# 8 months supposed to be thin and awkward stage?



## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

My pup is almost 8 months, she seems thin to me, not underweight, but not where I would want her to be. She also doesnt seem to have a whole lot of muscle in general, she is very petite and only weights about 50 pounds. She hasnt gained a lot of weight.. I believe she has gotten taller though.. She was like 48 pounds at least a month ago? So she hasnt gained a lot of weight..
No worms, i had her tested two times and they checked for giardia and everything else. I still gave her strongid, as requested from the animal hospital. 
I am trying not to worry. 
She doesnt care too much for the food she is on, she has really good stools on it, we struggled with this for quite some time after i got her at 4.5 months. But she still eats the food i offer, the bare minimum. I mostly use boiled chicken as her main high value treat. 
Is it just the age? Do GSD pups tend to be awkward around 8 months or is this something i should be even more concerned about?


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Can you see her ribs when she's walking? And what's she eating and how much per day?


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## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

Well you cant see her ribs because she long hair. But i feel her ribs and they arent anything like what a very thing dog feels like, i've seen some very thin dogs come in since i work at a shelter. It is so hard to tell because of her all fur! 
Her chest bones DO feel way out than they should be, she is lacking chest muscle.
She is on blue buffalo large breed puppy food. Perhaps i will start mixing in chicken with her food for meals? 
She eats anywhere between 3-5 cups.. Average probably 3.5. I always offer fresh water with it and now-a-days offer it often. Only because i know she tends to want to eat after exercising. 
We primarily do walks. I do around 3-4 anywhere from 20minutes- 1 hour. And lately average would be about 40 minutes. I cant let her run very hard or often because she gets painful legs/hips. So i was doing this every other day and just letting her prance around on a 50 foot leash, she doesnt run very hard and she will usually gait most of the time while we do some trails. So perhaps since i cant allow her to run, she is not gaining as much muscle as she should be?


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Her ribs should feel like the bones on the back of your hand. You should be able to feel them. If you couldn't... she'd be overweight.

I don't feed BB, but 3.5 cups seems like enough food for her size and weight. I'm only feeding 3 cups per day to my 70 pound female and she's fine weight-wise. 

If the vet says she's healthy, I'm sure she's fine. I wouldn't worry about it.


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## VTGirlT (May 23, 2013)

Okay, thank you for your help lucy!


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

All my dogs have been really awkward around that age. Though, all my dogs (except Zira) are/have been chow hounds, they have always loved food. Not eating is usually a sign something is up. I'd definitely keep in contact with a good vet and make sure that's closely watched.

Zira has SIBO, so as a pup she was very difficult to get to eat and I had a lot of trouble keeping her at a healthy weight. She was a very skinny pup. Not eating was our first sign that there was something wrong. She was too skinny for even the normal awkward pup. The difference was very obvious.

Not saying your dog has anything wrong with her ... but, just keep a close eye on that. Some dogs are just picky eaters, but more often they're not eating because something is wrong. 

However, other than that, I'd tell you to not really worry unless the dog was showing all her ribs and hips. Pups go through awkward stages off and on throughout their first 2 years, and some even up until their 4. From what I've seen, 8 months can be a really weird stage for them. Their legs shoot up, their back is too long, their ears are usually still huge, they usually are really sleek and lightweight.... they remind me of a young foal. I think it's a really funny stage to watch.


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## Jackthelad (Apr 26, 2013)

She sounds just fine. They go through the gangly stage right about her age and don't fill out properly till about 18 months to 2 years, so don't worry. 


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

Most of my pups didn't fill out until almost 3 years old. I remember how disapointed I was when my first GSD was growing up, boy was I wrong.


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