>>how is everyone,
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>> i have a one yr old pup and he is the hardest gainer i have ever seen. the vet and everyone tells me he is big but what do they know. lol. he will just not put on weight for me. i have a 1.5 yr old english bulldog that weighs 78 pounds already and they eat out of the same pig troff (sp). anyways he weighs around 65 pounds but just does not look it. any suggestions to fill him out a tad.
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At a year of age, he is not finished building bone or adding muscle bulk. Exercise that combines both the mental and the physical along with a diet high in protein and moderately high in fat should help. Mindless physical exercise and high carb eating both encourage a dog to just run off pounds without building the body. He should be in training class at this age and practicing the class homework with you in a variety of settings every day.
Dogs mature at different rates, and dogs who grow too fast can suffer for it later. A year is only maybe half grown for a dog this size.
Also have fecal checks done, at least 2 or 3, 2 to 3 weeks apart, to see if he's carrying hookworms or whipworms or coccidia or giardia. Watch his stools when freshly dropped to see if there are tapeworm segments in them. Those don't show up on fecal checks from the vet--you have to spot them yourself, usually.
And it never hurts to have a basic blood overview test done. That checks his liver and kidney functions and several other values. If all is well, it will give you a baseline to refer to throughout his life. If there's a problem, such as maybe pancreatic insufficiency or something else, it may be curable or manageable with the right diet and/or medication. Best to know. No reason for your vet to balk at doing this test. It's no big deal and is routine (though not always done) prior to spay/neuter surgery.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47