Anyone who has a lab...

[Happymm]

can you tell me how much they weigh when they are fully grown. Our puppy (nearly 11wks) is on pro plan, as started by the breeder (another thread altogether, can't change yet as have loads of the stuff) Anyways, on the back of the puppy food, the guide for how much you should feed your puppy is shown in how big they will be when fully grown-FFS how do I know? That's why I thought I'd ask you lovely ladies, as am not sure if feeding enough as she's always hungry-but not sure if that's just because she is a greedy pig lab :o

Our fully grown girl varies between 32 and 34 kg. She's quite a muscular girl.

Hope that helps

Mine was around 33kg. Dads is smaller as is sisters.

Ours goes between 26-28kg at 17 months

Thank you!x

My lump lad is about 33kg 35kg when he has been staying at nanna's for the holidays. He would eat till he popped though and I think the guide on the feed is much more than I give him to maintain his weight. If you have difficulty feeling her ribs then she's eating too much!

That's a very confusing way of calculating feeds, labs vary in size from 20 - 38kg and often there's no way of knowing how big they're going to be. My 10 month old is 22kg, he won't grow a lot more so will be a fairly small lab, his parents were big chunky show dogs but looking at his pedigree there's a working type lab a few generations back so my dog will probably be more like him in size.
You could ignore the guidelines and try monitoring poos, if he goes two or three times a day and they're solid then intake is OK, if frequent and loose then he's having too much to eat and you need to cut down a bit.

Her dad is a working gun dog, and mum does agility training-lots to live up to there, but both leaner rather than chunky.

Her poos are solid (only looser if she's been eating out of rabbits litter tray, or that other delicacy of cat poo) and she goes about 4x a day.

Is confusing to guesstimate the fault size to work out puppy feeds. Don't know who thought of that

forgot pup was only 11 wks, so would poo more frequently than a 10 month old as having more meals a day. Sounds like she's having right amount of food.

10 month old UnWiseDog is 26 kg and people remark that she is quite a petite looking lab. She's not very tall or stocky.

Have you thought about seeing whether Pro Plan have a website that might give more detailed info about feeding quantities or emailing your breeder for advice?

My 3 year old male is 32kg. He is tall and muscly.

12 month old lab bitch from working stock - 27kgs and she is still quite small compared to some labs I see.

Sounds confusing feeding guidelines .

Our breeder estimated that she would be between over 25kgs so speak with breeder if possible

I have a 3 year old bitch. She is of the small, lean working stock variety. She weighs 23-24 kgs.

My brother's male lab is 42kilos.

Crikey! Such a variation!
Will look on website, and talk to breeder I think!
Thanks all,x

My 4 year old bitch is 23kg's. Working lines.
My last boy was 35kg and was not a fattie by any means, just a big muscular lad

I never go by what they say on the back of the bag - just by what the dogs look like (2 labs) - if they get more exercise and run up a little light then they get more for a couple of days, and vice versa if they get a bit porky. The vet weighs them when they have their jabs and we've never yet been told they are too fat or too thin - and always been complimented on how well they look. And they don't eat anything fancy at all - Tesco Complete does it for them, plus bones occasionally from the butcher and cooked leftover veg when there is some! I think you can get too hung up on the exotic and expensive foods - trust your judgement!

She's on pro plan, as that's what the breeder started her on, but has had a couple of bones from the butcher, and also likes apples, pears, carrots and the contents of the rabbits litter tray

I have a lean but huge show lab (over 40kg) but with proper waist and a fab shape. Even the vet comments on his shape and condition but he is just very big!

I find it best to use the bags only as a rough guide. My lab is greedy and would eat far, far more than we give him. I watch his waist and make sure we can feel ribs but not see them. For treats we use raw veg which he loves and Arden Grange as his main food.

Our adult lab/lurcher cross is 26kg and more slightly built than a pure lab. Most would be heavier than her I would think.

Happymm, just you wait - rabbit poo is for learner labs!! My youngest, now 3, is fond of finding bits of pongy dead animal and bringing them to me a a gift. We live out in the sticks and her proudest moment was finding most of a sheep that had drowned in the stream (and been there for a while so was nicely rotting and falling apart) and running after me saying "here you are mum, just what you've always wanted", with bits of it falling off as she carried it. I have a fairly strong stomach but that really was gross.

I think we need photos - 11 week old labs are just divine, is she being a good girl?

Mine are heavyish show types, the dog weighs 38kg and the bitch weighs 27kg. I feed raw meaty bones meself.

Will do photo later as on iPad. She is beautiful, is red fox in colour.

She's great at night, sleeping through 10-7, nearly housetrained, whines to go outside for poo, but can be a bit hit and miss with wee, though some of that problem may be that doors are open all day so maybe doesn't differentiate between in and out so much.

Sits and stays for one pace, though will creep after me longer than that.

Main problem is jumping and biting. Struggling a bit, to be fair. She just isn't getting it at all. Have had her nearly 3wks. We fold arms and turn away if she's jumping and biting. Only stroke her with 4feet on the ground. Yelp if she bites. And nothing is stopping her. Once she starts she gets so worked up and excited almost by the very act, that she gets worse, till she's like some crazy dog. Bit DD yesterday-has a puncture wound at jaw level. Keep her separate from DS's as they're younger and can't cope, unless heavily supervised. Last night she just kept launching herself at me on the sofa, snapping and biting away. A breeder on here thought that as she was one of a litter of 12 that maybe her mum hadn't taught her that kind of thing, and to grab her by the scruff of the neck and hold her there till she quietens. Am a bit lost. Thinking of getting a behaviourist in for a couple of sessions as desperate to sort it out before she gets any bigger...:(

I wouldn't worry about the biting/ playing- that sounds pretty normal to me. But could well be worth getting a behaviourist in for a session or two- one of the behaviourists I know thinks that we should do more preventative behavioural work with puppies, just like we do preventative worming and vaccines. her argument is that the dog's behaviour will impact hugely on the owner's life in the future, more than worms are likely to. I guess she has a point! Do you have a crate for her? If she is getting really overexcited, you could move her to her crate to calm down (NOT to punish).

As far as the feeding goes, I would feed the amount for roughly 27kgs to start with, then guage how she looks. Dogs are a bit like people- some can eat and eat and not put on weight, others need less- it really isn't an exact science, so takes a bit of trial and error! the guidelines on the pack will always tell you the high end of feeding, for the simple reason that they want to sell more food!

She is crate trained, and loves it in there. Often takes herself in there during the day for a break, so am sure she wouldn't see it as punishment. Did give her "timeout" a couple of times yesterday when got fed up with the biting.

I do think prevention is better than cure, and would rather tackle the problem now whilst she is young, learning loads and isn't such a big strong dog who's going to frighten people.

Think I must be feeding ok. Had jabs and weighin yesterday, and was putting on the exact average of a kilo a week so all good there :)