German Shepherd dog

I'd never advice a chemical enhancer for dogs; even the "all natural" ones. They haven't been tested or proven, nor are they regulated for quality.

12 months old is too young to worry about muscle mass at this point. Your dog's still a growing teenager and he has not yet reached his adult size and mass.

The GSD is not supposed to be an overly muscled breed. Never work a dog heavily before it has finished growing, generally two years old or more. Heavy conditioning to early can permanently damage the dog's growth-plates, weaken joints, a cause premature arthritus! Even after this point, excessive excercise can do much more harm than good. Just like a human athlete the trick is to start slow, and work your way up.

For a typical German Shepherd, the best excercizes you can do are trotting for extended periods of time. This developes cardio, leg, and body muscles, and can help eliminate the visability of the dip. German shepherds were not meant to be a bulky breed, and most young dogs fill out nicely on their own.

This was the training program for my ADULT (2yrs+) rottweiler. It is not a puppy program, and I do not advice you to undertake this program with your young GSD male.

Running: for muscle developement and stamina. Runs consisted of trotting and sprinting work.

Swimming: for low-impact cardio, endurance, and joint health. (consisted of obligatory swims (with me as a swim buddy) and free swims where I'd take her to the lake and let her splash around at her pace.)  -- never throw a dog off a boat or dock to make it swim!

Weight Pulling: a slow steady walk in proper harness while dragging an object to develope leg muscles. No Running while weightpulling!

Weight Bearing: minimal weight used (max 1/10th dog's total weight) in an over-shoulder pack (saddle-bag style) to develope tone. No running while weight bearing!

When putting a dog through muscle developement it's crucial to remember that less is more! It takes many months to properly develope a dog. My rottie took about 8 months to develope impressive muscling, but like any athelete once they are in condition they must continue to be worked regularly, or they quickly get out of shape. Committing to a muscle-dog is a full-time training program in itself.

Another thing I'll add: never force your dog to do anything it doesn't want to. There might be an underlying injury you don't know about, and heavy work would only make it worse. If your dog developes an injury, take it to a vet. Stop all work except for the option to free-swim, and basic walks.

..teach your dog to dig...running up and down hills...add weights ..pulling a sled..all in moderation and at proper age ..genitics could be a factor...some dogs ribs don't round out. sufficently...etc......

Exercise scientists have identified nine elements that comprise the definition of canine conditioning. The following lists each of the nine elements and an example of how they are used:
1. Strength - the extent to which muscles can exert force by contracting against resistance (holding or restraining an object )
2. Power - the ability to exert maximum muscular contraction instantly in an explosive burst of movements (sprint starting)
3. Agility - the ability to perform a series of explosive power movements in rapid succession in opposing directions (ZigZag running or cutting movements)
4. Balance - the ability to control the body's position, either stationary or while moving.
5. Flexibility - the ability to achieve an extended range of motionwithout being impeded by excess tissue, i.e. fat or muscle
6. Muscle Endurance - a group of muscle ability to perform sustained work
7. Cardiovascular Endurance - the heart's ability to deliver blood to working muscles and their ability to use it (Running long distances)
8. Strength Endurance - a muscle's ability to perform a maximum contracture time after time
9. Co-ordination - the ability to integrate the above listed components so that effective movements are achieved.
Of all the nine elements of fitness, strength and cardiac respiratory qualities are the most important to develop because they enhance all the other components of the conditioning equation.

A dog's muscles and body can be strengthened, and sculpted just like a human's. A conditioner must be careful with a young dog. A trainer of human athletes, would use much less resistance pound for pound, and training time, with a 9yr old child, than they would training a 24yr old adult.
Speed is the quickness of movement of limb, whether this be the legs or the neck of the dog. Speed is an integral part of every sport and can be expressed as any one of, or combination of, the following
1) maximum speed
2) elastic strength (power)
3) speed endurance
What is speed influenced by ?
Speed is influenced by the dog's mobility, special strength, strength endurance and ability.
As a trainer it is important to understand that there are only two ways of improving speed:
1) INCREASING THE LENGTH OF THE STRIDE
2) FREQUENCY OF THE STRIDE
The idea is to train the body beyond its normal capacity, which will allow the dog to get the most from their training. By prompting their legs to move faster than they can move through normal training, you can achieve your goal in speed training. This is the principle behind downhill training which is part of the plyo-metric philosophy for increasing performance.
It is important to implement a concentrated program first of warm-up and then flexibility to reduce the chance of injury.

I agree with jc carool cause just like humans a growing baby must not be given stress at all and should sleep as much as possibe. Masculine development never occurs when You are in ur teens. Muscles grow only after you have crossed 22 years. Same with the dogs. They develop their width after 2 years and those who are masculine is hereditry and not due to some special diet or heavy execise. The more u make him work , the more skinny he will become. Give him lots of rest and sleep, but just a short distance trott. Thank You.