It doesn't seem two minutes since she was a tiny wriggly pup. Look at her now! So people tell me she has really long legs and is going to be really tall. Others say you can tell by her growth plates, Winnie's parents are both tall and slim ( both working line). Can you really predict? She definitely has the working line characteristics I'm often asked if she's a full lab as she's not your atypical chunking lab pup. Any thoughts on how big she might be? I know that's a how longs a piece of string question!
What a beautiful girl - change the colour and sex and it could be my Bailey! We say he's like Bambi on ice!
I'm not that experienced, but I know from our boy, it wasn't till he was two years old, and even possibly 2.5, that he finally looked like a chunky Lab. He was very gangly at 10 months and then started to get broader. We'd often look at older Labs and wonder if that was what our boy would look like. Sure enough, he became one! As for predicting how tall -- I'll leave that to the experts. Although I believe they keep growing tall till 10 months, then keep growing broader/wider particularly around the shoulders till about 2 years. As for genes, if you've seen her parents, then you should have a pretty good idea how she'll look as an adult.
I don't think bitches grow as tall as dogs! I have tall, working Black Labs and was asked a few days ago if one of mine was purebred He does have rather a long tail which he holds higher than most Labs. I don't really think you can predict how tall she will get, but will most likely be like her parents. She is lovely and at the gangly age
I have one bitch and one dog from the same litter, and they are the same height, which is slightly taller than their parents. They are both very slim, but have bulked out in the last year; Shadow (boy) has lots of visible muscle. Willow carries slightly more body fat, being female, so her muscles, despite being solid, aren't as well defined, but I'm happy to say her chest has broadened a bit recently, because I always thought she was a bit too narrow at the front. She also has that pointy bit that you can see on Winnie's head! I call her "cone head" It's funny, but they really don't look much like their parents at all!
We found that our Labs spent about the first 9 months gaining height, then they bulked up with muscle for the next 6-9 months. In general working Labs seem to be smaller and lighter than show Labs, which makes sense as its easier for a small Lab to get into cover to retrieve a bird. We've had both types and have gone back to working Labs with Holly. We've always had bitches but have noticed that dogs seem to be bigger than bitches.
I do know some working Labs that are small but most of the ones I train with are much taller, and much heavier, than show line Charlie - even the bitches are often heavier than Charlie. Charlie is a smidge over 22 inches, and 28kgs. He is on breed standard. He is also much smaller and much lighter than the average pet bred Labrador, that just seem massive these days! Betsy is also heading for breed standard. I took her to a vet in Cornwall who said 'she is going to be a very small Labrador, you know'. Huh. Only compared to what he is used to seeing! Although there is a long way to go before I know how she'll turn out.
I get that comment a lot, even more when Kona was younger (will be 1 in 3 days ). She is about 52-53 cm, and 27 kg. And she really is a lot smaller than most of the labs we meet, mostly male over 40 kg, but she is on the breed standard.
That's interesting as we've tended to see barrel chested show Labs and relatively slender working Labs. Holly and Tammy were working, and settled around 26-27 kg, which was about the size of their dams. Cocoa Was very much a show Lab, very muscular, and about 30kg. Her dam was slightly bigger, and the sire was like a chocolate coloured pony!
Yes, for sure, Charlie's rib cage is a lot more rounded than the average working line dog, and he is very muscular although has a thicker coat on his chest in particular so his muscles don't quite stand out like on some working line dogs with thiner coats. Someone last week said he looked like 'a right bruiser' and that's true, he is a strong, solid dog. But this doesn't translate to heft in terms of kgs. Rachael's Obi, also on breed standard height wise, is about 27.5kgs. Only a smidge heavier than Holly....and he's a boy (obviously!).
Well I have been asked if Bramble is part greyhound, she as racing around like a loony at the time mind,.personally I think she has giraffe DNA. She is taller than both my boys who are spot on breed standard. Benson also looks like a bruiser, he has thick coarse fur, and although he is very well muscled, at nearly 3 he looks quite stocky now
I get this question also, if Millie is a lab mix.. A lot. And for the most part people don't believe me and I mean I live in the us where the working line is dominating over the show one. My girl is now 7 months old and weight 48lbs (21.7 kg). I love black labs, so beautiful but one day I want another yellow one, and a chocolate one... Boy I'm gonna be the crazy dog lady.
I'm asked all the time is she's a pure lab, l guess with so many cross breeds these days you never quite know. This pic shows you how skinny she is! Bless my old girl Maddie, she looks enormous next to her! Although she has just lost over 7kg since coming off steroids and is nearly back to fighting weight
She looks just like my Tuppence, who is working line. Tuppence is shorter than Wispa (more show line) at the shoulders, but her neck is longer so her head can reach higher than Wispa's! She still manages to look a bit skinny, even though I feed them the same amount.
As I understand it, the difference in height between an entire and neutered dog is titchy - it's barely noticeable. It's certainly not enough to account for Field Trial Labs the height of ponies. More like, those long legs allow them to stride over low cover at speed (they have support Spaniels to search the cover ), make them altogether faster (with a lighter structure compared to their height and overall weight), and better jumpers - and that's been deliberately bred as characteristics.
Cooper is a really tall girl. She was very small (5.5#) at 7 weeks but she grew like a weed. She was a really leggy pup. At 16 months, she is 24+" at the shoulders and even taller in the rear. Her head is higher than a typical dining table so she always knows what is up there. She also weighs 85lbs, so she is not super skinny, but certainly not overweight.
