# Feeding the monster... growing pups gotta eat!



## Asten (Feb 1, 2015)

Okay, obviously I'm not starving the little food reservoir, but I would like to ask how you all feed your growing puppy. She eats 3 meals per day and we're up to 1 cup per meal, sometimes 1.25. Hubby said that today she acted like she was STARVING at lunch time so he gave her another 1/2, maybe 3/4 cup and she ate every bite of it, too. She just ate dinner an hour earlier than normal lol 

I'm tempted to leave food out for her 24/7 but don't want my older (smaller) dogs to go steal the puppy food. I mean it would be fine if I wasn't currently feeding puppy food lol ever seen older dogs hyped up on puppy food? ohh the energy and the zoomies!! :doggieplayball:

What's your feeding schedule? Do you leave food out? Do the little food monsters go through "eat days" like human kids do where they eat everything that isn't nailed down? 

On a side note, my "little" 11 week old angel is now 21.8 pounds! She isn't fat, and on most days you'd think she doesn't get nearly enough the way her little sides cave in. (Perfectly healthy, too, vet says so lol)


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## Longfisher (Feb 28, 2013)

Feed the puppy all it will eat.

LF


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

When Chloe was a puppy she had 3 meals a day, ( 6 am, 12 pm, and 4 pm) I forgot how much I gave her but I portioned it by her weight..I didn't have any issues. I don't free-feed, and I never will, it's just my personal preference. My past smaller dogs that were free fed just got over weight because they just ate too much food, that wasn't portioned correctly. Now Chloe has 2 meals a day she gets 2 cups.. 1 cup at 8 am and another around 4 pm.


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## Kahrg4 (Dec 19, 2012)

My lil Efa is the same way! She's 14 weeks and 28 pounds. She is constantly trying to eat my adult GSD's food too. I recently had my own thread on here about her weight. She by far outweighs my male when he was at that age. 

The things to watch are can you feel her ribs without much effort and does she have a waist when viewed from above. If you can feed her all that food and still maintain the aforementioned condition then you're doing great. If she starts to get a bit pudgy and the waist is widening then it's time to back off the food or up her activities. 

In the meantime I'd consider taking her off of puppy food. Often times GSDs and other large breeds grow too quickly on puppy food and incur joint damage as a result. I feed my girl the same food as my male. 

Otherwise, pictures! Always love to see puppy pics.


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

Feeding in their crate might help with the food stealing problems. I forgot to add that but I feed Chloe in her cage, whenever she notices I get her food bowl she goes straight in the cage. What food do you feed?


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## Augustine (Nov 22, 2014)

Every puppy is different, but I think that as long as you see she isn't starting to get overweight, you can always add a bit extra to her diet.

My Butters is 17 weeks and is a veryy big girl. (almost the size and weight of a small fully-grown female) She gets around 4 1/2 cups of per day (split into 3 meals), but would probably eat closer to 5-6 cups if I let her. 

She always gets extra hungry before lunch and _loves_ having snacks in between meals, so I whip out the treats and train her a few hours before her 2nd meal. That way I know she's extra motivated which makes training even easier, and Butters is a happy, sated pup.


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

You could also put meals into treat balls/toys, it gets them the mental stimulation that German Shepherds need.  I'm planning on doing that with the new puppy and Chloe, eventually. Just a thought haha..


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

I considered free feeding my pup but Summer will over eat. My others didn't. I'm just happy she has such a good appetite. Never refused food, never has loose stools.

She was 23.5lbs at 10.5 weeks and zoomed to 35 lbs at 14 weeks (after worming). I was worried about her weight gain, but at 6 mos, she quit the 10 lb per month gains, she's now 8 mos and 66 lbs + 26" atw. Just putting on 2-3 lbs per month now.


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

Chloe is 55 lbs & 26" atw at 9 months. I think she's only going to get to 60 tops, she seems at the perfect weight for her age.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Apollo is about 16.5 weeks. He gets one cup twice a day. He has the ball that dispenses food and gets that twice a day, so about another cup. If he over eats he gets icky poop. He weighs 40 pounds, not sure on height, gotta check that.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Bella67 said:


> Chloe is 55 lbs & 26" atw at 9 months. I think she's only going to get to 60 tops, she seems at the perfect weight for her age.


Are you sure only another 5lbs? My (X-vet) said that Summer will be "filling out" from 8 mos to 12+mos. She's a little awkward looking right now, her head is small, her ears, paws and tail are still too big. Still has knobby knees (according to the vet). 

So, I was thinking, she probably has another 8-10 lbs to go prior to the end of her growth period. I'd be happy if she only put on another couple of lbs between now and adulthood. That would be a relief. Maybe it's a difference in the lines?


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

I don't know what lines she has (came from BYB breeder my guess would be American) but here's a side photo of her I took yesterday.. I think her head fits her body fine. Tell me what you think


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Bella67 said:


> I don't know what lines she has (came from BYB breeder my guess would be American) but here's a side photo of her I took yesterday.. I think her head fits her body fine. Tell me what you think


Sure does Summer is another story....I've read on this site about the "geeky looking years" and figured that's what she's going through. Your pup's head is in proportion to her ears, my pup's still look like they could pick up a SETI broadcast.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Stonevintage said:


> Are you sure only another 5lbs? My (X-vet) said that Summer will be "filling out" from 8 mos to 12+mos. She's a little awkward looking right now, her head is small, her ears, paws and tail are still too big. Still has knobby knees (according to the vet).
> 
> So, I was thinking, she probably has another 8-10 lbs to go prior to the end of her growth period. I'd be happy if she only put on another couple of lbs between now and adulthood. That would be a relief. Maybe it's a difference in the lines?


My female Robyn was 68 pounds from about this age until about 2.5, then she started filling out and is now between 78-80. It took her a while to fill out, I feel like bam all of the sudden she was all grown up, but it was a slow progressive process. I think at least 10 pounds is a reasonable assumption.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

llombardo said:


> My female Robyn was 68 pounds from about this age until about 2.5, then she started filling out and is now between 78-80. It took her a while to fill out, I feel like bam all of the sudden she was all grown up, but it was a slow progressive process. I think at least 10 pounds is a reasonable assumption.


That may be the path Summer takes too. I can't pick her up to weight her anymore. Hopefully, no trips to the vet for 6 mos now so I'll just be keeping an eye on her "waist" to see that the food and exercise is right.

I would really like to keep her down to 70-72, but nature will have the final say.


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## WhimsicalRain (Feb 13, 2015)

*3 meals a day?*

I'm curious how many of you feed your puppies 3 times a day? Henry eats twice a day. 1 cup kibble mixed with some wet food. I hope I'm not under feeding him! I'm following the schedule that the breeder had and feeding him Fromm Gold puppy and whatever wet food the breeder gave us.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

WhimsicalRain said:


> I'm curious how many of you feed your puppies 3 times a day? Henry eats twice a day. 1 cup kibble mixed with some wet food. I hope I'm not under feeding him! I'm following the schedule that the breeder had and feeding him Fromm Gold puppy and whatever wet food the breeder gave us.


I feed twice a day, the same food, same quantity minus wet food and a little extra in his treat ball.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

WhimsicalRain said:


> I'm curious how many of you feed your puppies 3 times a day? Henry eats twice a day. 1 cup kibble mixed with some wet food. I hope I'm not under feeding him! I'm following the schedule that the breeder had and feeding him Fromm Gold puppy and whatever wet food the breeder gave us.


Hard to say with the mix of dry and wet and not knowing how old the pup is. I posted some pictures here when mine got over 4 mos old for weight critique. 

Since Summer was 4 mos old, I've been feeding her 3 to 3 1/2 cups per day split between the 2 meals (dry with active yogurt mixed with water topping). She's 8 mos old now and her growth slowed way down from 6 mos on. I have always fed my dogs twice a day thru their lives. Easier load on their stomach and heck -who wants to eat just once a day? Not sure how old your pup is, but I've seen many posts that feed 3 times per day when they are under 4 mos or so old. 

There's a puppy weight chart thread on this site with a zillion bits of info that can help you along the way. There's also photos showing from the side and from the top looking down that help others give their opinion on your pups weight. It's a great post and I look at it every month to compare. It's really variable but thru time, I have been able to pick out a few that match my pups body type and follow their growth progress and it's amazingly close on this group.


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## WhimsicalRain (Feb 13, 2015)

Stonevintage said:


> Hard to say with the mix of dry and wet and not knowing how old the pup is.


Henry is 10 weeks. We brought him home 6 days ago and simply continued the feeding schedule that the breeder followed. He eats well. He'd probably eat more if I put it in his dish but I don't want to over feed him either. He also gets plenty of treats throughout the day as we train. 

I'll search for the chart that you mentioned.


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## gsdlover91 (Jul 21, 2012)

I feed my 5 month old female (who is about 33-35lbs) 3 cups a day. If she gets a lot of exercise that day, I'll bump it up to 3.5. She also gets treats throughout the day. If I let her, she'd probably never stop eating. She acts like she's starving right after she's done eating. Lol. I don't free feed. I feed based off both my dogs physical appearance and amount of energy burned off that day.


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## Asten (Feb 1, 2015)

Thank you all for such amazing answers  

Miss Chloe is gorgeous!! I think her head and body look perfect for her age  



Longfisher said:


> Feed the puppy all it will eat.
> 
> LF


I've read that quite often actually, thank you!



Bella67 said:


> I don't free-feed, and I never will, it's just my personal preference.


Yeah I don't free-feed any of mine. I have to feed them separately right now though because B'Elanna will steal food from the others if I feed them together. I don't want to risk any type of food aggression from any of them. The other two do fine together and I'm sure they'll all eat fine together later, just not yet. The breeder fed the litter together instead of separate bowls, so she thinks it's okay for everyone to share  The other two have their own plates and don't share. They're not mean about it, they are just used to how things work. This is my plate, this is my food. That's your plate, that's your food. lol



Kahrg4 said:


> My lil Efa is the same way! She's 14 weeks and 28 pounds. She is constantly trying to eat my adult GSD's food too. I recently had my own thread on here about her weight. She by far outweighs my male when he was at that age.
> 
> The things to watch are can you feel her ribs without much effort and does she have a waist when viewed from above. If you can feed her all that food and still maintain the aforementioned condition then you're doing great. If she starts to get a bit pudgy and the waist is widening then it's time to back off the food or up her activities.
> 
> ...


Pics...? hmm... I'm not sure I have any... (you know I'm kidding lol) I took these specifically for this thread lol

Quick snap while she was headed toward the water bowl. Again.


And another one for good measure  


Yeah, I was told that puppy food would be okay for up to six months and then to switch because of the growth/joint issue. Since we'd already purchased this bag of Blue Buffalo Wilderness Large Breed Puppy, we're going to use it until almost gone and then use the last bits to mix with a new food to prevent tummy upsets.



Bella67 said:


> Feeding in their crate might help with the food stealing problems. I forgot to add that but I feed Chloe in her cage, whenever she notices I get her food bowl she goes straight in the cage. What food do you feed?


I feed the older dogs on the other side of a puppy gate right now just so they can be used to eating together, but she can't steal their food. They eat Pure Balance kibble mixed with canned Pedigree because they love it and they're totally spoiled. The dachshund won't touch hard food (total diva!)

Right now she's on Blue Buffalo Wilderness Large Breed Puppy (ranks 5 stars on dogfoodadviser.com). Next, we'll be going to Pure Balance Wild and Free Bison and Pea (ranks 4.5 stars and easily available at walmart). 



Bella67 said:


> You could also put meals into treat balls/toys, it gets them the mental stimulation that German Shepherds need.  I'm planning on doing that with the new puppy and Chloe, eventually. Just a thought haha..


She LOVES her food puzzle! I have a video on her G+ page of her at 7.5 weeks figuring out the food puzzle. I use her kibble in it, too. So yeah she does get training treats and a little extra in the puzzle, too lol



WhimsicalRain said:


> I'm curious how many of you feed your puppies 3 times a day? Henry eats twice a day. 1 cup kibble mixed with some wet food. I hope I'm not under feeding him! I'm following the schedule that the breeder had and feeding him Fromm Gold puppy and whatever wet food the breeder gave us.


I don't mix her food with anything yet, just kibble, 1 cup, 3 times a day. I'm also feeding based on the breeder's recommendation, so I'd assume we're both doing it right. Sounds like we're feeding approximately the same amount, just different times of the day


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## Asten (Feb 1, 2015)

Stonevintage said:


> I've seen many posts that feed 3 times per day when they are under 4 mos or so old.


Yeah that's what I'm going by, too. The breeder and vet have told me that 3 times per day is good for now because of their growing bodies. As far as free-feeding goes, I meant to mention this earlier, too... I think she'd be an easy free-feeder without going overboard. Sometimes she eats 3/4 of her food and walks away from it. She goes back to nibble it up over the course of the next hour or so, but my two older dogs can't do that lol Xavier (the shih-poo she loves to wrestle with) eats everything in sight, so I'll never really free-feed them.

She does run and play a lot, and of course gets treats from her food puzzle and during training. I'll probably taper off the meals to meet the schedule of the adult dogs when she reaches the 4-5 month mark. My older two (shih-poo and dachshund) eat twice a day, 1/2 cup dry mixed with 1/4 can wet each. They're generally lazy couch potatoes and lap warmers, so that's perfect for them


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## Palydyn (Aug 28, 2014)

Rommel gets 3 cups a day split evenly 3 times a day. Each time topped with a tablespoon or so of either shredded skinless turkey or chicken breast, cottage cheese or ground hamburger/turkey combination (lean). And supplements. He really isn't food oriented much so sometimes he eats everything and sometimes not. He is treat oriented and he gets those while training. 

He weighed 40 lbs at 14 weeks and vet says he is fine on weight, you can see he has a waist from the top view and you can feel his ribs easily. He is just a big boy. However Vet wants to check him out at his next round of shots (16 weeks) to make sure he is not growing too fast. 

I know many on the board are not into free feeding but I used to be and had no problem with it. But I know some dogs will eat till they explode. I was able to leave kibble out with my last shepherd and dachshunds and none of them was overweight. But right now I cannot do that because the dachshunds want Rommel's food and he wants theirs. I guess its the grass is always greener concept.


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## Ruger Monster (Jan 29, 2015)

I feed Ruger 1½-2 cups per feeding 2x/day depending on how hungry he is. I'm happy he wants to eat, since when I brought him home, he was a whopping 5lb at 7 weeks, and wasn't eating as well (coccidia and didn't like his food apparently). Ever since he's been on Fromm, he loves food time. I could probably free feed him, he stops eating when he's full or has had enough, then will go back and grab a few bites when he is. I was trying to feed him 1 cup 3x/day, but trying to get home at lunch everyday wasn't working out, lunch hour ended up being 1.5 hours.

I feed all 3 dogs separately - he LOVES to get into their food, and all 3 dogs eat different brands & life stages  Plus the Rottie would eat her food, his food, & the BT's food if she could.


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## Asten (Feb 1, 2015)

Ruger Monster said:


> I feed all 3 dogs separately - he LOVES to get into their food, and all 3 dogs eat different brands & life stages  Plus the Rottie would eat her food, his food, & the BT's food if she could.


Exactly! lol Like I said, I mix the dachshund's and shih-poo's food with soft, so of course it smells and tastes so much better than her dry kibble! So yeah she'll steal it at every possible opportunity lol At least my two older ones are close in age and size, only about a year apart and 2-3 pounds difference in weight, so they eat the same food lol


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