What's your GSP weigh?

C

chewi004

New member
I was on a hunt this weekend with some guys who have some older male GSPs. In my opinion, they looked a little thin. I asked them about it and they said they each weighed between 50 - 53 pounds. I just compared that to my dog who is a 14 month old female who also weighs about 50 pounds.

If you read the report of my hunt, you will see that my pup hunted hard the entire day, and even swam some laps in the pond on her breaks. She came home and wanted to play more before going to bed as well. One of the older dogs was laying down about 45 min into the hunt. I understand she is a pup and full of energy (i get that), but is 7 years old enough to start seeing a decline in performance? That just doesn't seem too terribly old for a dog to me.

In you shorthair pointer guys opinions, is my dog a little heavy or theirs a little thin?
 
How tall is he?

Much of it has to do with their conditioning. I have an 8 year old male GSP who is in great condition for his age, but I have noticed that he has lost a step in the last year. It's Suttle but you can tell. I have an 11 month old that is a pocket rocket. He's maybe 46 pounds soaking wet, but has a serious set of wheels. He has more stamina than the 8 year old, which is understandable.
 
birdshooter said:
How tall is he?

Much of it has to do with their conditioning. I have an 8 year old male GSP who is in great condition for his age, but I have noticed that he has lost a step in the last year. It's Suttle but you can tell. I have an 11 month old that is a pocket rocket. He's maybe 46 pounds soaking wet, but has a serious set of wheels. He has more stamina than the 8 year old, which is understandable.
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I will have to measure to see how tall she is. These other 2 older males were about the same height as her, maybe a little taller, but it couldn't have been by much. My 14 month is very much the pocket rocket you are explaining. She isn't necessarly super fast, she just doesn't quit. period. I can take her with me all day hunting/walking/working and when we get home she gets her toys and is ready to go. If my house dog (who is also a pup) is around the house, she will romp and play with him until he passes out then she still wants me...
 
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http://thepetwiki.com/wiki/German_Shorthaired_Pointer

GSP's range all over the place... I prefer smaller dogs and my female Brit was 36-ish lbs in her prime (hunted her a ton) and my female GSP is upper 40lb's. I have another coming in a month that I'm hoping she will be in the 40's as well. I wouldn't worry about weight to much but just being sure they get their calories and being sure they are conditioned enough for whatever you throw at them. I would certainly prefer having a pound or two extra on them if I had my way.... but mine never really did during the season. IMO the biggest thing is being sure you keep plenty of water on hand to keep them hydrated in the field (and some food of course as well).
I'm only on my 2nd hunting pooch so I can only speak for my two... my Brit seemed to slow down a tad around 7ish then really hit a wall at 9-10 years.
 
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Shawk said:
http://thepetwiki.com/wiki/German_Shorthaired_Pointer

GSP's range all over the place... I prefer smaller dogs and my female Brit was 36-ish lbs in her prime (hunted her a ton) and my female GSP is upper 40lb's. I have another coming in a month that I'm hoping she will be in the 40's as well. I wouldn't worry about weight to much but just being sure they get their calories and being sure they are conditioned enough for whatever you throw at them. I would certainly prefer having a pound or two extra on them if I had my way.... but mine never really did during the season. IMO the biggest thing is being sure you keep plenty of water on hand to keep them hydrated in the field (and some food of course as well).
I'm only on my 2nd hunting pooch so I can only speak for my two... my Brit seemed to slow down a tad around 7ish then really hit a wall at 9-10 years.
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Thanks for the info. I understand there isn't a particular weight the dog "must be" to be a good hunter, I was just curious as to what other ppls are. Thanks for sharing...
 
If she's 50 lbs she is within the breed standard for females which I believe may be 45-60 lbs. for females and 55-70 for males.

I doubt very much that my 11 mo. Old will make it much past 50 when he's filled out and that's perfectly fine by me.
 
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birdshooter said:
If she's 50 lbs she is within the breed standard for females which I believe may be 45-60 lbs. for females and 55-70 for males.

I doubt very much that my 11 mo. Old will make it much past 50 when he's filled out and that's perfectly fine by me.
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Yeah, some of the pics of the top notch dogs look like skin and bones to me as well... mine gets thin during the season but never like that. The "retired" breeder I'm getting my pup from takes a minimum of 5 dogs on his hunting trips and he's running dogs 8-9 hours a day. I always thought I hunted a lot until you talk to someone like this who runs dogs like that on a 6 week straight "hunting trip."
 
Whats your GSP weigh?

My GSP is a female and she weighs in at 45 lbs. in the off season but drops 4-5 lbs. during the season and looks skinny. I agree with other people that have posted that there are a couple of things that can effect performance (conditioning and age) I try to feed a real high grade performance feed during the hunting season because my dogs doesn't have much of an appetite when she is being hunted hard. It is also so important that the dog stays hydrated or that will slow them down especially in warmer weather. My GSP is 8 years old now and I only hunt her for a couple of hours at a time now and she is a little slower but she never seems to want to stop hunting. As a matter of fact she plays this little game where she gets birdy when we are on our way back and get close to the truck. She never wants to quit.
 
The one thing about a GSP (probably any sporting breed) is that as they age the body starts to let them down, but the heart is always there.
 
My eleven year old male is 70-75#. He has pretty much stayed at that weight since I got him at age three.
 
M. R. Byrd said:
My eleven year old male is 70-75#. He has pretty much stayed at that weight since I got him at age three.
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Would you post a picture of him?

That is the weight I am working towards for my chocolate lab. When my fiance moved in and brought her (its actually her down, but I call her mine now as well) she was around 86 lbs. She looked big...

My fiance insisted she was happy and that she looked fine. I talked her into putting her on a diet and I give her the proper exercise in the evenings with my Grace. I took her Saturday and she weighed in at 78 pounds :D. She acts much healthier, she runs more, and now she gets compliments on her weight from other owners. She is only a house dog though, no hunting....at least not yet!
 
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