Axel is 11 months old now. My little sausage is growing up! But after taking a few side pictures of him I wanted to ask for opinions. Does his back end look taller than his front still or is it just me? I figured by 11 months old he would be levelled out by now. I had to take him off puppy food this past week due to a possible allergy or intolerance. So now I'm a bit worried that he needs to go back on puppy food if he is not done growing. Thoughts??
He definitely looks bum-high, yes. It's possible he hasn't stopped growing at 11 months. If he didn't get on with the puppy food he was on, he could always go onto another one. Or a "junior" food. It could also be that that's his finished shape
Possibly, but in this pic it looks as if he's standing slightly skewed, his front feet are lower than his hind feet and this would give the appearance of his bum being higher. Anyway, he looks gorgeous to me and Molly agrees
Great looking dog. He looks a lot like Cooper. She is about 25" at the butt, and 24+ at the shoulders. We wondered if a Chesapeake Bay Retriever had sneaked into her line some where. Cooper normally sits with her back feet sticking out, instead of tucked under her. She only sits "properly" when you have her sit. On her own she kind of sprawls out.
My Labs were well off puppy food at that age, not nearly five and ten years old and fine. Axel's back end does look higher, but I found that my dogs grew bits at a time, didn't gentle grow all over in unison Everything seems to catch up eventually and they look perfect.
he's lovely. He has a nice shine and beautiful ears. His bum looks higher, but he's standing on an angle which might be exaggerating it. How ever he ends up, it'll be perfect. Do you know what age your puppy food actually recommends switching to adult?
I'm also torn about the puppy food issue - Quinn will be 1 next week and we decided to keep her on large breed puppy food until at least 13 months, but likely longer based on our food's recommendation. We started transitioning her to a new puppy food to help with her allergies, but it didn't go well so we are just going to stick with her original food until we make the switch to adult food. Her back end is slightly higher than her front, but she is fairly petite and hasn't gained much weight in the past couple of months so we think that is her build.
Yeah maybe it is the angle, I did try taking several photos and they all looked similar. I'll try tonight to get a better picture and post it on here. I'm not sure what Acana says for switching puppy over to adult food. I tried looking it up and eventually just asked the pet store and they said wait until 12 months old.
I was nervous to switch to a different puppy food because of tummy issues not to mention all puppy foods tend to be made with chicken which is what I think he is allergic too. My thing was trying to decide if staying on puppy food was worth the scratching and licking and bumps around the eyes. If Quinn's allergy reactions aren't as bad than maybe keep her on it for one more bag? Thanks everyone for the replies. I had assumed he was done growing as Axel hasn't gained much weight in the last couple months. In fact he's stayed the same while thinning out a bit (feel his ribs with no pressure as opposed to slight pressure from before) maybe I need to up his food intake a bit. We have started walking him more. Also noticed that with puppy food he seemed satisfied when he was finished eating. But on this adult food he's looking at us like "ok, thanks for the appetizer but where is my main course?" He even walks to the room where we store his food and walks back and fourth to his dish. So I wonder if he needs more quantity from the adult food. I'm feeding what the bag says for his weight, but if he is in fact not done growing then maybe he needs more. OR maybe his Labrador traits are coming through and would eat until he blew up no matter what. I only find it strange because on puppy food he was content and walked away and napped. Now he's restless
Funny you mention acting more hungry - Quinn only recently started acting like this too and I'm not sure if she's maybe hitting a last growth spurt. Or maybe the cold weather increases dog appetites like it does mine Her walks have been consistent for awhile now and gets kongs and treats the same as usual. We have had Quinn on Fromm Gold Large Breed puppy and tried moving her to Fromm Heartland Gold Large breed puppy which is grain free, but does not contain chicken (one of the few puppy foods I can find without any chicken products) but her tummy did not react well - I read that going grain free can be a tough transition but it's also possible that she ate something weird and it coincided with the change. We aren't sure if her allergies are seasonal (very itchy, rashy skin with hair loss on tummy, chest and hind legs) or food related and likely won't know until she goes through another Fall either way.
Maybe it is the cold weather? The weather has definitely shifted where we are at. Although if it is a growth spurt maybe worth feeding a bit extra. That's what I have decided I will be doing. An extra half a cup a day and see how that goes. I noticed I could feel axels hip bones rather easily yesterday, don't think that is normal Good luck figuring out her allergies! It's so daunting trying to nail it down
@Kelsey&Axel He looks so much like my little Duncan who is about the same age (10.5 months ish) -- we were wondering about when to change over to adult food too and my vet said we could change over anytime now - between 10 months to a year when we asked - he hasn't gained weight in awhile either, but I think they will still grow until they are 18 months to a year ish (what I have heard from other owners) but it will be much much slower - we decided to start switching him over to the adult version of his food this week and it has been going well! he has always continued to act hungry after finishing his meals though! haha I think it is just because he is a lab and he loves food! but if you can feel the hip bones and ribs easily up it by half a cup and keep experimenting until you think you have found the right amount to feed! every dog is different! my vet said to look at the feeding guide on the back of the bag but then adjust according to your own pup and how he looks - when he was really little like 2-4 months he was on the way smaller side so we upped his food but then once he filled out we kept experimenting until we think we found the right amount - can feel his ribs with a little pressure but you cannot see his ribs or any bones and his stomach doesnt bulge out on either side if you are standing over him / he doesn't look too "filled out" we will have to figure out how much to feed of the new adult food as well! it is a constant adjustment as they grow up!
@Kelsey&Axel I can't find many pictures of him standing up in a position like yours, these were the closest ones I could find, but I will try and get him to stand still while I take one tonight likes yours! but Duncan looks very similar body shape to yours at around same age, so I think they will continue to grow a bit but from my understanding it just happens a lot lot slower not like the rapid growth when they were 8 weeks to 6-8 months old -- and instead happens very gradually and stops at diff ages for each individual dog and my vet said we could switch him over to adult food now or wait until a year or just after a year or whatever we felt we wanted to do at this point since he will be 11 months soon, so almost a year old! wow how time flies! but anyways we did start switching him this week since it was time to buy a new 30/35lb bag of food that lasts a little over a month and we decided lets switch him now before it is the holidays and he is with his caretaker over the holidays so in case there were any tummy problems switching over gradually we didn't want her to have to deal with it soooo we just started switching him this week! he is doing well with the switch!
Thanks for the info! I ended up upping his food by half a cup and his hip bones aren't seen or super easily felt anymore. Can still feel them with slight pressure. Same with his ribs. With Axel I have always had to feed much more than the bag says or else he was all bones. I tried a couple times after being on the forum and lots of people saying they feed much less than the bag suggests. The vet didn't like how thin he was so I went back to how I was feeding before. But with Odie, my Pomeranian. I have to feed a quarter of the amount the bag says or else he piles on the weight. He's not active though like Axel so I'm sure that contributes. So like you said, every dog is different! Axel is still so lankey!! Although I went looking back at photos, he has filled out a bit! Lovely photos, they do seem to have similar builds how tall is Duncan and how much does he weigh?
I am actually not quite sure how tall he is right now - I should measure today! - and he is on the smaller side than what his parents were - his mom was 65ish lbs and his dad was almost 100 and a very muscular big boy and the vet originally said she thought by his paws and such he would be about 80 or 80 something and he has stalled for the past couple months right at 60 and hasn't gained really since hitting 60 He may still gain - not sure - but another reason he may have not gotten as big as they thought he would be is the amount of digestive issues / other sicknesses he had as a pup and antibiotics he was on etc. since he had so many digestive/diarrhea issues for awhile as a tiny pup he may have missed out on some of the putting on weight! How about yours?!
Aw sorry to hear about the digestive issues. I'm currently going through that with Odie. No fun seeing them sick! Hehe mine was the opposite. Axel was the runt of the litter. The Mom was 65 pounds and the dad 100 ish. Axel had very little paws and small build that the vet didn't think he would make it over 65 pounds. He thought 60-65. A few weeks after we had him all the sudden his paws grew haha. Now he's 92 pounds at the moment and 67cms at the withers.
Awww! The runt ended up being a big boy! I wouldn't have minded if Duncan ended up on the larger side - I don't mind either way! but seeing as though he thinks he is a lap dog and loves to climb up in our laps nonstop and sit on our laps... I guess I am glad he is only 60 lbs right now! haha I just tried to measure him a few times and each time it came out around 20-22 inches at the withers - so about 53-55ish cms at the withers!
Bramble is also 11 months old. She will be a year old mid December. She is a tall, lanky girl, who for some time had a distinct high butt compared to her front. She is just starting to fill out now. I did drop her feed down a little last week, and within two days she seemed thinner, I was quite shocked at that, so I am assuming she has more growing to do (she is 33.4kgs but looks light) Her hips are just a shade higher than her withers, hardly noticeable, but she does looks far more in proportion now.I am not so bothered about her food, as long as her weight/health is good. I am more concerned about her exercise levels and not overdoing it tbh, would rather her energy went into growing than racing around
