Dutch Shepherd Forum

Hey guys, new to the forum!

We bought Gunda a month ago. She is 8 months old now. We got her from a local breeder. Her parents were from a breeder in Canada and our breeder bought the parents. Awesome dogs! We were able to watch videos of them from the Canadian breeder. He was 90 lbs and she was around 65. Gunda will be a biggun! My fiance had been wanting a Dutch for years and we finally got her. We know what we got ourselves into with this breed. This isn't a house/lap dog! I've seen people get this breed and freak out because it's a lot of dog to handle.

So we got her and she was 43 lbs, she is now 45. The problem is, she looks skinnier. We feed her 1.5 cups twice a day. We will also add a little dab of greek yogurt in her food. We are feeding her grain free food from Costco. We also have a 12 year German Shepherd. He was always a big boy around 95-100. He has since dropped to 90 over the last 6 months, but looks chubbier. I'm confused?! He's not exercising quite as much. We will swim him, but he dislikes water kind of. But we don't want to walk him too much with his age. His hips are still great and doesn't whimper or anything. He was a rescue, but I wish I could trace where he came from because he has been GREAT! He had his duty as guard dog, and is now enjoying his retirement so we let him do as he pleases for the most part.

We had her tested for any parasites as a precaution because she was with other dogs at the breeder and those came back negative. We are guessing its because we are exercising her and she probably spent more time in her kennel at the breeders place. We get her in the pool for a couple hours a day to do some low impact exercise. She loves jumping off of the side and we will play keep away to wear her down so her busy little mind will be a bit more trainable, then we will do some training with her. We do walk her as well, but don't want to strain her joints too much, so we will keep those to about 1/2 hour walks. We want to get her accustomed to other dogs and cats as we don't want her to be aggressive towards those. However, we are limiting her people contact as we will be using her as personal protection. She has already shown awesome instincts!

So I'm confused about the way she looks. You can see her ribs, backbone, and hips. I've heard they go through the "uglies", which was described as all legs and bones showing for the first couple years, then they fill out. She is really building up some muscle pretty quick though with all her swimming! But the 2 lb gain is muscle I'm assuming? I know in humans muscle is more dense than fat, so could that explain why she has gained weight but looks skinnier? Her poops are pretty big so I don't think its that she's not getting enough food. I don't want to under or over feed her. 3 cups seems about right for a 45 lb pup. We are feeding her regular grain free food and not the puppy food.

Any insight or tips are greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Here's the lunatic jumping off the side of the pool and the old man in the background not wanting to get splashed! She is a reverse blue brindle.

i think it is simply no where near enough food. i do not know Costco food. so i hope others will comment on that. but quantity-wise, her body and brain are working at high speed all the time. my 10-WEEK old puppy was/is skinny and was at that age eating and still eats close to 3x that amount every day [ now at 28 lb and 3 1/2 months ], more often than not, more than 3x.
you should FEEL ribs, but not see them other than perhaps very subtly. she needs more food fast and at this point i would go for high-quality nutrition. [ see other writings of mine, lyonsfamily, etc on feeding, nutrition, supplements, etc.] make sure the Costco is as good as you can get; consider what more you can do to aid her. besides being 15 - 20 lb under-weight, she is probably at risk of effects [ long-term ] from poor nutrition.
others may disagree, but i think it is a big mistake to keep your DS from meeting many people. she will be plenty protective no matter what you do. having lots of [good] people experience will improve her confidence and her judgment - so she will more likely be sure of herself if something IS amiss and her input/assistance is needed.

I think puppy food til at least a year old...

I can't speak to how many cups/day because I feed raw. However, if you feed kibble, I would highly recommend Orijen as it is a biologically species appropriate whole prey model of kibble incorporating protein, organs, and cartilage in ratios consistent with what a natural diet would look like.
Acana is also good and biologically species appropriate as well.

I feed Orijen and its been excellent for both my dogs!

I did look to compare the Orijen to the Acana as they are made by the same company and I noticed that the puppy formulas are waaaay different. The Acana was much less expensive and looking closer, the daily portion per same weight was double the amount for Acana then Orijen, so for both those reasons I'm sticking to the Orijen.

I agree that a bigger quantity is probably needed. An 8 month old dog is still growing and needs about twice the amount of an adult the same size. Also, grain free kibble isn't usually recommended for a growing dog. I would look at some of the other Costco types or look at other kibbles entirely. My 9 month old Dutch Shepherds (we raise them for police work) are eating about 5-6 cups of very high quality kibble per day right now. They are just so very active that they burn through a whole lot more than a normal pet dog.

Another suggestion is to by-pass the greek yogurt and find some unpasturized, whole yogurt. It is a better source of probiotics. If that is hard to find, a commercial probiotic might be easier. I am a big fan of Probios brand paste. I get the equine tube (it is exactly the same as the dog tube - just cheaper). When some of my boarding client dogs are experiencing stress diarrhea it can help do wonders!!

about your GSD losing weight and looking more chubby: has he actually declined in weight [ 100 to 90 ]? or is he just looking more boney and chubby at the same time? also, you mentioned the weight loss vs 6 months ago: is that the period of loss/increasing chubbiness or was it quicker - like in the month you have had the pup?
barring a change of diet and/or exercise that makes sense to you, it may be wise to get an ultrasound of his abdominal area. there are various things that could be wrong internally that ultrasound would probably pick up and that you would probably want to find or to rule out.

Christie M wrote:I agree that a bigger quantity is probably needed. An 8 month old dog is still growing and needs about twice the amount of an adult the same size. Also, grain free kibble isn't usually recommended for a growing dog.

Orijen Puppy is grain free....... ???

Sugars Mom wrote:

Christie M wrote:I agree that a bigger quantity is probably needed. An 8 month old dog is still growing and needs about twice the amount of an adult the same size. Also, grain free kibble isn't usually recommended for a growing dog.

Orijen Puppy is grain free....... ???

Do they compensate with potato or other carb sources?

Dog food companies cater to dog food trends. Many/most puppies do not do well on a grain free diet while developing - unless you are one of the few doing raw right.

Thanks for all the help guys. I switched her back to puppy formula for the next 4 months until shes 1.
Ill be feeding her 2 cups 3 times a day now. Someone suggested throwing a raw egg in there one of the meals maybe 2 meals. She is hyper as all get out so she will burn through that.

The gsd is losing weight but looking chubbier. I think its just that he is less active and probably losing muscle mass. Hes getting softer, but dont we all as we get older?

Christie M wrote:Do they compensate with potato or other carb sources?

Orijen uses yams and pumpkin in their puppy formula I know for sure. I am sure they have adult varieties with either yams, pumpkin, carrots and/or other carb sources.

This is the Orijen puppy formula I'm feeding my pup...so there is lentils, peas, yams, pumpkin, squash, etc

INGREDIENTS
Boneless chicken*, chicken meal, chicken liver*, whole herring*, boneless turkey*, turkey meal, turkey liver*, whole eggs*, boneless walleye*, whole salmon*, chicken heart*, chicken cartilage*, herring meal, salmon meal, chicken liver oil, chicken fat, red lentils, green peas, green lentils, sun-cured alfalfa, yams*, pea fiber, chickpeas, pumpkin*, butternut squash*, spinach greens*, carrots*, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, cranberries*, blueberries*, brown kelp, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, Enterococcus faecium.

I know many will disagree, but raw egg is bad for the skin and coat, due to an enzyme the dogs do not process well ---- and further, unless you are getting your eggs from a safe source - a farmer, a store dealing with a farmer - then you have infection risks that are not worth it for the dog. [ yes, I know. you say dogs handle salmonella, but so do humans -- MOST of the time. same with dogs, but you wind up with low-grade problems and taxing their immune systems unnecessarily. and then, there's the case when the dog's system does not deal with it, because of too high dose exposure or because of something going on within the dog.
so if you do raw egg - which is not a great idea - at least make sure they are free range [ NOT CAGELESS ] and from a safe source. best of all would be to lightly cook it - still very runny - so the bad enzyme is dealt with but positives of a fresh egg left intact [ but again ding this, hopefully using a healthy egg since it will not reach high temperatures.]
FYI - google WebMD/foods your dog should never eat