Hi, could anyone give me advice on how to put some weight on one of my Shepherds. He is well in himself, never has an upset tum, plenty of energy etc. He is not losing weight but i have always struggled to put weight on him and you can easily feel his bones. He is wormed regularly too.
He is fed on fish4dogs and eats lots more than the guidelines suggest (about double the amount) yet still doesn't have any fat on his bones. Any suggestions please.?

How old is he ?

Arden Grange is said to be good for weight gain.

The Arden Grange Prestige helps keep weight on, but many GSD's have sensitive digestion and do well on the Lamb and Rice version.

What is his output like as sometimes if fed too much, food goes through them without being digested.

How many times a day is he fed?  Feeding his days intake over several meals may be better.

With GSD's I would avoid giving high fat extra for weight gain as Pancreatitis can result with too much fat, another issue not uncommon in the breed.

Hi, thanks for your replies. He is 3 yrs old, he is fed twice a day. He doesn't have a sensitive tum, his poos are normal and firm.
I should add that he had bloods taken last year to rule out any underlying problems with not absorbing his nutrients properly and they came back clear. I can feel his hip bones easily and to be honest if he were a short coat he would look horrendous, his thick coat makes him look bigger thank god.

will he actually eat any more.  It does seem to be that many GSD's are slimmer than the owners would like.  I'd give the prestige a try as it kept weight on my picky girl.

Yes he would eat more but i am worried about over feeding him and it just going straight through him , he is currently eating about 850g fish4dogs per day, this is about double the suggested amount (i know its just a guideline but double seems a lot). I will try the prestige, thanks.

You could try adding some fat and some pasta - both will add weight to a dog.  With my GSD I struggled with weight in her first couple of years and I actually put her back onto puppy food - fish4dogs is great food, but instead of more kibble you could give him some chicken wings, a dollop of lard and some cooked pasta, lamb (esp breast of lamb) is also good fatty food which would help.

How much exercise is the dog getting ?

I would avoid excessive fat in the diet due to the risk of Pancreatic problems later on. 

I would suggest increasing the food intake of a balnced diet, a bit at a time and monitoring output to ensure the food isn't just going straight through. 

If stools remain firm then good.

would just add that dogs don't really use carbs so they'll put weight on, their 'fuel' is fat so if he's active he'll burn up lots of fat and then use the carbs etc to add weight, so for me, look at the diet and up the fat, up the carbs and you should reach a good point where his weight stabilises.  As with anything you have to find the balance and each is different.  You may find most 'complete' foods are short on fat so it's advisable to add fat (generally because people including manufacturers assume that dogs digestions are like ours, but they're not) to balance diet better.

Hi our german sheperd would lose weight dramatically for no reason ,no-one could find a problem,the only thing that would put weight on him was chappie meat original,and vitalin,after 2 days he looked good after a week he was filled out lovely,now any dog i have that loses weight or needs building up i use these, hope this helps :)

I've had 2 skinny GSD's on Fat Boy food with good results. 1st dog (3 yr old short coat) so skinny you could see every rib. He also had the Suprelorin implant as he was humping another male which may also have helped his weight gain. The other dog (5 yr old longcoat) has also gained weight. I tried other foods but really think this one has made a difference.

My daughter had a GSD boy for nearly 13 years,
A neighbour called in the RSPCA because she said he was being starved.(they took 1 look and went)
He was a large leggy boy with a very large head .so he did look underweight,
All his life he never put any weight on no matter what he was fed,was as healthy as could be,never needed a vet visit until starting with CDRM at 11 years plus.
Just as with humans some put on weight some never do ,as long as he is healthy go with it !!

I've had 2 skinny GSD's on Fat Boy food with good results. 1st dog (3 yr old short coat) so skinny you could see every rib. He also had the Suprelorin implant as he was humping another male which may also have helped his weight gain. The other dog (5 yr old longcoat) has also gained weight. I tried other foods but really think this one has made a difference. Appears to be easily digested, no tummy upsets.