Hi
Toby is 1yr old march 25th, he is a chunky lab very big for his age, just wondered what age they usually stop growing, some people say 1yr some 2yrs,
Heidi

Growing tall about 8 month to a year, maturing about 2 to 2 and a half.

Mine never stop growing until around 2 years old. My Anna was to breed standard height by a year old and I figured I'd got an earlier finisher this time but no! She just continued growing and by 2 years old was 3 inches over breed standard!

Best wishes, John

You should have stopped the growmore earlier :D

John is that the norm, they gain height till they are 2. Have had one of mine who continued growing till she way 20 months (still fell 1/2" short of the standard) but all my males have been at the finished height by 12 months. Just shows how different breeds are, when would you say they finish maturing, in my breed it is between 2 and 3 years for the males the bitches seem to be mature by 2 sometime earlier.

Was going to shorten her legs Christine. but after watching her float over 4ft fences carrying a heavy bird I figured I'd leave them alone.

As to size Jackie, some lines seem to finish younger but I tend to blame the high growth puppy food for a lot of it. It's noticable how quick puppies finish now in comparison with 50 years ago.

Best wishes, John

Thats interesting. Is a quick finisher good or bad? I have a golden retriever bitch who is 8 months old and doesn't seem to be growing much at the moment. She was a small pup so i am not expecting her to be huge, but i was wondering if i should think about changing to adult food soon or whether i should carry on for a few more months. Is it more beneficial to carry on the high protein puppy food until they finish growing?

I must say I like to bring them along slowly and usually have them off of puppy food by 6 months.

A person at club had a small Lab puppy. She was told by a breed "Expert" at club one night that it would never make size. I quietly told her to wait another 6 months and see then. It is now well into the standard height. You will never know until all growth has finished just what size it will finish up.

Best wishes, John

It's my opinion that pups that shoot up are far more liable to get problems in the long bones, growing points and joints. Of my last 5 dogs 2 shot up and had finished their height growth very early and both had Pano and one had early onset joint trouble, but it has been suggested that was more likely to be connected to his being castrated than his rate of early growth. However I watch I don't feed high protein food now and the last 3 have grown much more steady and for longer. Don't know what some foods are now but at one time the protein in some puppy foods was nearing the 30% mark, they were also very hyper.

Think it would be nice to know the growth rates of your breed as it seems it does differ breed from breed.

I am keeping notes of my current pups growth rate out of interest and to see if her Grandsires owners theory on predicted height bear out.

She has a theory that an Elkhound pup that is supposed to be ideally 19 1/2 inches for a bitch and 20 1/2 for a dog, should be about 12 inches at 8 weeks, 15 inches t 3 months and 18 inches at 6 months.

My bitch pup was 11 1/2 inches at 8 weeks, 15 inches at 3 months.  I measured her at 18 weeks, as she seemed suddenly bigger, and she was 17 1/2 inches, so it will be interesting to see if she only gains another 1/2 inch in the 8 weeks to 6 months of age, and what height she finishes up.  The American breeder thinks spot on standard, I have a feeling she will be a bit taller like her Mum at 20 1/4.

Of course to prove anthing one way or another lots of puppies browth rate would need to be monitired.

I would guess that in the long run each pup has their own pattern, those seeming small catch up, and early tall ones slow down, and that ancestral final size is a better guide.