BRAG! How BIG is your female? - Page 4

Jenni: fully agree, it can't be taken in a jokingly manner if you "brag" how large your female is and have previous posts on the extrememly oversized male you're studding out.

Great, your dog is big and you're proud of it. Don't get me wrong she's beautiful, but not at all in breed standard. And I believe, and I'm sure you don't agree with me, that you should not breed an animal if they don't contribute to the breed. You should breed dogs who are prime examples of the breed standard. I'd be worried about hip and joint problems with large GSDs. Don't get me wrong, I love big dogs, Great Danes are awesome. However, GSDs aren't meant to be extrememly large dogs. They're meant to be medium sized, compact working dogs.

But my bitch is in exact range with the breed standard, and I'm extremely proud of that. She's 13 months, 64 lbs, 22 & 1/2 tall.

As for "eating like a pig", as a vet tech I've seen the people who free feed their dogs, and their dogs tend to gain too much weight, which is hard on their joints and organs. I suggest you read the food amount suggestion on the bag of whatever you are feeding and stick to it to prevent your baby from having future issues.

Absolutely love the Administer's post! No, we are not being abusive, but it shouldn't be something to brag about breeding untitled, non-standard GSDs and brag about how large they are.

Blitzen: Amen!!!! I hate those who just have dogs and breed them for the hell of it. There are so many dogs in shelters who need good homes, many of who came from breeders that were in it for the money, not the betterment of the breed. Breeding oversized GSDs puts so much more strain on their hips and joints, and I've seen so many who have had to be put down because of this poor breeding. I believe that you shouldn't breed dogs, especially untitled dogs that come from untitled stock, unless it is seriously to improve the breed (and definately within the breed standards)

To the OP.... Ok so you meant it as a joke, but maybe you should read some of the comments?  While you cannot change your dogs genetic size or what she will end up being when full grown... you can help control (at least somewhat) how fast she reaches that size... you can help her to grow slower and more evenly.  I dont know what you feed her, but may want to research different diets to help with that? 

Your girl is beautiful... and she does appear to have large bone/substance... but you can still control how much she eats, what she eats and keep her THIN.  The thinner and healthier you keep her the less chance you will have of health issues and injury. 

The GSD is supposed to be a medium size dog, who is able to run, turn on a dime, sprint, trot all day long, jump, climb, etc... An overly large dog will have a harder time doing all of those things properly.  They will also often have a shorter working life. 

I will brag about my 50-58lb girls :)  Proud of them, their size and how they develop/grow slowly to reach their adult size.  Also proud of how active, healthy, fit and able to do things they are.. including my old girl who passed at over 14 years old.  She took a few bites on her last day, able to jump up to the sleeve. 

Valerie

My girl is 66lbs at almost 2 years. Not to bad for her, I can feel the ribs.

My girl went to the vet yesterday and weighs in at 60 even at just one year, I expect her to be around 65-70 when all the way filled out and mature and I think that is perfect anything much more and we have a biggins on our hands :)

Well, here is my BIG puppy girl: Ava

I have posted pics of her here more recently. She is 1 week short of being 11 months old, last weigh in 6 weeks ago was 75lbs. She is approx 63 cm and long. Yet she is very agile, very fast, and can jump with ease! She will eat like a pig too...meaning the amount she gets will be gone in 30sec. She is lean, but has almost an adult looking body. For a female she is oversized. And for Jen ;)... she has nice feet that are bigger than daddys! go figure.... It will be interesting to see how she will look like as a 3 year old.

60 LB at 1 year old, my healthy girl will get maybe, possibly up to 70. Bragging about a size of a working GSD is dumb and reflects the owner poorly. No wonder the MAL's are being used more and more in protection and police work. Oversized and poorly bred Shepherds are hurting the breed. Thank God for Good Breeders that know how to breed within standard!

Sina, she's a heavy boned girl (not to mention a beautiful one with lovely feet, LOL). Bone and density really count when it comes to weight and determining what is too big/heavy. Neither of her parents are way oversized; but both have substantial bone. Ava IS a big girl (may come from great grandpa Snoopy)- but you can see from her pic that she is very lean and in no way have you tried to make her heavy so she weighs more. I know from her sister Anya that those pups have BONE.

A coyote build is always going to weigh less than a solid, thicker boned build. I care way more about agility and how the body holds up over time than what the numbers say if the dog is within the standard or reasonably close. This is why Caleb's size doesn't bother me. He is extremely agile and outperforms dogs MUCH smaller and lighter than he is, and he has held up remarkably considering the abuse he has put his body through over the years. When I posted his hip xrays, people accused them of belonging to a mastiff. BONE weighs quite a lot. 

Ava is a lovely girl. Hopefully, she's done growing! 

HA and I constantly can get over the fact that my male is 84 pounds and too big when I work him and have to help him into a semi in bite work and others in the group grab their 55 pound bitches and 72 pound males and just throw them there!

I am about 130 pound, the dog is 84 and it sucks! I am concerned about getting them down in sice and some brag about their blobby huge gsd lookalikes darnet!

My two females are Star, GSD, 25" and 70 lean pounds; and Teena, Shiloh Shepherd,  around 27-28" and 75 lbs. She is very narrow through the ribcage, which is why she weighs so little for her size. Most Shiloh females are 80 to 100 lbs, and even the males, who are quite a bit taller, only weigh around 120-140. Anything heavier is overweight, and with an extra large breed dog, that's something you DON'T want, unless you don't mind them developing arthritis and other joint ailments!

To put it in perspective: if you had a 10 year old child that weighed almost as much as a mature man (say 130 lbs.) would you brag about it?

NO! You'd put him on a diet!