My puppy is so small...

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Guinness is 6 months now and still only weighs 13.5 pounds. He is supposed to be a small/medium ALD. Sometimes I worry about him, especially when I read about how big others in this category are. He isn't a huge eater, but he does eat well. The last time he was at the vet (4wks ago for shots) she said he was healthy. At this rate, I don't think he'll ever even get to 20 pounds. His mom was a small medium and his dad was a medium...both larger than Guinness.

[Ellen aka BeauBeau's Mom]

Beau was about the same weight at about the same age. He is now 25 pounds and I have him on a diet (as per the vet)....a rough thing to do when his Jewish grandma is constantly slipping him food when I am not looking LOL Just this morning, Mom proudly announced how much BeauBeau enjoyed our leftover ribsteak yesterday while I was at the mall with a friend. As long as the vet says Guinness is healthy, just be happy and enjoy your beautiful puppy......no need to fret over this. Incidentally, I was very concerned about the same thing when I first got Beau, and realized he was much smaller than the one littermate of his I was able to locate. He clearly had to have been the runt of his litter too....his brother Notch outweighs him by about 10 pounds, and also looks like a golden retriever.....go figure! But my baby is happy, healthy, and the light of my life.....so just enjoy each day with Guinness.....remember, their clocks go faster than ours....I am well aware of that every time I hug him and hear his little heart going faster than mine, even at rest, and watch his breathing more rapidly than me, even while asleep.

[Debbie, Brianna and Duncan]

Oh my is he cute!! I would not worry. Our ALD Brianna is two years old and weighs in at a huge 14.7 pounds. She was a bit over 11 pounds when she came to us at 6 months old...... She is a huge love, and can hang with most any doodle Mini to Std....I have a few cute pics in a blog I posted when a standard came to stay with us for a week. Also, many here on DK can tell you she can rip it up/love it up at the IDOG romps held on the big dog side of our park, lol She is a whole lot of fun, we just love her...size and all. I hope you don't worry too much...he is a very handsome puppy!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Most people seem to get doodles that are larger than predicted, but it makes sense to have it go the other way also. Guinness probably has some very small relatives in his pedigree.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Not all dogs get to be as big as their parents, maybe Guinness is the runt of the litter, as long as he is healthy and active, I wouldn't worry about him so much size wise. Guinness also has another 6 months to grow, a lot can change in 6 months times. I thought I would have to buy a streching machine for Honey to make her little legs grow...I didn't think she would gain weight like she did, but the last 3 months before she turned 1, she changed so much going from around 28lbs to almost 40 now. She is short but really solid.