Normal weight for a 13 week old female - Page 2

 That is way too skinny for 13 weeks. You were right to suspect something is wrong. Everyone knows that a puppy at 13 weeks should be 35-40 pounds.

The best way to get her back to where she needs to be is to make a small puppy pen, put her in a dark room with a tv going on a soothing channel, and feed her lots and lots of raw meat flavored with beer. In 9 months you could have some deeeee licious puppy veal. 

Here are some actual things to think about before asking retarded questions.

1, Does your pup have lots of energy ?

2 Does your pup have clear eyes ?

3 Is your pup a pain in the ass in that cute way always in front of you biting your pants and shoes ?

4 Does she eat like she is loving it ?

If you answered yes, then I have no idea why you would even know what your puppy weighs at 12 weeks. 

Jeff,

that is exactly the discription of my puppies, have you been traveling by satalite and spying  on us here in OZ

an Ozzie fan.

Lol, Jeff. Exactly. I have never understood the obsession w/weight. I get people asking me all the time what mine weigh. I shrug. They look shocked and horrified that I don't know. If there's no cause for concern, who cares? Keep them lean lean lean; they will grow into whatever they were meant to be...just slower and they won't be carrying extra weight around to wear on their soft, developing joints.  

Hans, no one keeps their dogs as skinny as I do. I'll post a of the pups. 50lbs at 4.5-5mos. Ribs were easily felt, visible when he was breathing hard. Massive, massive bone. Very wide-bodied pups, broad hips and chests, 100% raw fed from weaning. Looks like maybe 35lb dog. ALL male littermates and one female were within 2lbs of each other at each stage- this is genetics, not feeding. None of these dogs went to newbies;-)

One of the worst things you can do for your puppy is to let him get too fat, especially once they get out of the very young, roly-poly stage. Studies have shown correlations between even very early overfeeding and development of HD later on. 

Jeff,
Retarted question? 
 Go study :
H. Kasstrom. Nutrition, weight gain and development of hip dysplasia. An experimental investigation in growing dogs with special reference to the effect of feeding intensity. Acta Radiol Suppl (Stockh), 1975;135-79.
According to this study dogs of 222 GSDs showed a correlation between HD at one year and weight at 60 days of age. The heavier pups at 2 mo of age had higher incidence of HD. 100 of the puppies were dysplastic at one year and their mean weight at 2 mo was 14 lb, while 112diagnosed as normal at 2 mo of age had a mean weight of 13 lb. This is a significant  difference just in this small amount of weight change. Dysplastic males in this study averaged 14.5 lb compared to hips normal males who averaged 13.4 lb.HD females averaged 13.8lb and normal were 12.3 lb. These particular weights do not apply to all GSD dogs but serve as a comparative example. There is a chart from this study which is in Fred Lanting's book on HD ( which I am selling on my website with almopst 0 profit in order for people to learn this
http://www.alpinek9.com/CanineDysplasiaFredLanting.html) which deals with weights of pups in 12 weeks between 6 - 20 kg  The 6 kg pups had 44% bad hips in one year and 20 kg pups had 70% bad hips. This could be applicable to  litters with average size of pups bigger and smaller. 

This is why I am recommending above such weights at the age of 12 or 13 weeks. 

Thus I do not think that to ask about weight of the pup at certain age is a "retarded question" .
Prager Hans


 

 So my skinny pups that are 15+ pounds at 8 weeks are all going to be dysplastic according to Fred. Is that what you are saying ?

Re read what the original poster wrote. I think pups should be fed on a schedule, not be fat, and should be able to run around and play as much as possible. The original poster thinks that the pup should be heavier, which I take to mean that they want the pup to be fatter. That is retarded.

I also think it is a goof to want your dog to be heavier, that is why I made the veal remark.

I also think if you have to keep your pups bone thin to keep them from having dysplasia, I would re-think the lines I was using for breeding. I have a hard time keeping weight on most of the pups I have on the ground now, as they are dashing all over the place all day, and then I have to scoop them up and put them away when they get tired.

I did not look at the article yet, but I am going to here in a second.

 1980 this book was published ? When was the last time it was updated ? that was 31 years ago.

 The problem with ANY general guide to weight is that it doesn't take into account differences in bone density, size, etc. Certain dogs produce larger pups; my bitch w/a zw of 70 produces pups who are well in excess of 15lbs at 8 weeks....she's the dam of the litter I was referring to. They have absolutely massive bone and are very wide- looking down on them compared to a "normal" GSD, they are clearly, obviously, wider in stance. 

I totally agree that EXTRA weight is a bad idea, period. But I have a tough time believing that pups who are ribby and 50lbs are going to be dysplastic simply because the scale says 50lbs. Additionally, overweight pups are often dysplastic because of what I call "weekend warrior" syndrome, which is how many, many, if not most, pets are kept. In one of my favorite articles on HD, it mentions the theory that many kennel dogs have better hips than pets because the kennel dogs are free to exercise themselves strenuously and continuously and are in far better shape than their pet counterparts who are lounging on the couch or crated all day, then are over-exuberant for short bursts. 

For these reasons, as soon as my pups are able to regulate their own body temperature, I shove them outside and let them romp and play all they want. The ones I'm keeping live this way until they are near or done developing. Just anecdotally, the ones I've raised this way thus far have great hips. So, I guess I'm saying that while that statistic might even still hold water, there are too many variables to say unequivocally that it's a certain weight that triggers the development of HD.

Jeff Oehlsen
 1.Book had been published first time 2005 and 2007 was second printing. You may be referring do different book. Probably Fred Lanting's first HD book. 
 
2.Next thing, I would like to ask you this .Do you believe that scientists 31 years ago were all wrong?  And if that is the truth what makes you believe that scientists of 2011 are right. Something to think about.  

3. It is not what Fred says but what H. Kasstrom Stockholm study which is mentioned in Lanting's book says .

4. You said :
So my skinny pups that are 15+ pounds at 8 weeks are all going to be dysplastic according to Fred. Is that what you are saying ?

NO!!! That is not what I am saying.
 Just to ward off such statement above I have said this:
This could be applicable to litters with average size of pups bigger and smaller.  Thus this is relative within each individual litter.

It is baffling to me how you could get so many things wrong from a simple post.

Also Jenni78  I did  not say that :pups who are ribby and 50lbs are going to be dysplastic simply because the scale says 50lbs.

 I have said that: IF THE DOG WEIGHTS MORE THEN 40 LB at 6 MO then the probability of HD grows tremendously.
end of quote.

 That is my  experience and common knowledge of breeders I know; backed up by many scientific studies. GSD is a medium sized  breed and should be slowly growing  and my opinion is that if the dog is bred or nurtured to be bigger at certain age ( growing too fast) then its system can not transfer enough nutrition at that speed of growth which then will lead to highr percentage of HD. I would compare it to a plant in dark room which grows too fast to find light and even so there is a nutrition available to such plant this plant is not able to utilize it and will topple over. I am not talking about big dogs as a final product but I am talking about fast growing dogs in early stages of development.
 Personally I think that what you or I believe is not important , what is important is the truth and my statements  are backed by several scientific studies and in my opinion that is as close to the truth as we can get.

Prager Hans

 Hans, I understood you perfectly.   

I was simply saying that there seem to be times where we can't overcome this; I have always tried to get my pups to grow slowly and steadily, and this one particular litter, they're super heavy, but not all that big. On this board, you seem to have to clarify everything a hundred times or it gets all twisted, so I just thought I'd qualify the statments/studies regarding weight. 

 Quote: 2.Next thing, I would like to ask you this .Do you believe that scientists 31 years ago were all wrong? And if that is the truth what makes you believe that scientists of 2011 are right. Something to think about.

Remember when eggs were bad for you ? I guess those scientists just didn't understand the question. : )

Hans, I was joking with you mostly. When something sounds really goofy, I am probably being really goofy.

I have a good friend who is a mathematical genius. He loves statistics. With numbers he can make anything look much better than reality. 

Most places that do statistics are hired by the people that want the statistics in their favor. Be honest, be broke. 

Now ask me if I trust scientists again.