We have a 12 week old Golden Retriever and we are feeding him the BARF diet.  He has a healthy appetite, but I've read that it's best to keep your puppy slightly hungry, and grow them slowly - how hungry and how slow?  We can see his waist when standing above him.  He weighed in yesterday at 25 ½ lbs.

We don't want to run the risk of him being under nourished or to get too fat either!

The reason I'm asking is two people have commented on his weight over the last couple of days - one said he was fat the other said he was a skinny tin ribs!

I thought he was just right, so now I'm confused!

Any help would be appreciated.
Maria

there simply is no hard and fast rule even in the smae breed and litter pups will weigh different amounts to be the corrct weight for their structure.

If you ahve oen person comment on him being fat then I can't see how he can be too thin.

So many people are used to seeing fat dogs.

He shoudl ahve a light covering of flesh over his bones.  you shoudl be able to feel not sharp bitch, but still fel the underlying structure without prodding.

As Brainless says Maria, go by sight rather than weight.  Puppies can look quite chunky naturally without being overweight I think, especially long haired fluffy ones, and if you can feel his ribs (rather than see them) and see his waist from above, he sounds OK to me.  People's perceptions can also be coloured by their own dogs weight and/or breed. 

Maria, our SP is 18 weeks now, and is just over 18kg. I've walked her up to the vets & weighed her a few times as we've been astonished at the rapid growth (biggest dog we've ever had!:d) She's generally put on the equivalent of 1kg per week - sometimes a little more, other times less. Last time I was there, I asked the nurse if she was overweight and she said no.

Yesterday I asked the same question of our groomer (also a breeder) and he also said she was not overweight. What we saw as a slightly rounded middle is apparently normal and the body shape will alter as the dog begins to mature. Sometimes she looks positively thin and at others the opposite, depending on which bit of her body is growing at the time. Her ribs & spine don't stick out but can be easily felt with a light touch. She's all head at the moment!

If GR's put weight on at the same rate as SP's, then it seems your little chap isn't overweight either :)

As mentioned by others you have to go by your own dog's condition but in case you find it interesting as an example, my GR dog weighed 10 Kg at 10 weeks and proceeded to put on exactly 1 Kg a week until he was almost fully grown. He has always looked really good; perfect weight really.