# Small GSD's



## BlitzRomman

When I first got Blitz I was so obsessed with him being a small GSD, I've always wanted this big dog that was almost intimidating(silly I know), but now he's almost 1 year old I've come to accept it and actually enjoy his size. He's almost 12 months and about 70ish pounds(male). This is my first german shepherd so i guess getting him helped with my learning curve. 

Anyone else have a similar sized GSD?


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## Daisy&Lucky's Mom

My girl Charlie is about 23 inches tall and weighs right around 62 lbs. My other shepherds Daisy and Lucky were both oversized. Charlie size will benefit her in the long run as long as We watch her weight. She is easier to fit in the car and her size make her .


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## kimbale

These are my two. Mac (the black and tan) is a 9 year old female. She weighs about 60lbs and is smallish and I like her that way. She's my marathon training partner and her size makes her perfect for it. Wolf, the pup, was 14 weeks in this photo. He is now 17 weeks and is as tall, if not taller, than Mac. He's going to be a big boy, maybe even oversized. Not sure yet how I feel about that as I would like him to also come running with me. We'll see.


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## BlitzRomman

kimbale said:


> These are my two. Mac (the black and tan) is a 9 year old female. She weighs about 60lbs and is smallish and I like her that way. She's my marathon training partner and her size makes her perfect for it. Wolf, the pup, was 14 weeks in this photo. He is now 17 weeks and is as tall, if not taller, than Mac. He's going to be a big boy, maybe even oversized. Not sure yet how I feel about that as I would like him to also come running with me. We'll see.


Wolf is adorable.

The more I've read about german shepherds the more i've come to realize that mine is ideal sized. I always thought of GSD's as these tough guard dogs so obviously first thing that came to mind was weight. More weight...tougher dog. However now i understand that most of the time a larger sized dog tends to be on the slower end where as a slimmer GSD will be more active.


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## cheffjapman

Our first GSD, Arrow, is 8 months old and 54 lbs. She has really slowed down on her growth, and we think she will finish at about 60 lbs. Which is good with one small child in the house. But you wouldn't believe how many comments about her size we get when we are out with her. "Oh, is she full blood? She is so small." "Wow, she is really little for a German Shepherd!"


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## Hineni7

I wouldn't call any of these dogs small, although I know what you mean by it.. All are beautiful and good looking! Very nice


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## lhczth

This is LB. She is 21.7" and 54# at almost 4. I like my tough little girl and her size doesn't stop her.


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## SamsontheGSD

I'm a bit confused that we have a 1 year old at 70 lbs and 8 month old at 54 lbs and they're considered small. Both have a good bit of growing left to do. Our last girl was 104 lbs, but only 68-70 at a year. Even at 2 I don't think she was over 80. GSDs dont stop growing until about 2.5.


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## Kazel

My girls is 3 years old and was 47# when she was weighed last. It's hard to keep any weight on her but at a healthy weight she should be in the 50's. Very bottom of the standard but it doesn't make her any less of a GSD. Your pup sounds good sized! I hope you enjoy him!


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## kimbale

BlitzRomman said:


> Wolf is adorable.
> 
> The more I've read about german shepherds the more i've come to realize that mine is ideal sized. I always thought of GSD's as these tough guard dogs so obviously first thing that came to mind was weight. More weight...tougher dog. However now i understand that most of the time a larger sized dog tends to be on the slower end where as a slimmer GSD will be more active.


Thanks! He's a little terror, but is too adorable to ever get cross with. lol! 

I think a lot of people think that GSDs are supposed to be these massive dogs, but in reality the standard calls for females 50-70ish and males 60-90ish. Anything more and you start to get an oversized dog. They're meant to be endurance animals, which means lean is better.


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## BlitzRomman

lhczth said:


> This is LB. She is 21.7" and 54# at almost 4. I like my tough little girl and her size doesn't stop her.


Used to have a sable very similar to LB, miss her


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## konathegsd

I have a pretty small gsd too. 25" tall and 58lbs ...I doubt she will go over 65


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## carmspack

there is nothing small about a 25 inch female GSD .

standard height is 22 to 24 inches for a female so your's is actually oversize !

she is a young dog yet , so her weight is reasonable - within standard

she is a very leggy dog -- has she been spayed ?


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## carmspack

kimbale said:


> These are my two. Mac (the black and tan) is a 9 year old female. She weighs about 60lbs and is smallish and I like her that way. She's my marathon training partner and her size makes her perfect for it. Wolf, the pup, was 14 weeks in this photo. He is now 17 weeks and is as tall, if not taller, than Mac. He's going to be a big boy, maybe even oversized. Not sure yet how I feel about that as I would like him to also come running with me. We'll see.


if you want the young guy as your running mate then pay attention to his soft pasterns .


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## carmspack

SamsontheGSD said:


> I'm a bit confused that we have a 1 year old at 70 lbs and 8 month old at 54 lbs and they're considered small. Both have a good bit of growing left to do. Our last girl was 104 lbs, but only 68-70 at a year. Even at 2 I don't think she was over 80. GSDs dont stop growing until about 2.5.


don't turn your Samson in to a Goliath . 
keep the ideal weight range for health and longevity


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## kimbale

carmspack said:


> if you want the young guy as your running mate then pay attention to his soft pasterns .


Yep! Once he gets a little older we're going to work on strengthening them. He's got a nice gait and I'm not overly concerned because right now because he's still growing into his paws, but it's definitely something I'm paying attention to.


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## carmspack

the time to address a soft pastern is NOW -- the sooner the better before the cartilage gets too stretched 

you do this by cartilage and ligament strengthening food ingredients -- dietary


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## kimbale

carmspack said:


> the time to address a soft pastern is NOW -- the sooner the better before the cartilage gets too stretched
> 
> you do this by cartilage and ligament strengthening food ingredients -- dietary


What ingredients do you recommend? He is on Fromm puppy and I also supplement with raw. He gets a raw egg every day and also gets ground turkey, beef liver, bison heart, chicken gizzards and breasts, pork loin, rabbit and various other cuts.


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## Tennessee

Whats the GSD breed standard?

Male: 24-26in withers 66-88lbs
Female: 22-24in withers 49-71lbs


Your dog isn't small it's proper size for the breed!


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## carmspack

looks like you are doing a great job providing good clean protein

diet needs more though.

specifically for cartilage , tendons, ligaments --- REAL Vitamin C is key keeping collagen and connective tissues firm yet flexible . emphasis on the real -- because Vitamin C is not an isolate and needs co-factors such as rutin, quercetin, bioflavins . This was a known fact when Szent-Gyorgi was able to isolate and synthesis ascorbic acid.

Pure white so much easier to market than a dirty linen brown when the vital amines were whole food sourced .

C is the big one .


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## BlitzRomman

can someone explain what soft pasterns are


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## carmspack

there are so many posts about soft pasterns


https://www.google.ca/search?q=coll...7x87jUAhUq6IMKHQxcCV8QsAQIIQ&biw=1280&bih=593 

pasterns can be too upright -- this breed has specific description of an ideal angle --
too little then there is no shock absorption , too soft then there is damage and inflammation


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## selzer

BlitzRomman said:


> When I first got Blitz I was so obsessed with him being a small GSD, I've always wanted this big dog that was almost intimidating(silly I know), but now he's almost 1 year old I've come to accept it and actually enjoy his size. He's almost 12 months and about 70ish pounds(male). This is my first german shepherd so i guess getting him helped with my learning curve.
> 
> Anyone else have a similar sized GSD?


Gosh, I am not sure if this is the camera angle or what, but this pup looks like he has an awesome large head, and then the body looks like it belongs to a dog with a lighter frame. Maybe an awkward growing stage. But this pup should fill out more. I just do not see the same bone in the body that I see in the head. 

It seems like the dimensions of the ideal GSD were given, but the AKC which cites 24-26 inches for males does not call out a weight limit. I think the SV does, but they use centimeters and the upper limit is something like 25.5 inches when converted. 

In short, the dog is not small. The dog is not complete yet. They grow upwards until maybe 10 months, or maybe 20 months -- individual to the dog, and then they fill out up to 3 years or so if we do not screw with the hormones by neutering. 

Did you say what you are feeding?


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## BlitzRomman

selzer said:


> Gosh, I am not sure if this is the camera angle or what, but this pup looks like he has an awesome large head, and then the body looks like it belongs to a dog with a lighter frame. Maybe an awkward growing stage. But this pup should fill out more. I just do not see the same bone in the body that I see in the head.
> 
> It seems like the dimensions of the ideal GSD were given, but the AKC which cites 24-26 inches for males does not call out a weight limit. I think the SV does, but they use centimeters and the upper limit is something like 25.5 inches when converted.
> 
> In short, the dog is not small. The dog is not complete yet. They grow upwards until maybe 10 months, or maybe 20 months -- individual to the dog, and then they fill out up to 3 years or so if we do not screw with the hormones by neutering.
> 
> Did you say what you are feeding?


It is defiently the angle, his head is actually still trying to catch up. I took the picture from an upward angle so that's probably why it looks that way. As for the diet, i have him on raw.


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## BlitzRomman

here he is today, he doesn't enjoy pools that much but due to some elbow issues, i use it as a tool for exercise so that he doesn't have as much impact on that leg until I save up enough for the surgery


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## carmspack

elbow or pastern?


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## selzer

What surgery are we talking about, did I miss something?


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## Tennessee

BlitzRomman said:


> here he is today, he doesn't enjoy pools that much but due to some elbow issues, i use it as a tool for exercise so that he doesn't have as much impact on that leg until I save up enough for the surgery


LOL

He looks so pissed about being wet!


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## Tennessee

Sorry I couldn't help myself


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## sebrench

Asher weighs around 68-70lbs, which I've always considered an average size. People tend to perceive him as being very large however. I've had two different people stop and ask me if he was part malamute because he was so huge. I think that is really funny because 1) a black and red shepherd really doesn't look much like a malamute, and 2) he's NOT that big!


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## konathegsd

carmspack said:


> there is nothing small about a 25 inch female GSD .
> 
> standard height is 22 to 24 inches for a female so your's is actually oversize !
> 
> she is a young dog yet , so her weight is reasonable - within standard
> 
> she is a very leggy dog -- has she been spayed ?


She was spayed a few months ago. I did not want want to spay her before 2, but she had bad vaginitis and was very uncomforatable. We tried a bunch of things and the spay fixed everything. She eats about 3 cups a day.


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## BlitzRomman

selzer said:


> What surgery are we talking about, did I miss something?


I was just talking about how I use swimming for exercise now since he has a fragmented coronoid process


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## Fodder

22" 55# 4yo male.... wouldn't have it any other way!!


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## Sunsilver

My working line GSD is just over 50 lbs, but when doing protection, I generally need someone to help me hold her, she's THAT strong, and that fast! Her mom is 50 lbs. too. I've never measured her height, but she's not very big. (That's a miniature poodle she's standing beside.)

My showline is an inch over the standard height, and weighs just under 70 lbs. (I like to keep my dogs lean.) I had no trouble holding her for line bites, when we used to do IPO together.


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## konathegsd

I just measured her again today and she is just under 25.5" and 57lbs no ribs showing.
I guess she isn't small on the height side of things. Everyone out in public tells me there's no way she's a gsd cause of how "small" she is.

I'm glad she is small, nice to be able to pick your dog up easily.


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## Fodder

konathegsd said:


> I just measured her again today and she is just under 25.5" and 57lbs no ribs showing.
> I guess she isn't small on the height side of things. Everyone out in public tells me there's no way she's a gsd cause of how "small" she is.
> 
> I'm glad she is small, nice to be able to pick your dog up easily.


My female was about 27" tall and 64lbs from 9months til around 3yrs, eventually reaching 85lbs lean. Same body type as your girl... looked like she was walking on stilts.

My point is, she filled out... yours will too.


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## cloudpump

Under 20#s


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## BlitzRomman

So I guess "small" gsd's win


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## SamsontheGSD

carmspack said:


> SamsontheGSD said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm a bit confused that we have a 1 year old at 70 lbs and 8 month old at 54 lbs and they're considered small. Both have a good bit of growing left to do. Our last girl was 104 lbs, but only 68-70 at a year. Even at 2 I don't think she was over 80. GSDs dont stop growing until about 2.5.
> 
> 
> 
> don't turn your Samson in to a Goliath .
> keep the ideal weight range for health and longevity
Click to expand...

Don't worry, we will. Trouble (last dog) was just a big girl. Very tall, very active, extremely muscular, no fat. I was shocked when she weighed in at 104 lbs because she wasn't soft. The vet did tell us to get her to 100 lbs.

Thinking back she was so thin as a puppy we kept her on puppy food for a long time. Wonder if that caused her to grow more? Her father was very big though, and the mother wasn't small.

Samson isn't likely to be that big. His mother was 72 lbs and he was middle weight of his litter.


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## LoboFloppyEars

Don't think of this as small. Don't feel bad when you see people with big GSDs. If anything those 100+ lbs GSDs are way beyond the breed standard and seem to move slower than 70 pound gsds.

And that's not an insult to 100+ pound GSDs, I'm sure they can be great dogs but there's evidence out there that these dogs are more prone to back, hip and joint issues.


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## BlitzRomman

Question. This is a picture of his dad. I didn't go to an "official" breeder when I got him because I wasn't aware how important it was since this is my first dog. I was wondering if this looks like a GSD to you guys.


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## SamsontheGSD

Not a great picture with the fence and all, but yes, it absolutely looks like a gsd.


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## BlitzRomman

SamsontheGSD said:


> Not a great picture with the fence and all, but yes, it absolutely looks like a gsd.


Ya it was the only picture he'd send me, wasn't the most helpful person ever.


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## Fodder

Dad is a GSD


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## BlitzRomman

thank you, i think he gets his build from his dad


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## WIBackpacker

50-pounders are a lot easier to fit in a canoe.


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## LeoRose

Leo, my five year old bitch, is 22 3/4 to 23" tall, and weighed 62 pounds at her vet visit last month. She looks HUGE, what with all the fluff, but you can actually easily feel her ribs, and when she's wet to the skin, you can see a waist and tuck. And I don't really consider her "small", but compared to some of the other GSD I've seen around here, she is on the smaller side.

2017-6-9 Dogs & Yard DSC_0559 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr


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## kimbale

LeoRose said:


> Leo, my five year old bitch, is 22 3/4 to 23" tall, and weighed 62 pounds at her vet visit last month. She looks HUGE, what with all the fluff, but you can actually easily feel her ribs, and when she's wet to the skin, you can see a waist and tuck. And I don't really consider her "small", but compared to some of the other GSD I've seen around here, she is on the smaller side.
> 
> 2017-6-9 Dogs & Yard DSC_0559 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr


She is beautiful!!!!!!


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## BlitzRomman

LeoRose said:


> Leo, my five year old bitch, is 22 3/4 to 23" tall, and weighed 62 pounds at her vet visit last month. She looks HUGE, what with all the fluff, but you can actually easily feel her ribs, and when she's wet to the skin, you can see a waist and tuck. And I don't really consider her "small", but compared to some of the other GSD I've seen around here, she is on the smaller side.
> 
> 2017-6-9 Dogs & Yard DSC_0559 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr



hahaha yes THE FLUFF. I laugh every time Blitz gets out of the pool because he looks like he lost 20 pounds


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## carmspack

BlitzRomman said:


> hahaha yes THE FLUFF. I laugh every time Blitz gets out of the pool because he looks like he lost 20 pounds


no fair! how come this doesn't work for humans?


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## selzer

Well, the werewolf, Quinn, is 23 inches at the withers, and 56.4 pounds. She is pictured here with her partner in crime, Kojak, who is 6 months old and 62.7 pounds. Quinnie will be two in October.


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## John C.

My little monster, Skye, (see pic below) just turned one and weighs approx. 65 pounds. Will probably fill out a little more and end up around 70 or so. Her older brother, Sundance, is 3 and is a slim 93 pounds, so she looks small standing next to him. However, she is definitely faster and more agile than her big brother.


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## Jenny720

Luna 10 months she is about 55 lbs 24 inches at withers. Her mom was pretty small and she is a female so I don't expect her to get much bigger. She is solid though. Max is about 83-85lbs and 27 inches at the withers. He will be 3 in October. Having the two gsds I like the difference in size not really wanting two big dogs. Max being larger I don't see any lack of being agile he could scale jump climb with ease.


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## Fodder

Subject line should be changed to "Post photos and stats of your perfectly normal, within standard GSD"


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## selzer

Fodder said:


> Subject line should be changed to "Post photos and stats of your perfectly normal, within standard GSD"


True, but mine is on the small side of the standard, which makes her small, LOL! She is compact and built perfect for that height, which is smaller than what I am used to, which is 24 inches on females. I said, 23, she is actually 22 inches which is just within, though I measured her last summer, she might have grown a little since then.


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## car2ner

which reminds me. I should swing by the vet and check our dog's weights. When folks see our pair I usually tell them that the boy is just 5 lbs over the standard weight for males and the gal is 5 lbs under for a female..but I don't think that is the case anymore.

https://flic.kr/p/VPeeBH


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## selzer

I re-measured Quinnie today, and yep, she is 22 inches at the withers. 

I groomed her today, measured her, took her to class, she hasn't been since last summer. No training at all. Today she was a super-star! 

We have to learn the around finish and the stop and down (emergency down). I have to put a finger on her shoulder to get her down easy, so I have to work on that. But otherwise her heeling was spectacular, her stays were phenomenal. We ran a rally course with her today, and I think we are just about there. 

I treated her to Dairy Queen afterwards. A small vanilla cone in a cup, with the cone. And a hot dog. She ate it ALL.


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## BlitzRomman

Using an old thread I made...

Measured his height today and came out to be around 22-23"(wouldn't stop moving) and he's weighing around 68ish pounds. I guess now that he's a year old he won't be growing much but rather filling out. I still think he's kind of thin. Thoughts?


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## selzer

BlitzRomman said:


> Using an old thread I made...
> 
> Measured his height today and came out to be around 22-23"(wouldn't stop moving) and he's weighing around 68ish pounds. I guess now that he's a year old he won't be growing much but rather filling out. I still think he's kind of thin. Thoughts?


He is. But he's a young GSD, and sometimes they are tough to keep weight on. If his poop is good (solid), you can up the food 1/4 cup or so, once or twice a day. Adding a hard boiled egg a day usually doesn't hurt anything, either, and good for the coat. But some are determined to be thin and make you crazy until they are 3-5 years old. And then one day when they are 7 or 8, you look at them and say, "DIET!!!"


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