup so I will have to let you guys know how much she weights now lol.

Oh, I am sure Anna will be absolutely gorgeous at this age.  She's at one of those awkward ages right now.  She will bloom in no time.  We have a German line pup in the Schutzhund club just 2 days younger than Echo.  It's been fun watching them grow up and comparing them at different stages.  Loads of difference!  So much so at certain times you would never guess they were the same age.  The first time was at 12 wks and Eamon was larger than Echo.  He has always been wider, more squarely built than Echo.  Somewhere down the line, I'm not sure at what exact age...I'm thinking maybe 6 months, Echo was slightly taller.  Last month they were about the same width but you can really tell Echo is from American lines because her back is longer than Eamon's.  If you stand them side by side Echo appears to be the bigger dog but they are pretty well matched at this age.  I'm not actively training her in Schutzhund at this time.  I want to wait until she is physically mature for all that activity.  They do play with her and tease her with the different "puppy' lures and tugs and she loves it.  If fact, last time we went they were trying to get Eamon to bark at the handler but he just isn't very vocal.  While this was going on, Echo was trying to get thru the fence, whining, barking, basically letting all know "Hey!  I can play that game.  I know how to bark!"  When they were thru with Eamon I turned Echo loose to romp on the field and the handler decided to tease her with the "squirrel"(that chamois on a whip like item.)  She really went after it and he kept teasing her so much that at one point, because she was loose, she went right up his back (all four feet off the ground)  in her chase after it when he swung it around behind him. He wasn't expecting that.  I called an end to it because I didn't want her jumping like that just yet and he was ready to call it quits since I didn't have her on leash.  He hadn't seen her being teased before and just wanted to check her drive.  Now he agrees with me, she has more than enough!   She shows lots of interest in the sleeve work of the older dogs.  She wants to chase that guy down and give him a good bite!  She just quivers all over when they do that.  Mostly at this point in time we are just there to enjoy watching the others and socializing Echo.  Let us know how much Anna weighed today.

That sounds like a lot of fun! I've taken Anna to a couple SCH clubs as well, and everyone has been very impressed with her. And she is almost 52 pounds now. So about a pound/pound in a half in a week.

What is the weight standard for the GSD? I clicked on the info link provided by this site and it says 77-85 lbs but did not specify male or female. Would that be for both?

Don't let her get fat.  It is hard to work off.

I would not allow her to get fat. She may not be as lean as a lot of your guys' GSD's, but she is definitly not fat (:

Franquie,

How much are you feeding her and how often?  We cut ours back to twice a day at about this time because she was growing so fast.  We didn't cut back the amount much, just split it to twice a day to get her used to the idea.  Then we started cutting it back.  She now gets about 1.5 cups of dry kibble, moistened with water along with a tablespoon of vegetable oil twice a day.  We also give her a glucosomine supplement once daily.  We don't feed her any table food but an occasional raw carrot and treats from time to time. 

Echo weighed 38.2 pounds at four months & one week and 57.8 pounds at 6 months.  Almost 20 pounds in less than two months!  She has slowed down and gained just 13 pounds in three months time.  I was freaking out at the six month stage thinking about what I had read that states 9-12 months is a fast growing stage.  If she has another growth spurt like that she will be over the standard!  I'm hoping she got her growth spurt early and she will level off now. 

And yes for the curious, she did have mild panno during that growth spurt.  

Deb    

Anna looks just fine to me. She's a pretty girl. I think my female is too skinny, but I'm guessing (based on comments I,ve been reading) others will think she's too fat ;-)  Took this picture yesterday. She's now 14 months.