# How BIG do they expect my girl to be? She's 90 lbs!!!



## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Anytime people see Nara in person, or see a photo, the first thing they say is "she's so small for a GSD!" Maybe it's because they see her standing with our slightly oversized Siberian Husky, Paw Paw. They do actually look the same size, but I weighed them both yesterday and he was 65 lbs and Nara was 90 lbs.

I usually frown when I see people bragging about how BIG (aka oversized) their dog is, so that's not why I'm here. I know that a dog larger than standard is more prone to health problems and normally won't live as long as a dog within standards, so this is no brag on how happy I am that my female GSD is bigger than some male GSDs. I was shocked when I weighed her. The last official weigh-in at the vet, she was 72 lbs last year. She turned 2 in November, and I know I can expect her to fill out a little, but not this much. And she's not overweight at all. I take her and Paw Paw running 6-7 times a week, anywhere from 2-6 miles average. On Wednesday we ran a 6-miler and suprisingly ran 9 miles last night.

So if the maximum standard for female GSDs is 72-78 lbs on the high end, and she weighs 90 lbs and is all muscle and still filling out, why is it that people constantly tell me that she's small for a GSD. Are there THAT many GSDs out there that are 90-100+ lbs, making my girl seem so tiny to them? I have read and understood that german GSDs tend to be smaller than U.S. GSDs, and so, when someone comments on her size, I find myself instantly coming up with reasons and excuses to combat their negative words. I explain that they might be used to seeing male U.S. bloodline GSDs, but Nara is a female West German bloodline GSD.

If Nara was 60 lbs or 100 lbs, she would still get 110% of my love, so I don't really care. I'm just curious as to what triggers people to say this to me. It would be different if they were the minority, but when they're the majority, it seems insane. She's not a Great Dane. She's a working (SAR) girl who is not supposed to be an extra large breed. Here's some pics of her and Paw Paw to help you understand my rant (haha):


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## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

I dont know what to say to you besides.........

You have some good looking dogs there! :wub:


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## abby (Mar 13, 2010)

Very good looking dogs and fit and healthy congratulations


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

There is nothing small about her! She's a beautiful girl, and actually almost 20 pounds OVER the standard for a female, which tops out at around 70-1/2 pounds, and a couple pounds over the standard for a male as well. 

My girl is less than 60 pounds and to me she does look small, but she is actually almost exactly at the midway point of the standard. She's 10-15 pounds less than my previous females have been, and a good 20 pounds less than Keefer, so she looks little by comparison.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

Don't make excuses, but educate them about the standard! I always hear "but isn't she too small for a german shepherd?" about Tessa. She is 24" and 65-70 lbs. I always explain that she is actually at the top of the standard for females, and many people breed oversized GSDs so that may be more what they are used to seeing.


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## codmaster (Aug 5, 2009)

Your Husky does look about the same size.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

She is very pretty!! She doesn't even look 90lbs, that weight must be all muscle and brains!!

I think that maybe people see her as "small" because she IS very trim and athletic looking. They may be used to seeing GSDs with plush or long coats, which makes them look bigger, and overweight GSDs, with of course, would make them look bigger. 

I had a working-line male that was on the low-end of the standard, weighing 65lbs at one year old. I would get the "but he is so _small_ comment all the time (though it was warrented, few people have exposure to the smaller working lines), and depending on my mood, I would explain that he is working lines, and not bred to be gigantic, or I would just say "it's because he is a puppy!" and continue on. 

But I'm with you, it would be annoying and aggravating to constantly run into the "wow, she is small" remarks. You could also tell them that "She only looks small because she is so trim and athletic".


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

I'm with Lin.

My girl Abby is just under the higher end of the standard for females, 24", and just about 65lbs, and we get those "oh, she's so tiny" comments all the time. Most people have no idea what size a German Shepherd is supposed to be and I'm always happy to tell them that she's not tiny at all, but actually meets the standard for the breed and that the breed was intended to be a medium-sized dog capable of working all day long.

Don't feel like you have to make excuses. Simply tell people that she's actually above the standard in size, and if they seem interested, you can explain more about the standard and the fact that GSDs are not meant to be huge.


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## StryderPup (May 16, 2009)

Tell them that GSD's carry most of their weight in their noggin...or at least it seems like Stryder's noggin weighs 30 lbs when he lays on me.... 

You really have two beautiful dogs.


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## Sigurd's Mom (May 12, 2009)

She is so pretty, she looks a lot like one of Sigurd's sisters!


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## EchoGSD (Mar 12, 2010)

Both of your dogs are beautiful! My female Echo is very althetic and trim and weighs in at 79 pounds...I have had folks ask me if she's a mix because she's "so small". She's actually of Champion heritage, her Mom is AKC CH. about 78 pounds, Dad weighs closer to 100. 
Much like most of you have commented: Echo's head is about 75% of her total body weight, esp when she's using it to demand our attention.


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## Mac (Jan 10, 2010)

I wouldnt sweat it. I had the same issue with my Malamute...he weighed a healthy 85 pounds, which is within the breed standard for a male. Everyone thinks that he should have been 110-120 pounds because there are so many "breeders" out there breeding "giant malamutes". 

On another note, my 6 month old GSD weighs around 45-50 pounds now. I had someone tell me that he looked huge for a full grown shepherd. They seemed surprised when I told them he was only 6 months old. I have no idea how big he will get, but his feet are HUGE still. His dad was only about 75 pounds, mom was 65 or 70 pounds.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the replies. I guess it just bugs me because deep down, originally, I wanted a BIG dog. I got Nara, and people have been telling me how small she is for a GSD. Now that she's grown and still filling out, and 12-20 lbs over the standard, people are still saying how small she is. I don't normally see or read about other GSD owners with a female this big, so it's strange that people think my girl is so small. I didn't want her any bigger than the biggest end of the standard (at the most), and I think from all of our running/exercising, she is putting on muscle and has far exceeded the standard. As long as she is healthy and muscular (and not fat), then I guess she'll be OK. Big or small, I love her so much.

Chris, long time no hear. How are Abby and Ronja? How are you liking NY? We love OR. Sometimes we miss VA though.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Just wanted to add: we've never measured Nara's height. I did some research on how to do it correctly, and my wife helped me do it right. Nara is 25" at the withers. Since she's registered with the AKC, I went to their standard to find out that a female is supposed to be 22-24", so Nara is 1" above the standard, yet everyone keeps commenting how small she is. I'm baffled. Haha!


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## mjbgsd (Jun 29, 2004)

Oh ma gosh I didn't know you lived in OR!! We must meetup somewhere or something!   You should join the GSD WA/OR yahoo group I created. 

Isa is 25.5'' or at least very close to it and weighs about 66lbs and am trying to have her lose more as she was on brake from sports for a year but I get people telling me wow she's small or she's too skinny. I either tell them she's over the standard for a female or depending on my mood I ignore them. lol


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

mjbgsd said:


> Oh ma gosh I didn't know you lived in OR!! We must meetup somewhere or something!   You should join the GSD WA/OR yahoo group I created.
> 
> Isa is 25.5'' or at least very close to it and weighs about 66lbs and am trying to have her lose more as she was on brake from sports for a year but I get people telling me wow she's small or she's too skinny. I either tell them she's over the standard for a female or depending on my mood I ignore them. lol


Where in WA are you?


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## miro2010 (Mar 11, 2010)

She's gorgeous! Good job!


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## Raziel (Sep 29, 2009)

She looks beautiful!
But my boy is only 80-90 pounds. Hes 14 months.
I dont think your dog is 90 pounds, lol
i thought my dog was over 100 & he is only 80.


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

She is in a great shape and a perfect example of a GSD!

My pup at 2 y.o. is about 25.5 in and 72-75lb and interestingly, everyone is telling me that he is a huge dog. I think it's because he's a male, he's black, and because I am short LOL


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Raziel said:


> I dont think your dog is 90 pounds, lol
> i thought my dog was over 100 & he is only 80.


It's not that I THINK she's 90 lbs. I weighed her a few weeks ago and she was 87 lbs. The other day I weighed her again and she was 89.6 lbs. She's still filling out, or maybe from all of our running she's building added muscle. I ran her 6 miles last Wednesday and 9 miles on Friday. She goes for walks or runs 7 days a week averaging about 4-5 miles a day, plus all of her fetch time and running/wrestling with Paw Paw (our husky) all day in the backyard. 

But thanks for your compliment and reply, and thank you to everyone else who has replied so far!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Nara and Paw Paw are beautiful!
Onyx is 93# and 26" Because she is black and sleek, she doesn't look oversized, IMO. Here are recent pics of her and Karlo who is just under 90# and an inch taller than Onyx.
She is the bi-color:
















Kacie, long coat looks much heavier, but weighs 20# less than Onyx:


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## milkmoney11 (Feb 11, 2010)

counter said:


> Just wanted to add: we've never measured Nara's height. I did some research on how to do it correctly, and my wife helped me do it right. Nara is 25" at the withers. Since she's registered with the AKC, I went to their standard to find out that a female is supposed to be 22-24", so Nara is 1" above the standard, yet everyone keeps commenting how small she is. I'm baffled. Haha!


I have found that people in general have a misconception about how big the average German shepherd actually is. If you ask the average person how big an average adult male GSD is most will say over 100 lbs. 

I think their prominence in police work and having a guard dog reputation have "increased" the general population's expectations.


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## HeidiW (Apr 9, 2009)

Your girl looks to be in great shape, must be all muscles, I thought she looked tall, but I guess not. Is there a link for directions on how to measure your GSD correctly, as I think Bella is 26 but not sure I am doing it right, she weighs 75 pounds, and looks skinny.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

She is a big girlie! I haven't had any females out of the 60s in lbs or males out of the 80s.


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## RubyTuesday (Jan 20, 2008)

She's absolutely gorgeous. 

Some people remark on size for good & bad out of ignorance. Others are just determined to slide in with a sideways insult. *shrug*That speaks more to their breeding (or lack of) than the dogs they deliberately disparage.

I love my Djibouti...his intelligence, cunning, devotion, utter reliability with children & small dogs (including tiny beastie dogs) even his bratty 'I'm_A_Man' schticks. NOTHING anyone says about him alters that a whit or can change my opinion of him. 

YOU love & appreciate your girl. That's enough for _her_. Do you really need more?


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

counter said:


> Just wanted to add: we've never measured Nara's height. I did some research on how to do it correctly, and my wife helped me do it right. Nara is 25" at the withers. Since she's registered with the AKC, I went to their standard to find out that a female is supposed to be 22-24", so Nara is 1" above the standard, yet everyone keeps commenting how small she is. I'm baffled. Haha!


Wow, she must be really solid! It's probably all the running you do. 
Bianca is 26" tall (over standard height) and her weight currently is about 77 lbs...she could probably stand to lose a bit of weight though. I've had several people make a comment that she is small too. 
I always explain that she's not really small, she's actually over the height that they are supposed to be. I think a lot of people are used to seeing oversized GSDs.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

Thanks for all of your replies. Sorry it's taken me so long to find some free time to write back.

One thing I thought of that I never posted in this thread was this: when Nara was a little pup, people would comment on how big she would be based on her "enormous paws." We bought a female instead of a male because we didn't want a HUGE dog (we had 1 small child and another on the way), and we also knew that the german bloodlines are generally smaller than the US bloodlines. Nara's parents were not oversized, so we weren't expecting a BIG dog. Then, as Nara grew and started filling out, people went the other direction. We'd take her for walks and people couldn't believe that she was a pure-bred GSD because she was "too small" and "must be a mix with some smaller breed." I started a thread on here to vent about that a long time ago. Some of you might've remembered it, read it, or posted in it. It garnered a lot of attention, because many of you could relate to my story. I guess I didn't understand at the time why people would ask if she's a pure-bred GSD. I do now. Anyways, after all of that, now Nara is much larger than she should be, and people still ask if she's pure-bred and comment about how small she is. She must have to be Great Dane-like to satisfy those people. Bottom line: no matter small or large, I'll never "win!" Haha.

I took Nara out in the backyard the other day to take some updated pics, since the original pics I posted were from VA last year when Nara was inbetween 69-72 lbs. Here's what she looks like now at 90 lbs:
































And some of Paw Paw:


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## roxy84 (Jun 23, 2007)

while she is a large female gsd, i would say based on those pics she is overweight (maybe 8-10 lbs). that, of course, is just my opinion.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

roxy84 said:


> while she is a large female gsd, i would say based on those pics she is overweight (maybe 8-10 lbs). that, of course, is just my opinion.


If she is overweight, I don't know what else to do other than starve her. Haha. I've increased her exercise from 1-2 miles a day to 6-9 miles a day, but I have not increased her food intake. How could she go from 75 lbs in the fall to 90 lbs in the winter, other than to build extra muscle (which weighs more than fat, without looking much larger)? I'm not saying she isn't overweight, but I just can't imagine how she could be with all of this exercise and no change in diet. I understand that, as she grows older, maybe her metabolism is slowing down, but she's just over 2 years old. When does it slow/stop for other GSDs? And if she is overweight, I'll continue this level of exercise and possibly increase it as long as she can handle it, or I'll have to rethink the high quality food we're feeding and switch to weight management versions. Thanks for looking at her and offering an opinion! I appreciate it.

O, and from checking out other breeds of dogs (to include our GSDs, dobes, etc.) from German/Europe and comparing them to American bloodlines, it seems as if the Euro bloodlines look smaller, but are more muscular/square. Nara is West German bloodlines, so maybe that's why she's smaller looking but heavier/more muscular to the point that some might think she's overweight for her size? Just a thought that popped in my head.


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## Lin (Jul 3, 2007)

I wouldnt switch to a weight management formula, just decrease the amount of food. Those high quality foods are very nutritionally dense so it doesn't take as much. My moms cat was obese, being fed Innova Evo. I kept telling her to cut back the food, but my moms friends and co-workers were telling her she was starving the cat. She isn't starving if you can't even find her ribs period! I told her to explain to those people that the food is dense and doesn't require as much to meet the needs. Now if you were feeding an extremely little amount, exercising tons, and the dog was STILL overweight then it should be looked into such as getting a thyroid panel.


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## roxy84 (Jun 23, 2007)

if the food works for her, i would just decrease it. is she getting "goodies" between meals from family members?

a dog simply cannot put on 15 lbs of muscle from the fall to the winter. i know our dogs act like they are starving all the time. if i let my girl eat what she wanted, she would probably kill herself. Kimba (2 yrs 10 months old) is extremely active and she barely gets 3 cups of food per day.


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## KITTIEG (Feb 28, 2010)

Beautiful dogs!:wub:

Our little girls weighed 85 lbs at the vet a few weeks ago & is 27 inches at the shoulder.


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## new_wind (Oct 24, 2008)

my girl is 70 Pounds right now and 25” the last time, at 2 years she seems to be on the top, I thought she was to skinny and short because every GSD seems to be taller and bulkier, but checking the standards my girl is pretty much on it, after a closer look most of those dogs that I used to compare are overweight or under exercised, as soon the chase began is really hard for those dogs to keep up with other dogs, but not for my girl so far.


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## bryanu (Apr 23, 2020)

counter said:


> Anytime people see Nara in person, or see a photo, the first thing they say is "she's so small for a GSD!" Maybe it's because they see her standing with our slightly oversized Siberian Husky, Paw Paw. They do actually look the same size, but I weighed them both yesterday and he was 65 lbs and Nara was 90 lbs.
> 
> I usually frown when I see people bragging about how BIG (aka oversized) their dog is, so that's not why I'm here. I know that a dog larger than standard is more prone to health problems and normally won't live as long as a dog within standards, so this is no brag on how happy I am that my female GSD is bigger than some male GSDs. I was shocked when I weighed her. The last official weigh-in at the vet, she was 72 lbs last year. She turned 2 in November, and I know I can expect her to fill out a little, but not this much. And she's not overweight at all. I take her and Paw Paw running 6-7 times a week, anywhere from 2-6 miles average. On Wednesday we ran a 6-miler and suprisingly ran 9 miles last night.
> 
> ...


I also have a big female German Shepard,she is around 92 lbs, she had a mother who was around 80 lbs and her dad was a big 110 lb male. She is not mixed but purebred. I think gentics of the parents play a big part in how big they will get. I will have to post some pics of her in the future. In the mean time enjoy these great dogs!!


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

10yr old post. User no longer active.


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