Two questions (first heat and weight)

[Unluckycat1]

Hello more knowledgeable than me dog owners!

Unluckypup is going through her first heat. This is probably a stupid question, but here goes. She's on day 10 and since last night has been whining and acting a bit odd, following me about more, acting like a mooning teen. Is this just because she's now wanting to find a mate? No moving her tail to one side behaviour yet.

Second, unrelated, question. In August at 8 months she weighed 20.3kg, and was weighed in December at 12 months and came in at 20.80kg. That seems such a small increase in weight for the months passed, but maybe it's normal for dogs to nearly reach their adult weight at 8 months? Is it? She's a mongrel so I could be underfeeding her. She isn't crazy about food and sometimes leaves her breakfast (a bowl of Forthglade is currently sat untouched 🙄). She is quite skinny but probably has saluki in her so maybe she should be, but also probably has gsd in her so maybe she ought to be bigger, I just don't know. No ribs on show, but quite thick fur. Does the small weight gain point to a problem?

Thank you!

Our older lab weighs more or less the same now at 2.5 years as she did at her first season at 8.5 months

I have always used body condition scoring rather than numbers on weight as it's more helpful. My Border terrier is heavier than her breed standard dictates on paper but I can easily feel her ribs under a thin layer of fat and she has a defined waist.

Re. season yes sounds normal.

I've only ever been through the one season with our youngster so not an expert on that, to be honest she seemed less stressed by it than we were.

Weight wise, we've only seen a tiny increase in weight between June 23 when she was about 8.5 months and 23.5kg to last week when she was 25kg at 15 months, and she is half lab and eats everything!

Strangely I have the same slight panic though because she is so much smaller than I expected her to be given her breed mix. I keep do the body condition check and if anything I'd be happier if she was a tiny bit lighter over her ribs.

Thanks all, that's really reassuring that hitting their adult weight at 8ish months is the norm. I just looked up the body condition score and I think she's perfect — I can feel a thin layer of fat around her ribs. I guess she's just meant to be willowy :)

We had a careful walk, and since getting home she's been on-off sad howling (thankfully quietly) in the garden. No dogs mobbing the house as of yet.

She sounds very similar to my rescue; she was 19kg at a year and is only 21kgs now at 3. The vet says she’s in perfect condition, she’s large Labrador sized but less chunky.

They can be rather needy when in season. Do you have any friends with dogs (girls) who would meet you in a secure field to give her a good run? I found that helped a lot. We have several round here that charge £5 for half four.