My pup is below average, right? - Page 1

My (turning 5 month old in a few days) female pup weighs in at a "wopping".......36 pounds.  She is very healthy and in great condition per vet. I feed her Orijen- Puppy Large.  I am thinking that she is just below average in weight and probably height  for the breed, right?  I tried to measure her height with tape measure but I am not sure if I did it right. It appears that she is about 19" at the withers. 

She is very active and flexible. Curls her front pasterns like a cat while sleeping and stretches her hind legs out like a frog!  So, she seems pretty healthy with a shiny coat and good weight on her and such.

However, does anyone know if small dogs are penalized heavily in the conformation ring?  Can small dogs do well?  Also, can small dogs obtain a breed survey?

BTW- Love my pup to death!!  So, so happy with her that her size doesn't matter. I am just curious if she is, indeed, on small side and how size is viewed in the show ring as the dogs in videos look HUGE!

She is not even 5 months yet !!!
Give it some time, relax and enjoy your healthy puppy.
Seriously, give her some time to grow.

VTCoach, I know she is young!! haha

But, at breed handling class last night, everyone was like..she is so small!!  Plus, I read on another forum that other people's German Shepherd female pups outweight her by 20+ pounds.

I don't care if she is small as she is very well balanced and athletic. I just wanted to confirm that she is, indeed, small for the breed standard at this point in time!

I think the AKC/UKC standard does not disqualify for size but small size might be "penalized".

Anyone know about the German breed survey rules?  Just curious...

VTcoach- are you in Vermont?  I am in MA .  Thus, if so, good to make contact with another New Englander!! 

I think one AKC champion female I have seen may be just 22". I mistook her for a pup, since my females are 24.5 and 25 inches.

There is an AKC standard, I believe. 22-24 inches for females 24-26 for males. Small females are slighted less than small males.

I have not seen a 24" male champion, but may be there is.

I think most AKC judges like larger males, 25 inches at least. 26.5" male is not penalized usually for being oversized, but can't be much over 27".

Hi Smiley

My male pup is 6months old ,51 pounds and about 23 in, tall.
Hope he finishes out at 25 in. tall and 78 lbs. Your  pup is on the way to the correct size.


  gouda

My younger female was 24.5" in the middle of her sixth month, skinny.

I did not overfeed her. She just gained height and remained skinny. I could not restrict her diet excessively. No calcium supplement. 1.3% calcium.  Ribs just barely seen, couldn't let her be thinner.

She matures at 25" and lean 73 pounds.

Some females may still gain much height after start of fifth month, may be yours will.

She sounds fine to me. If the vet states all else is healthy, she should be okay. However, I would change her food. As much as I like Orijen, it really isn't ideal for puppies. The calcium on it is 1.5% min and 1.7% max. You want to stay below 1.2%, as a golden rule. Too much calcium can cause a great deal of growth issues. In fact, most 'large breed puppy' formulas have too much calcium..

Ok, thanks everyone!

Sid- I never heard of the 1.2% calcium rule but I did hear to keep it under 2.0% max....and that 3.0% was really bad.

She is doing well on it and I like that all the ingredients are fresh and there is no grain...so would hate to change her food right now. :-(

Smiley, you mentioned that on another breed forum, those member's pups outweighed yours by as much as 20#--but are they of similar breeding to your girl?  Differences in lines counts for a lot as far as structure goes...plus, it's very possible that many of those pups are flat-out overweight; some people want to be able to 'brag' about how HUGE their dog is, even while still a puppy. Not healthy for the pup, though.

IMO, your girl is exactly the size I like for a bitch--she'll probably be about 24" at the withers and run around 65-70# at her fittest weight at maturity: a medium-sized dog, which is what the breed is intended to be.  From a working standpoint, this is the size range that's most utilitarian: they can easily be hoisted by a K9 handler over a barricade or into the window of a buildingas needed, they're very nimble and quick (as you've observed), and they can search in tight spots a larger dog can't get into.  A number of years back, the rescue group I volunteered with took in a stray who was in very bad physical conditon--he had a body score of about 1 out of 5.  This was an adult male, clearly from European working lines but only 24.5" at the withers, and when nursed back to health his weight when fit was only 65-68#.  The Coast Guard evaluated him, found he was fully trained in narcotics detection, adopted him and put him to work.  Their head trainer told us that the first thing they liked about this dog was his size--he was just right for carrying up and down commerical cargo ship ladders, and it was hard for them to find GSDs that were medium in size like 'Dutch'. 

I've had a number of people tell me my late Kirschental-lines bitch was 'small for a GSD', and she was 24" at the withers and 65-68# at best weight, but I've found that most of these people have only seen GSDs from American lines, and most of those dogs were also from the 'backyard' sort of breeder who isn't concerned about meeting the standard for anything...so these dogs tend toward the oversize end of the scale.  I get the same thing about my 2 year old showline bitch, Rykkah, who is also 24" and in the same weight range as the Kirschental-lines bitch.  She's also a nice, medium-sized dog, and that's one of the things I liked about her when I decided to get her last year.

Don't fret about your girl--she's just right, IMO.  :)
   

Thanks, Hexe!! Loved reading your post!! 

However, I actually don't mind her size at all!!! I just wanted to confirm if everyone's take that she is small was true!!

Plus, I kind of wondered how the show ring and the breed survey people feel about a smaller dog.  Although, from your post it sounds like she is right on the button for a medium sized bitch!!