My puppy is currently 34 weeks old and she weighs 30 kg. Everybody keeps saying that'd fat for her age and too big, though her body looks just perfect - I can feel her ribs through a thin sheet of fat, she has her tummy tucked and so is her waist. Is that too much for a 8 month old lab?
Hi , I much prefer to go by the looks than the weight ! If you can easily feel ribs , and see that waistline , then don't worry ! All Labs vary so much , my own is adult , 6 years old and 40 kilos but he is not fat, far from it , he is just a big lad with big bones and tall too . Others are far more dainty , and weighing a heck of a lot less, but that's fine . A healthy dog with no excess fat, is just fine !
She's also on her period currently, so maybe that's why she weighed a couple extra - but the looks are, like I said, perfect when I look at her. Just checked again and she still has that definitive waist tuck in.
Hi @Halokrauser. As Kate said, it's very difficult to say without seeing your dog. 30kg at 8 months would be very heavy for some puppies. My two adult dogs don't weigh that (around 23 and 24 kg). However, I bet my 8 month puppy is pushing towards that, and she is pretty slim. Currently on a bit of a diet (shhh, don't tell her!), but still slim compared to most dogs of her build. I must go get her weighed this week. To be honest, I don't care what the number is, because it's irrelevant. What I care about is how my dogs look and feel. I struggle with my puppy because she's show bred, compared to my other two who are field bred, so is a completely different shape. Her back is far broader, which means she looks bigger from above. And she has a round bottom, whereas the other two are all angles and pointy bits. She has a proper Labrador coat which is infinitely thicker than that of the other two. Ten I look at her from the side and see how slim she really is. I like to keep my dogs lean (by which, I mean I can see the last couple of ribs) but my criteria with her have to be different, because if I could see on her, with her thick coat, what I can see on them, she would be very underweight. I think you have to take a judgement, be as critical as you can be, put your hands on your dog and honestly answer, "can I feel each individual rib without applying pressure".
My puppy is showbred too, her parents are showline champions and her father is quite a heavy dog, too - so I'd assume that's why she's heavy too. I can feel each rib and can glide my fingers easily above it though I can feel a little fat tissue on top of it, though I don't really have to place any pressure on her to feel them.
I think it's all too easy for owners of show-bred dogs to say "my dog's parent/s is/are big, so my dog will be, too". And, often, they say "a vet said my dog is going to be a million kg", so they go along with it. Many (most?) show dogs are overweight. My puppy went in the ring at a reasonable weight, and was far leaner than her competition - yet she still looks a bit chunky to me (hence the diet). BUT, I just have to feel her to understand how different she is to my adults. Her bone structure is completely different - I can easily circle their leg bones with a massive overlap in my forefinger and thumb, but her bones were about twice as thick as theirs, even when she was a tiny puppy. Plus, her coat. I can't get over just how much thicker it is!! I am adamant that these won't be excuses, but even someone as serious as me about having a slim dog is really struggling to know what is normal here. I've seen the charts. The pictograms. They're great, yes, but even looking at my two older dogs makes me realise that there's not a one-size-fits-all picture. My boy has real sloping sides, but his sister has a far rounder rib cage. They have almost identical body fat, and look similar from the side, with very pronounced tucks. From above, however, my bitch has very little waist. But that's just her shape. My puppy is the same. Albeit, I think she could lose a few hundred grams, she will never have a defined waist from above - she's just not built that way. Yet, from the side, she looks quite slinky. So... well, this isn't helpful for you at all, sorry. But I think it's brilliant that you're aware, and you're asking questions. Keep on questioning, keep on assessing. As long as you can feel her ribs without pressing, I think you're probably on the right track. It can never hurt to reduce their food until you can actually make out the ribs and then, with that benchmark, increase their intake a little. That would let you know what the real optimum is. But, for a puppy, I wouldn't be too concerned. We'd love to see pictures of your girl, anyway!
Sure thing - here's a picture of her before she got to enjoy a piece of delicious salami - something I don't do usually, by the way. She just learnt how to play dead.. so I thought it'd be time to reward her.
What a beautiful girl. As said above there really is no one size fits all for labs. My boy is slim, with a very defined waist and can feel his ribs easily - but he has a really big barrel chest which makes getting a harness to fit properly a complete nightmare! However, I would rather have that nightmare than worry about his weight. When we last weighed him he was 28 kgs at 16 months old BUT his body shape is that of a field lab (tall and slim) although his head and chest are more show lab. Bailey I think will always be on the slim, smaller size for a lab, but he's very strong and solid muscle. To me your girl looks perfect. I say go with your gut, you know your dog best.
Have you tried a Perfect Fit harness @Samantha Jones? They are in 3 pieces. The staff at Dog Games are very helpful. I ordered some new bits for Red yesterday afternoon and they came this morning. They are pricey but really do fit perfectly.
Hi @Atemas no I haven't - I will have a look at them - we are in need of a new one soon, so will bear them in mind thank you
My Flora is also 8 months old and weighs 64 lbs. She has a much bigger build than Luna, who is 8 lbs lighter but taller and longer. Luna is probably a little underweight at the moment, she is very boney with ribs clearly visible, but she is very active and going through a growth spurt. Flora's growth has slowed and she has a much rounder body than Luna, but I can easily feel her ribs and you can see a waist. She has a very full coat, but she is soaking wet most of the day and is definitely not fat. Her daddy says she is from good Pennsylvania farm stock, lol!
Cooper was 32 kg at 8 months. She is about 36 kg now, and 24-25" at the shoulder. Vet thinks her weight is great.
