Hi, our border collie is 2 weeks away from 7 months, I was wondering if there's a reason why his growth is stunted?

His legs are 9" and from shoulder 15/16" while his length is 17" from bottom to neck.

I can't confirm weight but his ribs aren't showing and he is slim. He was from wales in the mountains so a proper sheep dog.
He was the runt of the litter and he was born with a overshot jaw.

Length wise he is of a healthy range but he still looks very small especially his legs.

We walk around some fields on a route home which lasts 30/45 minutes. The route has hills and he has the majority of the walk off lead. We briefly sit down along the route but only for 5 minutes. He runs a lot off lead.

He eats chicken and puppy biscuits with meat and such moderated.

I can't decide if its simply misfortune on his part due to being the runt of the litter or some alternative reason ? It was a pack of 8 or so and when we collected him he was skin and bones while the others had weight I presume he wasn't getting the right nutrition early on.

He has vets in two weeks to have his balls clipped so I was curious to hear other peoples opinion before then.

He is too young to be neutered so I would hold off on that, especially if he does have some physical developmental problems - testosterone is part of growth and development and taking it away could have a negative effect.  In a "normal" dog, it might make them grow a little taller but in a potentially stunted dog with possible growth problems, who knows what effect it might have?  Wait until he's finished growing, 18 months minimum.

Otherwise not my area so I'll let others with more experience answer - Goldmali recently had an undersized pup so she may have some insight for you.

Why are you having him castrated so early ?
Are you not aware that by stopping the production of tosterone before puberty causes failure of the growth plates in the legs to close timeously & results in the development of correct bone densitity been reduced.

In view of your dog poor start in life I would advise against castration until after puberty & not before 18 months.

If he was malnourished when he was with his breeder then this could affect his subsequent growth & development. He needs the best of foods now with good levels if protein & calcium. I've had Border Collies all my adult life & have always fed a natural raw diet of quality meat. There are lots of preprepared raw diets available now & if you are not able to calculate his diet yourself these "completes" are much better than the dry complete foods.

There is dwarfism in most breeds & he could possibly be a dwarf, but it is far more likely to be poor quality nutrition in his early life.

> In view of your dog poor start in life I would advise against castration until after puberty & not before 18 months.

.......if at all, in my book.   Castration only prevents unwanted litters which provided he's properly contained, shouldn't happen.   I don't castrate other than for medical need (retained testicles being the main reason).    His growth plates do need to have closed, before there's any thought of neutering.

Secondly, much as we all prefer to see an even-sized litter, there can be runts in any litter.   For some reason one puppy didn't receive all the nutrients the rest received.   Sometimes, with extra rearing care, a runt can catch up of course.    Could be that after birth, his being overshot affected his ability to nurse as the others did too.  Good breeders would make sure any puppy who isn't doing as well as the rest, is helped to one of the middle teats, ahead of the rest so he gets a good innings before being pushed aside.

I assume you are sure that he eats enough -any jaw problems can make it more difficult. Yes like Nikita says I had a pup last year who was half the size of its littermates. Really extremely tiny. I had to top her up with bottlefeeds, the vet could find nothing wrong with her (she was checked several times over the first 10 weeks). She has now grown to an almost normal size, smaller end of normal size, (aged 13 months) -which is a lot more than we expected. However she does have some problems with the way she walks and the new owner's vet isn't sure if it is all related, they are investigating. (I didn't sell this pup as I wasn't sure whether she'd be okay or not, a very experienced friend asked me if she could have her.) In the latest photos I have seen she looks pretty normal overall but it remains to be seen what is found out.

I definitely wouldn't have him castrated until much older.

Your boy is far too young to be castrated.  You would be setting him up for even more problems. 

It has to be said that I don't think he needs to be castrated at all - other than for medical problems.  It isn't hard to keep a dog entire and make sure he doesn't have chance to mate a bitch.  If you feel that you can't do this, and honestly need him castrated, please delay as long as you can.

What has the vet said about his growth?

Also, what exactly does his current diet entail?  Is it puppy biscuits with just a bit of chicken to taste, or quite a bit?  You'll need to get it right to give him the best chance and although I don't discourage adding a little of something to make dry food more exciting, too much could unbalance it, depending what you're adding.

Oh, please don't neuter your 7 month old dog...

When is the word going to finally get out from the knowledgeable dog circuit (who already know this) to the person on the street, that neutering increases the risks of many cancers, joint issues, aggression, immune system problems... and the list goes on....

When it's coming from the vets!  Every single time a client mentions neutering young, it's their vet that's told them to.  Without exception, at least round here.  Although, I have noticed a distinct shift in attitude on that front over the last year.  From no reports at all of vets telling people to wait to now, it's maybe 50/50 saying to wait vs. neuter at 6 months.  The tide is turning!

I think the OP probably has the idea now though from all of us on that, so does anyone have any info on the growth side of things for their pup?

His leg length sounds fine if he is 15 - 16 inches at the shoulder as that is more than 50% of height, so Dwarfism is unlikely.

In my breed where males are ideally 20 1/2 at the shoulder a pup at 6 months of 18 inches will make expected adult height.

Farm collies are very varied in size and Type as they are not generally selected on looks but on ability, and of course he may not be purebred, quite possibly part of a dual sired litter or just very small stock.

What size was his Mum?