Size and growth?

[Christina]

Trying to understand Oakley's growth pattern. The breeder expected Oakley to mature between 20-25 pounds based on mom and dad's size ( 20 and 22 pounds- AMG)We brought our precious boy home at 5.4 pounds at 8 weeks. He last weighed in at 9.2 pounds at 11 weeks. Curious is this seems to be on track for those of you who have a 20-25 pound adult dog? Having a hard time understanding if I am feeding him too much or not enough? Those of you have been though this with similar of sizes and experiences, I would appreciate your feedback. Seems like he has grown a lot faster than I had expected and want to be sure it is not because of my feeding schedule.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Tara is 20 pounds as an adult. She weighed 4.8 pounds when she came home at 8 weeks and weighed 6.9 pounds at 11 weeks.  But a few months later she started gaining weight very fast and for a while I thought she was going to be gigantic!  But that slowed down too.  Puppies have varying spurts of growth and they can occur at different times. Sometimes they seem chubby and other times they seem so skinny that it's scary!  I would recommend keeping Oakley on the recommended feeding schedule and amounts. You don't want him underweight as a pup especially when he hits a growth spurt.  Genetics too seem to  play a role in how fast a puppy grows and at what time.  But also keep in mind that because Doodles are technically mixed breed dogs it is still possible for any given puppy to be larger or smaller than the rest of the litter. I met a woman who thought she was buying a small standard doodle but ended up with a 110 pounder! The rest of the litter weighed in the 50-60  pound range.

So all  you can do is sit back, enjoy your baby and watch the genetics play out! But adequate nutrition is very important so no cutting back on the food right now! :) BTW Oakley is just adorable!

[Michele Kiss]

Hey Christina - you already know this :-)  But Fenway is 9lb too. When I asked Brandi about growth (before we got him) she said he would reach full weight by 7-8mo but not full height till 1.5years. So that might be right on track... If you end up asking her let me know, I'm curious too! 

[Christina]

Hi Michele- I was gonna email her today. Will keep you posted. ;)