# 5 month old puppy & Royal Canin



## Hyde (Jan 9, 2011)

Hello everyone, my puppy Coco has just turned 5 months old. She is about 44lbs the last time I went to the vet to check. I weighed her at home with me by carrying her in my arms on a scale and subtracting the weight from mines. She is about 47lbs now but the way i weighed her probably isn't accurate. 

I was wondering if she is overweight because she seems very lazy sometimes and her stomach looks a little big. I feed her 2 cups for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 5 hours in between. I think I might be feeding her too much because I have been reading around and most people only feed 1-1.5 cups 3 or 2 times a day as they become 6 months old. Should I try feeding her 1 cup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and switch to 2 cups a day when she becomes 6 months? I don't know how to look at the chart on the back of her food so if anyone can help me that would be great. Also the food I am feeding her is Royal Canin German Sheperd Puppy 30. 

I take her for jogs with me everyday for about thirty minutes to an hour I can go longer but I am not sure if she can keep up with me because I think she is still young. Can anyone tell me how much exercise I can give her throughout the day?


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## RogueRed26 (Jul 15, 2010)

I feed my 8 month old GSD, Texas, 4 cups of royal canine kibble a day with a raw egg; though if I add any raw beef or poultry, I feed her three cups of kibble. The instructions on the bag should guide you quite s bit if how much to feed. For 8 months old and her expected weight, it advises me to feed 4 3/4 cups a day. You can check your bag or also the feeding requirements can be found online at the royal canin website under german shepherd puppy 30.

You can take her on light hogs, though try to not push her too hard and avoid concerte since it could be hard on her joints.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

We have never fed our dog 6 cups of dry food per day. She is 11 months old and weighs 82 lbs, very big girl, muscular and lean. The vet and breeder say she looks good. She gets 4 cups dry and 1 can or real meat equivalent. It is hard to say how much your dog should eat, without knowing the history of his parents, what was their average weight? Our dog will walk away from food when full, does not overeat.

As for jogging, I would ask your vet. Jogging is not recommended for some large breed dogs as it hard on their joints. Our dog can play for a good hour, but it is not all jogging. It is chasing, resting, walking, chasing - varying activity levels.


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## RogueRed26 (Jul 15, 2010)

I feed my 8 month old GSD, Texas, 4 cups of royal canine kibble a day with a raw egg; though if I add any raw beef or poultry, I feed her three cups of kibble. The instructions on the bag should guide you quite s bit if how much to feed. For 8 months old and her expected weight, it advises me to feed 4 3/4 cups a day. You can check your bag or also the feeding requirements can be found online at the royal canin website under german shepherd puppy 30.

You can take her on light hogs, though try to not push her too hard and avoid concerte since it could be hard on her joints.


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## sable123 (Jul 11, 2010)

Hyde said:


> Hello everyone, my puppy Coco has just turned 5 months old. She is about 44lbs the last time I went to the vet to check. I weighed her at home with me by carrying her in my arms on a scale and subtracting the weight from mines. She is about 47lbs now but the way i weighed her probably isn't accurate.
> 
> I was wondering if she is overweight because she seems very lazy sometimes and her stomach looks a little big. I feed her 2 cups for breakfast, lunch, and dinner 5 hours in between. I think I might be feeding her too much because I have been reading around and most people only feed 1-1.5 cups 3 or 2 times a day as they become 6 months old. Should I try feeding her 1 cup for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and switch to 2 cups a day when she becomes 6 months? I don't know how to look at the chart on the back of her food so if anyone can help me that would be great. Also the food I am feeding her is Royal Canin German Sheperd Puppy 30.
> 
> ...


Dude, why in the heck are you taking a puppy jogging. I can't think of a better way to guaranty irreparable harm.

Seriously...feed whatever you want...but stop that exercise.


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## Rott-n-GSDs (Jul 7, 2010)

What are the feeding instructions on the bag? They are generally only a guideline, but a good place to start. Can you post some pics of your puppy standing, one from the side and the other taken from the top?

A 5 month old pup should not be jogging, as it is too hard on her growing joints. Walks are fine, but shouldn't be too long. If you have a fenced in yard or enclosure, that's where she can have fun running and romping around, off leash.


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## ChancetheGSD (Dec 19, 2007)

What's the difference in jogging a dog at a controlled gait and throwing a toy and letting your dog run fast after it, make a quick and hard stop to grab it and then running back??

Sorry but I've never totally understood why people are so against light jogging on soft surfaces but have no problem with their puppies playing fetch, wrestling other dogs, jumping on and off things, running up and down stairs, ect.


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## Rott-n-GSDs (Jul 7, 2010)

The difference is that jogging is FORCED exercise. Even though the pup may seem happy/comfortable enough, he is essentially forced to jog along with his human if he wants to stay near him/her (and we all know that with our velcro GSDs, they want to be near their humans). It's a great fun game, and the puppy isn't going to know enough to stop before they're over-exercised.

I also said nothing about endless games of fetch, etc. When I mentioned off leash excercise, I was thinking more along the line of letting the puppy roam and do what he wants (puppy zoomies, laying down, trotting around, sniffing, etc.), without prompting from the human.


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## sable123 (Jul 11, 2010)

ChancetheGSD said:


> What's the difference in jogging a dog at a controlled gait and throwing a toy and letting your dog run fast after it, make a quick and hard stop to grab it and then running back??
> 
> Sorry but I've never totally understood why people are so against light jogging on soft surfaces but have no problem with their puppies playing fetch, wrestling other dogs, jumping on and off things, running up and down stairs, ect.


I have a problem with all kinds of forced, strenuous exercise. I would never throw a ball very far for a puppy to run after. They don't have the bones or coordination for this at all. At this age you really should keep exercise limited and look out for boredom, fatigue or soreness.


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## Hyde (Jan 9, 2011)

RogueRed26 said:


> I feed my 8 month old GSD, Texas, 4 cups of royal canine kibble a day with a raw egg; though if I add any raw beef or poultry, I feed her three cups of kibble. The instructions on the bag should guide you quite s bit if how much to feed. For 8 months old and her expected weight, it advises me to feed 4 3/4 cups a day. You can check your bag or also the feeding requirements can be found online at the royal canin website under german shepherd puppy 30.
> 
> You can take her on light hogs, though try to not push her too hard and avoid concerte since it could be hard on her joints.


thanks I will take a look at the food chart but I have looked at it before I don't really know how to look at it.



Gretchen said:


> We have never fed our dog 6 cups of dry food per day. She is 11 months old and weighs 82 lbs, very big girl, muscular and lean. The vet and breeder say she looks good. She gets 4 cups dry and 1 can or real meat equivalent. It is hard to say how much your dog should eat, without knowing the history of his parents, what was their average weight? Our dog will walk away from food when full, does not overeat.
> 
> As for jogging, I would ask your vet. Jogging is not recommended for some large breed dogs as it hard on their joints. Our dog can play for a good hour, but it is not all jogging. It is chasing, resting, walking, chasing - varying activity levels.


Thanks I will try feeding her 1 cup every 5 hours in between 3 times a day. I will also try 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups for dinner so that's 4 cups total for the day. Is it ok to feed them meat? My friend had a dog and he fed his dog meat and told me I should only feed them their own food because they won't go back to their kibble once they eat meat, unless you are talking about the meat in the cans they sell? I don't know her parent's weight unfortunately.

Yes I have asked the vet and they said that it should be ok just light jogging nothing too intense. Most of the time I am jogging my puppy looks like she's just walking fast next to me. But I think I will do what you do and switch up the activities for variety.



sable123 said:


> Dude, why in the heck are you taking a puppy jogging. I can't think of a better way to guaranty irreparable harm.
> 
> Seriously...feed whatever you want...but stop that exercise.


I'm sorry it's my first time having a puppy so I am new to these things so no one told me anything. I have taken her for about 3 jogs nothing intense. Isn't a jog a slow paced run? When I am jogging my puppy looks like she is just walking fast next to me. Thank you for informing me that it can cause harm to her I will stop jogging/running then. I just hope 3 jogs hasn't caused irreparable harm to her yet or I will feel very bad and regret it. Do you know what age she can start running then? Also you said I could feed her whatever I want are you sure that is ok?



Rott-n-GSDs said:


> What are the feeding instructions on the bag? They are generally only a guideline, but a good place to start. Can you post some pics of your puppy standing, one from the side and the other taken from the top?
> 
> A 5 month old pup should not be jogging, as it is too hard on her growing joints. Walks are fine, but shouldn't be too long. If you have a fenced in yard or enclosure, that's where she can have fun running and romping around, off leash.


I have seen the instructions but I don't understand how to read it can you help me? I have the link to the feeding guide here: http://products.royalcanin.us/media/60021/german_puppy-feeding_guide.pdf
Is it telling me at 5 months she should have 3 2/3 cups a day? Should I divide that evenly and have her eat some in the morning, noon , and evening? or should I only give her in the morning and evening?

I won't jog anymore but do you know when it will be ok to jog? Also if I go for walks how long can I take her for? I have a back yard with fence she can run around but it's not very roomy. I will post pictures of her soon.

Here are the pictures of her


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

The chart is for cups per day. For my dog it recommends 5 3/4 cups (per day). She would not eat that much. To our dry food I do add some canned food like Evangers or a boiled meat. She will not eat straight kibble.

Your dog looks good from the top. I can't give you any recommendation for how far/much to walk or jog. When taking a long walk, we plan for a rest period and bring water. When throwing a ball with lots of running, when our dog starts to want to lay down and chew the ball, we let her rest a bit then throw some more. Use moderation. My old neighbors jogged a lot with their Rottweiler at an early age and by the time he was 2 yrs old, his hips and shoulders were bad, could hardly climb into the car. Remember to let your dog stop and smell during those walks, shepherds have a great sense of smell, let her develop that.


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## Hyde (Jan 9, 2011)

Gretchen said:


> The chart is for cups per day. For my dog it recommends 5 3/4 cups (per day). She would not eat that much. To our dry food I do add some canned food like Evangers or a boiled meat. She will not eat straight kibble.
> 
> Your dog looks good from the top. I can't give you any recommendation for how far/much to walk or jog. When taking a long walk, we plan for a rest period and bring water. When throwing a ball with lots of running, when our dog starts to want to lay down and chew the ball, we let her rest a bit then throw some more. Use moderation. My old neighbors jogged a lot with their Rottweiler at an early age and by the time he was 2 yrs old, his hips and shoulders were bad, could hardly climb into the car. Remember to let your dog stop and smell during those walks, shepherds have a great sense of smell, let her develop that.


thanks I will use the back of the bag as a guideline and see how much she will eat. I will walk her and give her rests and do as you suggested. I hope my puppy will be ok I have only done light jogging with her 3 times. I don't want her to end up like your neighbors Rottweiler. I always let my puppy smell I heard that it is good for their mental stimulation.


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## hakariliac (Dec 4, 2011)

I know I'm responding to this late, but I think the best answer is, "ask your vet." We have a 6 month old GSD. Originally our vet recommended we feed her 2 - 2 1/2 cups per day. Two weeks later, she said, our dog was still too skinny, so she recommended 3 - 3 1/2 cups a day. Two months later, she said she was way too skinny so she recommended 4 - 4 1/2 cups per day. Willa was probably 4 months at that time and I just started feeding her 6 cups per day, 2 for breakfast, 2 for lunch, and 2 for dinner. At 5 months, our vet finally said, good she looked very healthy and a great weight. If she starts to get fat (have hard time feeling ribs, or spine), I will reduce the amount we feed her, if she gets to skinny (ribs and spine are very easy to feel), I will feed her less. It really depends on the dog.
As far as jogging, I too have taken my dogs on light jogs. I'm not a big runner, so I never run more than 2 miles and at a very slow pace. Just like you said, it seems like my dog is just walking fast, not even in a trot. @Sable123, thanks for your input, I will ask my vet what she thinks about light, hardly demanding jogs. In the future, could you be a little more tactful with your comments? Hyde is clearly a loving dog owner who joined this forum to ensure she is giving her dog the best care possible. Your comment


> Dude, why in the heck are you taking a puppy jogging. I can't think of a better way to guaranty irreparable harm.
> 
> Seriously...feed whatever you want...but stop that exercise.


 Is very demeaning and rude. @Hyde your dog looks great, it's great that you are using Royal Canin, it's a good food and it's nice that you spend the extra money to take care of her health.


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