male puppy weight at 12 weeks - Page 1

I have a black male GSD that made 12 weeks today and is already 30 pounds. I have never seen a puppy grow this fast....is this normal?

What are you feeding?  Depends on the lines.  Keeping growth slow is best, you should be able to feel ribs and not have a roly poly look. 
Looked back at my pups weight(working lines) and he was 28# at that age, not fat at all and rawfed.  He was 65# at 6 months.  He was averaging 10# heavier than his littermates, rawfed and mostly female.

Do you weigh your dogs before feeding on an empty stomach ?

All things considered I would pay more attention to muscle mass and body fat, bone structure and energy levels over what a scales tell you.

30 pounds is JUST RIGHT for a 12 week male who is destined to be 65-66cm and 90-100 lbs, well fed, healthy and happy.  It is exactly the weight of my two biggest males in the past 25 years at 12 weeks.

The big male puppies in a decent sized litter are 30 lbs at 12 weeks, 45-48 lbs at 4 months, and 70-77 lbs at 6 months.

The good diet will increase his brain growth and mental capacity, but the tradeoff is too much weight will hurt his chances of getting a great hip rating.  So don't let him get truly fat.

For example, if he is ok now, then he should NOT grow more than another 18 pounds between now and 4 months.  (4 months is usually 17 weeks and a few days, so I am not talking about a 16 week weight).

I am saddened by how badly some people starve their puppies, but I am not encouraging outright obesity either.

You do not need Scales when a Pup is growing you use your eyes, a Pup like most young things will eat and eat, That is no good for them at all at the age of your Puppy is feed it three times a day a rough estimate is what is on the bag you are feeding If you are feeding well over that amount the bag says then you are overfeeding the Pup,
Bucko says you may trade off the chances of a great Hip and Elbow rating That is everything in these breed of dog for if it gets a bad hip rating it can not really live a normal pain free life as it gets older, So over feeding will go a long way towards doing that too much weight to carry on the fragile under developed Bone structure is not good at all,
No one should keep Puppies or any aged Dog to the point of starvation in favour of anything,
But also no Dog living needs to have a full stomach every time it eats a meal no more than we humans need it
Remember Kibble will expand once eaten, over fed Dogs get problems and Diarrhea is one of those Problems,
 A Puppies digestive system cannot cope with the over load of food,
My take on it your Pup is a shade over weight and you need to think a bit on your feeding schedule and the amount given
I know i have said it before but over 60 plus years of bringing up Pups of various breds to adulthood all but one medium large breed dogs. none have ever suffered with any bone problems from 8 weeks on in life, the youngest to pass away was 14 years old and all grew perfectly well on the amount of food given them your eyes do not deceive you can see instantly if a Dog is not getting enough food or too much you do not need scales only the first time you get the Pup from then on as it grows you feed accordingly by hand, meaning what you think the dog needs to keep it healthy and alive
We Eat to Live only, we do not need over amount of food to LIVE
Steve

my pup is 12 weeks and at his last vet visit he weighed 26lbs on an empty stomach and the vet says he looks great.

Red Leg
that weight is about right it is as near as it gets,as is the Pup of Sambo all differ a little bit it is keeping a healthy balance as they grow is mostly what counts
  Show us a Pic of the Pups if you have some that includes Sambo's little Cracker as well
Steve