dobe lover

Hello any one else in love with this breed? I have a 10 month old female, black, she is 70.lbs. and still on the thin side for my liking. She gets fed twice a day lots of snacks and home made soft food. Any other suggestion on bulking her up a bit more?

[yoyopoodle]

I really like Dobies, but haven't owned one

At her age it's better to keep her on the skinny side - she won't be fully mature until around 18-24 months old, so keeping her light will put less stress on her growing joints and bones. At 10 months a large breed dog should look like a lean, lanky, gangly teenager

An ideal weight means when you run your hand down her side you can feel each rib, but your fingers don't fall into a groove between them. 70 lbs sounds like a lot more than a young female Dobe needs - how tall is she? If she has really thick bones than her adult weight should be around there, but don't worry about it until she is older.

If she really should be gaining more weight mac and cheese usually help, as do 'satin balls' - a google search will find a recipe. The weight gained will be 'fat', unless she gets the exercise it takes to turn it to muscle.

For a moderately built dog (any breed) 25" at the withers/shoulder usually is healthy at around 50 lbs. My Charlie is 24.5" and I've been keeping him around 47-49 lbs, though he'd proably look really good around 54 lbs. He's an active, athletic working dog who is better off staying skinny. My previous dog was 28" and I kept him around 60-65 lbs, but he had thin bones (genetics plus neutered early).


I'm not a vet, and no one can make a diagnoses over the internet - I'm just suggesting points for you to look into if interested...

[storm22]

i like dobes my uncle had a chocolate dobe and she was soo gorgeous

[milissa]

ME! ME! I cannot get enough of DOBE'S!
My first Doberman is my Service Dog, Book. He's traditional black and tan, but he's 3 years old and finally keeping weight on! He still has to wear sweaters and coats in the winter, since he gets cold very easily and shivers all that weight off again!

When I was having so much trouble with his weight, my vet told me just to start feeding him lunch as well as his am and pm feeds-- nothing fancy, just more of his normal food. That plus all the training treats, running beside my bike, and about 18 months later, he's evened off at 70lbs (he's very narrow). I don't give him lunch anymore, but of course he still gets training treats with learning new behaviors.

Be careful with home-made diets, though. You could be denying her some obscure vitamin or mineral-- that could make her skinny. Make sure your vet knows you make her food, and she'll probably recommend a supplement for her.
Hope this helped!

[CollieMan]

When Ellie is around eighteen months, we'll be looking to get a second dog. A Doberman is quite high on my list of potential candidates.

[night watch]

Ever since the day I got Guinevere I've never been able to imagine life w/ out a Dobe! She is brilliant, eager to learn, EXREMELY LOVING ever watchful of my every move and thats all from day one! I want the whole world to see the breed through my eyes not the picture the media has painted. We need more Dobe owners to shape the publics perception through responsible training and love, oh and lots of youtube videos might help lol!

[luvmydobe]

One of my favorite YouTube videos is "Cat vs Sleeping Doberman".
The cat looks like mine. I want a red Dobe thats as tolerate and precious as the one in the video.

[luvmydobe]

How do you teach jumprope?