Extra skin

[Ona & Buster]

My Buster is soft and mushy because he has so much extra skin on his back and around his neck. Will it stay that way or fill in a little? It's like when a mom can pick up her pup by grabbing the skin on their necks.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They grow into their skins. Some people also claim you can estimate how big a puppy will end up by the amount of loose skin he has. Lots of really loose skin usually equals a big dog. (This doesn't apply to loose skinned breeds like Shar Peis, lol) 

[Ona & Buster]

That makes my boys very happy!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Quincy is five and if he ever grows into his skin he'll be the size of a St Bernard.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

LOL, well they don't grow into them completely!  

[Donna K & Quincy]

Thank goodness for that. I asked this same question way back and the consensus was that many doodles have a lot of extra skin. Good thing they're not human they'd be looking to have tummy tucks. :>)

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna has a lot of loose skin around her neck still as an adult. It adds to her lion-like appearance ;)

[Stella]

My Hartley, who is now six, never grew into his skin! There is a lot of extra loose skin around his neck and along his back. It rolls when he runs making him look fat!! Whe he lies on the floor, especially if he lies on his back, it looks like his skin is 'melting' off him as the spare skin lies loosely off to the side!!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Honestly, I never thought about this before, and it's been 24 years since I had a puppy. All dogs do have loose skin around their necks. I googled it, because I was curious myself, and that's what I found. None of it was from strictly scientific websites, so who knows? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This article was written by a professor of veterinary medicine at Tufts Vet School:

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/how-big-will-my-puppy-get/page1.aspx

From the article:

"Loose skin: The looser a puppy's skin the more room he has to grow into his "new suit" and the larger he is likely to become." 

[Ona & Buster]

The thought of him filling in "all" of his skin is scary. But I'm sure we've got some more growing to do.