2006-10-17 04:57:36 · 47 answers · asked by Terrance T 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
Muscle tone on a German Shepherd is somewhat related to his bone structure. The shepherds from the USA are more "fragile" in bone structure and appearance. The shepherds from Germany or Poland are more stout and stronger.
Be sure to exercise your dog regularly. A good walk for 30 minutes twice a day. Then work on some agility training for short periods of time each day. If your dog enjoys the water, let him swim each week. And don't forget play time! Catch is great.
Monitor his diet closely. Choose a high-quality kibble like Iams or Eukanuba or Science Diet. But do not overfeed. And absolutely no people food!!
2006-10-17 05:07:46 · answer #1 · answered by kja63 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
First of all you have to take the GSD's health, age and diet into consideration. Is his still a lean pup that hasn't filled out yet? If he is 1 year or less leave him alone. He gets his exercise in the form of play. The growth rate is so fast on a GSD pup that you could do damage to his joints if you push him to build muscle mass. Walking a young dog 1+years is the best form of exercise.
An adult mature GSD can be road worked by trotting at a "slow" steady pace next to a bicycle. Treadmills are great too. So is swimming but don't ever over do any form of exercise. Just like a human the GSD's body has to be warmed up and conditioned each day to achieve results. Start out with short distances. Limit the time and the distance very slowly. Stop BEFORE the dog show signs of exhaustion. DO NOT PUSH THE DOG BECAUSE HE LOOKS LIKE HE REALLY LIKES TO KEEP GOING! Dog's love to please and will cause damage to themselves just to please you.
Be sure there are no hip or elbow problems before you do any kind of road work. If you are consistent and do it properly the dog will look forward to you exercising him.
2006-10-17 05:50:24 · answer #2 · answered by woooh! 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only way to build up the dog would be to have him do a lot of exercise. Just like humans, we are predisposed by genetics to be the way we are and in order to improve on our shape would be diet and exercise. If your dog is young...about 2 thru 5 years old good long walks at a fast pace and shorter more strenuous exercising with agility would help to build up and maintain his muscular stature. Don't go crazy making him work out 24/7 that will only break him down and become lethargic. Ball chasing for short periods and running with other dogs at a park would be great fun and exercise too. Make sure he's eating no corn/wheat foods but mostly protien. Do not give him water until heavy breathing subsides and he is calm ...drinking while panting will BLOAT your dog...that goes for eating too. Only when they are calm!
2006-10-17 05:56:16 · answer #3 · answered by Lou B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Okay that makes sense.
I assume that he is a younger dog - like under 5 or 6.
He needs to use his body.
If you live near a sand beach, that is completely perfect. Put him on his leash and hike him down the beach at a pace where he has to trot or jog to keep up. (Good for you too.)
Work up to the distances gradully - 1/2 mile, 3/4 mil, 1 mile....
When he gets so fit from that, that he can do 5 miles easy on the beach, now you can start making him use his rear end more. (Have his hips xrayed first - dysplasia is rampant in GSDS. The fact that he doens't limp doesn't mean that the hip socket is not malformed.) Get him some doggy backpacks if he is over 12-18 months. REI has an excellent selection :
http://www.rei.com/online/store/Search?query=*&storeId=8000&link=1&cat=4500452&title=Dog+Gear+Packs&sc=0&cm_re=TOC_Dog_Packs&vcat=REI_SSHP_PICNIC_TOC
Never ask him to carry more than 10-15% of his body weight. Start out light - maybe 2-4%. Add weight gradually over a periiod of 12-16 weeks. Keeping doing those long beach hikes where he is trotting along.
He will develop his chest muscles and his rear end.
If you don't have a beach, find a place with hills and slopes. Do the same thing BUT you have to go nearly 2 times as far on regular ground to equal the same distance in sand.
Take him swimming a LOT. Great for the muscles and tendons. 30-45 minutes 2-4 times a week is good.
Notice - everything involves you doing it to.
Before you do any of this, have his hips xrayed and his elbows (GSDS are also very very prone to elbow dysplasia.)
If he has either of those conditions, even if he isn't showing lameness or pain at this time, asking him to do things that stress those joints too much will break him down. Talk to your vet about how much he can do in that case. For a dysplastic dog, you can't beat the beach and water for keeping him sound despite his hips or elbows.
RE: FOOD
I most highly recommend Solid Gold Dog Food. Costs more than Iams but it is more concentrated so you end up feeding less and it works out about the same in cost. It was developed by a Great Dane breeder for large/giant breeds. You can't buy it at the grocery, walmart or petsmart etc. It is THE CHOICE for show and performance breeders and competitors of large/giant breeds. To find a dealer, go here:
http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/
In a real fitness program (not going for walkies) he is going to need a high protein and high fat diet. That raw food diet is the most recent fad but it is not really used by high performance trainers and competitors.
2006-10-17 05:15:01 · answer #4 · answered by ann a 4 · 4⤊ 0⤋
For building muscle on my pitbull I used a high protein diet with plenty of exercise. This consisted of walking, running, swimming and weight training.
For weight training I also had the dog drag a tire around. But I didn't strap it to the dogs collar. Instead I pick up a harness to hook the tire up to. I also would put lenghts of heavy chain the the harness when the dog went for walks. This way it gave a little more resistance on a heavy workout day. I also used the weighted collar to develop the neck & shoulder muscles.
One other thing used was a springpole. But I don't think Shephard are really into them. But that consisted of a garage door spring hanging from a tree with a rope attached to the bootom of the spring. The dog loves playing with it. The dog would jump up and grab the rope tugging away on it.
These excercises were just to keep my dog happy & healthy. It has been something I've been doing for over 20 years of owning pitbulls. 20 years of great freindly family dogs.
2006-10-17 05:55:57 · answer #5 · answered by acidcrap 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Some people view this as mean. But with our rottie we used to attached free round bench press weighs either around his neck like on a chain and or rig up something tha he can drag behind him and then we would throw a tennis ball down the yard and he would drag the weighs and build an insane amt. of muscle. We did it once then let him rest for a minute or 2. Then we did this about 5-6 times a day
Our Rottie was one of the biggest the vet has seen, he said. He was about 155 lbs and just a beast. There is also special food with more nutrients and such you can give them but we fed him alot of veggies and fruit and it helped him bulk up. We did not fee him any meat products cause its too hard for the dogs to digest and it doesnt break down the same way it does inour stomachs.
2006-10-17 05:34:33 · answer #6 · answered by Kit 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You can do all these things...that the others told, except for the nuts.
You can make him faster and stronger and thicker... making him bigger (taller/longer) may not happen. Dogs tend to develop as the gene pool has in the past...
Short of some intervention affecting growth (hormone)... aint going to happen.
Mine however is 115# and nearly 5 ft long on all fours.
You can import one from a czech breeder... darn they grow them big there. But they run about 1000-1500 each plus shipping. yes in the czech republic...lol
My dog is very lean at that weight, I'm sure he will be huge once he fills in... as he gets older. He's 4 now.
2006-10-17 06:59:04 · answer #7 · answered by westfield47130 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I used to own a German Shepherd - I cant say I* was overly concerned about her muscle tone - however I have also owned an Irish Wolf Hound that I showed and I wanted him to have a better mucle tone so I took him to a pool especially for dogs - my only problem I came up with in doing this was that my dog used to swim with his front legs only and let the back end drag behind him so he was building up too much in the front but not evenly in the back end so you would need to watch for this - swimming I found though is a good way to build buscle tone.. I also fed him Eukanuba (a brand of dog food in Australia - a 20kg bag cost around $80 so its not cheap but very good for the dogs.I also added an egg to his food and calcium powder to his food each day (the egg for his coat and the calcium because he was a giant breed and they need this to help their bones grow strong) and walked him twice per day and let him run in the park each day.
2006-10-17 05:50:11 · answer #8 · answered by ♥Kazz♥ 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Feed a quality dog food. Look up Innova EVO, Wellness, Canidae and Artemis.
After that is conditioning training. Just like with people, a good diet and training make a good athlete. You have to pick an activity and train for it. Look up Agility, Flyball, some cities have Search and Rescue, German Shepards excell at that. Some cities also have herding competitions. Look them up.
Good luck
2006-10-17 05:08:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
exercise not just him.. get you involved, dont tie a tire or a brick to him and let him drag it around for a few hours some would consider that cruelty. But what you can do is get him involved in a pulling sport, sled dogs beef up real good. I know you may not have snow, find or make a sled with wheels. Make it a fun and rewarding event for the both of you.. your dog will respond better if he thinks you like it and he is pleasing you as well.
2006-10-17 05:14:17 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋