Do you have a skinny Doodle?

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

So my little Dolly, now 17 months is an unspayed female and we are the Guardian family.  When she was young, she was pretty skinny under all her hair, but I thought , she's unspayed, she's young.   Then we went on a trip.  We came back to a matted dood.  We had to shave her down. UGH.  Well, now she looks really emaciated.  I freak out.  I am getting comments from strangers..."Is that a rescue?" ( yea, an $8000 rescue)  I have a friend who has a lot of animals and she lays into me about feeding according to the bag and not seeing that OBVIOUSLY I needed to do something.  So I take her to the vet, spent $300  on tests to find she is normal. The vet says to challenge her to gain weight. I have been trying to feed 3x a day, feed raw hamburger and eggs and stuff her, she has gained a total of 1 pound in 2 months.  The breeder by the way, says its common for ALDs to be thin under 2 years old.  After and before the shave:

[Tessa, Ellie and Wheezy]

I have had both my doodles shaved before and they look so sickly and skinny...LOL.

I know some doodles are more petite than others....Ellie is my oldest....and she is 2....and when she is wet...she is skin and bones.....Wheezy on the other hand is 1 weighs 10lbs more than Ellie is really filled out now and when she is wet.....she still looks big....I think your Dolly would be more like my Ellie.....Ellie is 48lbs and she jumps up on your lap and you can't even feel it......she distrubts her weight so well.....Wheezy....knocks you down!!!  LOL   I don't feed the girls at certain times......I just keep their bowls full and they only eat when they are hungry....some days they barely eat...of course they get their daily treats.

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

She weighed 32 lbs at 6 months and then 32 lbs at 16 months during which time she grew longer and taller.  I think about 24in tall.  Now she is 33.5 lbs.  The vet thought she should weigh about 10 lbs more but now I'm thinking she will probably fill out when she gets to be 2yrs like the breeder said.  She is healthy and has great energy but looks really skinny without any hair.  Luckily, it's growing....

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

Wow - wish I could cut my hair and look 20lb thinner!  LOL!

[Rose Ann and Amante]

I think that any of our doodles would look too skinny if they had to be shaved. When Amante is wet he looks so skinny. The hair really makes a difference.

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin is very lean.  29 inches at the shoulder and 67lbs.  The vet says although he has a lot of hair there is not much to him.  He said he would be fine with 5 more lbs on him, but not to try and gain weight.  He was sick a couple of times over the past year and I was concerned as his weight dipped down to 64lbs in a heartbeat.  His appetite has been better lately and I suspect he may be a bit closer to 70lbs now.  He is just over two years old. 

[Donna K & Quincy]

I have a feeling most of our doodles would look very thin if they were shaved down. I don't have any pics of Quincy shaved down because he has never had to be shaved. Here are two pics taken on the same day one wet, one dry and yes he is skinny under all that fur.

Quincy is also about 65lbs.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

What much does she weigh, how tall is she.

Daisy had to be shaved last March, I thought I would die. She weighs 65lbs and is approximately 3 feet to the shoulder. She looked just like Dolly I swear!

I think the legs are the most shocking thing...Daisy is now almost 21 months old and has more meat on her legs but she weighs the same.

Here is a picture of what I am talking about.Oh and PS) the vet that I cannot stand said "she looks like she could lose 5 lbs" before she was shaved 1 month prior and had not even touched her yet. Idiot! Um, that's called fur.

[Lu]

Ted is 24" and 51lb

[Lu]

My dood is now 21months - she looks slightly more well covered than my dood naked, one vet thought he needed another 1lb or 2 another thought he was perfect.

 

He's happy and healthy and full of energy!

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

Jeanne, she does look entirely different shaved - I wouldn't have known she was the same dog. A summer and winter look. When I asked about lean vs skinny, think about a long distance runner. They are usually very thin, In clothes people always wonder if they are eating enough! Sometimes you can see their ribs and their knees really stick out and their collar bones are really prominant, tend to have drawn faces. But they have really strong long well developed leg muscles - although they are thin, they have a lot of lean muscle and are very healthy and usually have good hearts.