Sometimes this indicates that you are not good at diet management for your dog. This gives an indication that your German Shepherd is being over fed. He/She is trying hide the extra amount of food for the future use. It is hence important for you to understand the right quantity of food for your dog. Some dogs eat up everything even though they are given extra, while a few refuses to eat, and some of them are smart enough to hide their favorite part of the extra food so that then can have them later.
However, there may be other reasons to this behavior as well. Some dogs tend to eat at their own choice of time. Many dogs have been noticed to hide their food to be eaten whenever they would prefer, and not on the schedule you want to set for their meal.
Diet management for your dog doesn’t just involve planning the food components, but also includes planning the feeding time and food quantity. Failing to set time/ schedule for feeding your dog and managing quantity will eventually create lot of mess, and end up with health issues.
Managing the food quantity
Over feeding your German Shepherds, as for any other breed, may turn out to be quiet detrimental. Most overfed dogs tend to develop irreversible anatomic problem. Digestive and hepatic problem are also quite common in dogs that are overfed. Quantity management for your dog’s diet should be based on the science of giving your dog correct amount of food that provides right kind of nutrition. Whether you give your GSD raw whole foods or you want to keep him on homemade diet, it is important that your dog should finish it within 15 – 20 minutes of serving it. Take off the amount left and do not force your dog to eat or allow him to take her favorite meat piece to hide it for future use.
However, gulpers will finish off even the extra food within a few minutes of serving it. It is important to understand how much should your dog be fed at her age.
Manipulating your dog’s hunger
Set your dog’s biological clock according to your will without jeopardizing her health. The moment you bring your German Shepherd puppy home, it is important that you set the meal times, play times, and repose times. These are all part of basic training. It is easy to teach your dog when to expect her meal. Fixing a specific time for her diet will help teach your dog not to hide part of his food to be eaten on his own schedule. She should know her time for meal. All you need to do is to be consistent about your dog’s feeding time. If you offer food to your puppy at a fixed time, her biological clock will be set on that particular time for the meal. This is how you can manipulate your dog’s hunger – you already knew this.
Managing the food ingredients finally
Most owners prefer chicken heavy diet because they think breeds like GSD, Rotties, Mastiffs dobs etc. require very high protein. BIG NO. Meat heavy diets cannot be considered as balanced diet. Give your dogs some green as well, like spinach, carrots, pumpkin, bottle gourd, parsley, green papaya, ladyfingers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. and also fruits apple, banana, ripen papaya, cantaloupe (in small quantity), mango (in small quantity). It is a misconception that dogs are carnivorous animals. They are rather omnivorous, like us humans. A more related read could be found here: German Shepherd Food
Few Things You Probably Don’t Know About German Shepherds
Here are some very rare facts about the breed that most owners would love to know. I bet that you were not aware of some of these facts. Read on and enjoy…
First GSD registered in the US: The first German Shepherds that was registered in the US was the "Queen of Switzerland" – beautiful female whose offspring sadly suffered from anatomical problems due to unplanned breeding…. Read More…
Fact about Rin-Tin-Tin: Rin-Tin-Tin (September 1918 – August 10, 1932) came into had America with the an American soldier, Lee Duncan. Duncan discovered Rinty (as he was lovingly called by his owner) in the debris of a bombed German dog kennel, while returning back from the battlefield.
Death of Rin-Tin-Tin: Rinty died on August 10, 1932 when he was 14 years old. He expired in Los Angeles in the arms of Jean Harlow Carpenter - American movie actress. After his death Rinty was taken to his birth land - Lorraine, France for his burial in the Cimetière des Chiens, the famous pet cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine.
German Shepherds in the World War II: After the WWI, GSD had a myriad contribution in WWII. A huge number of German Shepherds were effective trained to work for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. GSD did a commendable job in the war…. Read More…
“Long Straight Topcoat with Undercoat” is considered as a distinctive variety in the GSD breed standard: The resolution of 2008 -2009 Federal Assembly, the SV filed a motion with the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) for considering the coat type “Long Straight Topcoat with Undercoat” as a distinctive variety of the breed. The motion was approved… Read More…
Loudest dog in the world: A white GSD – Daz has been crowned as the loudest dog in the world. Daz is the Guinness World Record holder… Read More…
Beyond all doubts... there's nothing more important than immunization and diet during the growing phase of your puppy. The two most important things regarding this that should be kept in the forefront of your mind are:
a) The puppy's diet should be nutritionally beneficial having all components to promote growth
b) The puppy's diet should be in correct quantity based on age
Your German Shepherd puppy should get a balanced diet. Any highly reputed commercial dog food brand that "meets the nutritional requirements of puppies established by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)" is recommended. Your vet should be the best person to give you a proper guidance about the brand of dog food for your puppy. Remember that all dog food brands that are hugely advertised may not be good for dogs. There's nothing like home made foods if they are prepared keeping in mind your puppy's nutritional requirements.
Whether or not you are using a commercial food but here are certain foods that you should consider giving your GSD pup...
Chicken neck: Properly cooked chicken neck is highly beneficial for your puppy because chicken neck is rich in natural calcium. There is no risk developing splinter with chicken neck. Moreover, necks are easy to digest for your dogs.
Pure Chicken: Apart from just neck, pure chicken meal is very rich in vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrate, fat and protein and production of RBC and strengthens the immune system.
Chicken gizzards and hearts: Both chicken gizzards and hearts are rich source of natural zinc which helps in strengthening the ligaments. Apart from zinc these are are rich sources of iron, which is one of the most essential components for puppies during its growing phase. Both heart and gizzard provide all B vitamins - especially vitamin B12. Heart and gizzard are also very decent source of riboflavin, folate and pantothenic. Chicken hearts are good for your dog's heart too.
Chicken liver: Chicken live is a nutrient-rich organ that is rich in vitamin A, vitamin B, protein and essential minerals like phosphorus, zinc, iron, niacin and copper. Liver is a decent source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and amino acids that are essential for your growing GSD puppy. Feeding too much of liver may lead to constipation. Give your pup small quantity of it daily or moderate quantity for at least 4 days a week, giving gaps in between.
Give him green: I have purposefully and consciously used this phrase "give him green" in many of my articles across the web. Remember that puppies that are kept only on meat and egg do not get balanced diet. Vegetables like asparagus, broccoli florets, brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, edamame, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, green papaya, gourd, spinach.
Here is why these veggies are important for your growing GSD:
Do you have more than one German Shepherds? Great, if you have! And I hope you know all rules of keeping multiple dogs - especially large breeds GSD, Rotties, Danes and Dobs. If you already know and if you are an experienced dog owner having several dogs, I am sure you will still like to read this post. This post is going to talk about something that probably many of the professional trainers and canine behaviorists do not tell you while giving you advices. Here is why you should NOT kennel all you dogs together even though they are highly obedience trained.
Yes... it is suggested not keeping all your dogs (irrespective of breeds, types, groups and size) together as a group in a single unit. Once your German Shepherd puppies reach an age of approximately 70 days you should consider kenneling them in separate suites. As several German Shepherd puppies grow together under one roof they will eventually develop a very strong pack. Since pack instinct is already genetically ingrained in dogs the instincts gets strengthened as they live and grow together in a single suite. Once your group of shepherds starts developing the pack they will also have a pack leader - the "Alfa Member" of the pack, who is usually the dominating specimen of the group. Eventually he/she (pack leader) will develop dominance problem.
Moreover the pack, as a whole, will gradually turn out to be more and more territorial. The entire pack will consider the whole area where all of them together or any member of the pack roam about as their territory. This means their territory widens up. Not only this, the pack's prey instinct will also be strengthened, which in turn stimulate the whole pack to exhibit attacking tendencies within their territory that is already wide.
Pack problems, at times, turns a simple undesirable behavior to a serious intra-pack aggression which can end up with an irreparable loss. Most types of group bad manners is often a start to aggression, which cannot be handled easily - especially when its a pack of large breed dogs German Shepherd, rottweilers, Dobermans etc.
Exception: There is obviously ONE exception to this norm. Opposite genders can be kept together in a single suite. And this is the only one single exception! Particularly for Bullmastiffs two males or two females should NEVER be left together unsupervised.
Summer is a season that puts wrinkles in the forehead of German Shepherd Dog owners. Many GSD owners – especially the new comers tend to clip/ trim their dogs’ coat, thinking that trimming would make their dogs’ life comparatively comfortable in an extreme environment where the outside temperature is much higher the body temperature.
Fact is that you should NOT trim your dog’s coat in the hot weather season. The body temperature is radiated out via panting, not through the skin, unlike humans. For human the sweat is evaporated on the skin surface, and the process acts as a cooling mechanism. But for your dog, evaporation doesn’t happen on surface of its skin, and air circulation, hence, is not much important on the skin surface. Trimming or clipping hair is not necessary.
Remember a trimmed German Shepherd faces tougher times during summer than its untrimmed counterpart. Coat acts as an effective insulator against environmental heat. If the environmental temperature is warmer than the body, then the body gets heated up faster if the insulation is removed.
German Shepherds, like any other canine breed, have thinner layer of coat in their inguinal region. Whenever they have to cool down they would lay on cooler surfaces with the region exposed to the surface. This way they would help themselves to radiate off their body temperature.
So, it is recommended not clipping your shepherd’s coat during the summer. Keep him in a cooler place inside that is airy. Natural thermoregulation through panting allows a dog to drop his body temperature. However, brachycephalic dog breeds (breeds with broad, short head like Boxers, Pugs, Bull Dog, Boston Terriers, Shar Pei, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel etc.) do not pant effectively. This, consequently, leads to insufficient thermoregulation, which over heating during the hot summer days.
Mesaticephalic or Mesocephalic dog breeds (breed that have intermediate length and width of head such as German Shepherd Dogs, Dalmatian, Cocker Spaniel, English Foxhound, English Springer Spaniel, Field Spaniel, Labrador, Komodor etc.) can thermoregulate through panting better than the brachycephalic dog breeds. Hence they have comparatively lesser chance to get overheated during summer.
On the other hand the dolichocephalic dog breeds (breeds that have long slender head like Afghan Hound, Great Dane, African Azawakh, Borzoi, Chart Polski, Galgo Español, Greyhound, Hortaya Borzaya, Irish Wolfhound, Italian Greyhound) are least prone of get overheated during the summer, because they pant most effectively.
However, whatever type of breed you own, it is important to keep your dog in cool place, with making fresh water readily available. And it is one worst idea to trim GSD’s hair in the summer.
© Our Blogger Template for Aringsburg's German Shepherd Dogs
Back to TOP
