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:

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murphy (ALD) is also skinny, although recently he has put on a couple of pounds.  My Vet is not concerned at all...she would rather have them on the lean side as long as their muscle mass is fine.  I hate that I can feel his ribs, especially in the hip area.  He eats the recommended amount of food.  It sounds like you're doing the right thing, and it's good that she has gained a couple of pounds.  Also, I think you'll feel better once her coat grows back in.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper was skinny and I struggled to get weight on her, til she was maybe 1 yr 9 months. I was feeding raw and switched to a high protein kibble (Orijen) and that seemed to help. Once she put the weight on we switched back to raw.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara is a mini ALD and she was a skinny girl. She was never shaved down as close as Dolly was in your picture but one time she had a very short cut and I thought WTD!! I'm starving my dog!! She was always a really picky eater. Not much interested in food.  But after she turned two she suddenly became a chubby girl. And I had to put her on a diet to loose 3 pounds which is quite a bit on a 20 pounder!!

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

Cindy, I can't remember if the vet said anything about her muscles. Her ribs and hips were visible,she looked skinny. And BTW,does't she look completely different shaved? her energy level has always been good,no poop issues and of course we did urine,fecal and blood work. I'm not sure what you mean lean vs skinny related to her muscles.

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

What did the vet think about her muscle mass - is she thin lean or thin skinny?