Measuring Your Dog's Height?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The other day Jack and I were leaving the vet's office as a young family with two small children were coming in. The little girl said, "Mommy, there's a humongous doggy!"

I hear this all the time. Jackdoodle is really large, and people are always commenting on his size. He is always, always the biggest and tallest doodle at every romp and dog park. He is much taller than any of the standard poodles or Labs we know, and even some of the working breeds like Rotties & most shepherds. At 87 lbs, he is also one of the heaviest of the poodle mixes we have met.

Yet he is "only" 25 inches at the top of the shoulder, when I flatten down his fur. (If I just hold the tape next to him without flattening down his fur with the other hand, he's at 27". )This is where a dog's height is supposed to be measured.

What confuses me is the number of DK members who mention that their doodles are 26, 27, and even 28 inches tall. I am really perplexed as to how there could be so many doodles here who are so much taller than Jack, as I never see one in person, and we see a lot of doodles, they are very popular here. 27 inches is really, really tall for a dog...that's the top limit on the standards for some of the biggest breeds out there.

So what I'm wondering is if these heights are being taken at the shoulder, if they are maybe eyeballed, and include the fur? Or if doodles just grow taller in other parts of the country and my humongous doggy is really a shrimp?

 

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

Welly is 27inches at the shoulder - no fur added! =) I've met one who is taller than him - he must be 29 inches. Yikes!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Did you meet his parents? Were they very tall?
I am just so perplexed as to how these dogs are so tall, when the average heights of the parent breeds are nowhere near that. There is really no upper limit in the breed standard for standard poodles, but 27" would be unusual, I think.

[Adina P]

There must be some genetic thing that happens when a dog with naturally long legs (Standard Poodle) combines with a stockier breed (lab)???  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm wondering about that also. Labs have much shorter necks than poodles, and poodles have much longer legs, too. I have seen a lot of doodles who look almost like they have no neck at all. And Jack has a fairly long neck and a very big head. So if you had a doodle with the very long poodle legs and shorter neck, they might be taller than Jack at the shoulder, but still be shorter to the top of their heads. Maybe that's why he appears so much taller than most of the other doodles we see...because his head is higher?

[April Cliber]

This is interesting.

Heterosis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Heterotic string theory.
Heterosis is a term used in genetics and selective breeding. Heterosis, or hybrid vigor or outbreeding enhancement, is the increased function of any biological quality in a hybrid offspring. It is the occurrence of a genetically superior offspring from mixing the genes of its parents.


A mixed-breed dogHeterosis is the opposite of inbreeding depression, which occurs with increasing homozygosity. The term often causes controversy, particularly in terms of the selective breeding of domestic animals, because it is sometimes believed that all crossbred plants or animals are genetically superior to their parents; this is true only in certain circumstances: when a hybrid is seen to be superior to its parents, this is known as hybrid vigor. When the opposite happens, and a hybrid inherits traits from its parents that makes it unfit for survival, the result is referred to as outbreeding depression. Typical examples of this are crosses between wild and hatchery fish that have incompatible adaptations.

So can we assume that "genetically superior offspring from mixing the genes of its parents" could result in taller F1 pups?

[April Cliber]

You are absolutely correct! There is a "hybrid theory" that I believe is true. Typically a F1 standard goldendoodle or labradoodle will be bigger then both parents. They get the height from the poodle and thicker boning from the lab/golden. Many breeders (including myself when I was new) make the mistake of underestimating the size of their pups. They think that a 50 pound poodle and a 60 pound retriever will have pups 50-60 pounds. In my experience those pups will be 60-80 and maybe even 90 pounds. When I pair my 75 pound golden with a 40 pound poodle I get 60-90 pound pups! Although the poodle weighs less he is just as tall as my golden.

I also see F1 pups that are significantly taller then the poodle parent. My standard poodle is 23 inches but he produced pups that are 28 inches! It's almost like a F1 pup gets extra growth hormones. :o) I don't see it as much in the F1b and later gens.

It's late and I'm tired so sorry if I didn't do a great job explaining....

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I thought you explained this well.

[Linda and Murphy]

Great job!

[Adina P]

Rosco is 27'' to the shoulder (hair flattened I think, but it has been a while since I measured).  His poodle dad was 27.5'' and mom was 24-25'' (cant remember exactly).

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

I met his Mum - the Poodle, and dad was a Goldie, but not a huge one. I've heard that cross breeds can end up taller than either parent but I have no idea how. Welly is one of the biggest doods on our meets though. I think his Labradoodle brother Bingley will be even bigger. Oooops.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I just measured Gracie Doodle and she is exactly 27" tall. I used a paint stir stick and balanced it across her shoulder bones. Then measured down from there. Her mother was a very tall standard Poodle and Gracie is a Goldendoodle. She is 75 lbs. at 3 years old. She is a pretty tall girl and has a great "presence" when she is standing or walking around. Really draws a crowd!

[Camilla and Darwin]

I don't know, but Darwin IS 26" at the shoulder He stands perfectly still, and I measure from the floor to the shoulder, no fur added. But he doesn't seem THAT tall to me, so I assume Jack would probably be taller. Does Jack stand still when you measure him?