Loki recently had an appointment to have his nails trimmed (he's really wiggly so I can't quite manage clipping at home, plus his nails are thick and black making the quick difficult to work with) The vet said that because he's always being walked on pavement, especially long distances, it's been acting a natural nail file and that there was no immediate need for a trimming. I was surprised to hear this but she explained that none of his nails were touching the ground. His last trim was October! I figured while I was at the office, I'd weigh him to see how much he has improved since an intestinal issue he had suffered for a few weeks in early fall.
Upon first adopting him April (he'd been at the sanctuary for 4 months): 72lbs Age 2.5
July Weight: 74lbs
October Weight: 76lbs Age 3
February weight: 84lbs
Now, I imagine some of this increase is his winter weight, because he walks are shorter in extremely cold weather. Also, because of his intestinal issues we switched his food from Hills Science Diet Advanced Fitness to Orijen Regional Red which is 75% protein, 25% fruit/vegetable (this was in late September). The weight gain is could be because of the amount of protein in his diet. In order to keep him at a healthy doberman weight (as opposed to his husky side, he's built more like a doberman than husky) we will likely be switching him to another line of Orijen, something that's has less calories and is more for healthy maintenance. He only gets 3 cups of food a day, at breakfast. Dr. Vet told us that he is now at his top weight bracket for dobermans and to be careful because huskies are prone to obesity. He gets about 8km-11kms of walks per day. Unfortunately, because he's a bit of a flight risk we don't have very many places fenced in places for him to run off leash in the city that arent dog parks. We do our best with his 30ft lunge line....he runs circles on that thing.
We have now gone through every season with him. It's been such a pleasure to see him so healthy, enjoying the snow, as with many other dogs, it's a youthful experience, I notice dogs are at their happiest while bounding around in the white stuff. Snow play is almost better than splash play, bringing them back into canine puppyhood with one little step into fresh powder. Below are some pictures of some recent adventures.