I sent my pick male pup to live with a relative. When she brought him to her vet this week, he told her to cut him back to 1 1/2 cups of food per day because he needs to drop some weight. The pup is ten weeks old, weighs 19 1/2 pounds, and was getting 2 cups of dry kibble and a little cottage cheese or yogurt each day. I don't consider his weight to be a problem and told her to continue feeding him his normal amount.

How much do your ten week old pups weigh?

You can't really just go by weight - that can vary depending on how much bone he has. You really need to look at the puppy. Vets have a tendency to think most 'show' pups are overweight. On average, my pups tend to be around 20-25 pounds at that age. I feed them anywhere from 3/4 to 1 cup of food three times per day. Again, if they look a bit fat, I cut them back, a little thin I give them more.

I had sold a pet male pup to a home at 8 weeks, 16 lbs.
At 3 1/2 months I got an update email saying all was well, vet said very healthy and he weighed a whopping 19 lbs!!!!

My heart skipped a beat when I read this and I immediately ran in and weighed the male and female I kept here. 35 and 33 lbs respectively.

I emailed the owner back and expressed concern about the weight. Thankfully they have another now adult dog from me and we have a good relationship. I gave her the amounts I was feeding and she increased his food right away and was understandably a bit embarrassed.

Happy to report that he is now turning 5 months and 45 lbs.

Just an example of how vets can tell owners everything is fine (in my case vet told her "great weight" on her boy). These vets just don't see a good Labrador everyday and when they do, they think it's fat!

Go look at the pup and advise her how to feed him. If this is a show prospect you have no idea how quickly a good puppy can turn into a pet puppy if fed improperly.

Chances are the last 100 lab puppies the vet has seen are not show bred. They have absolutely no idea. Be nice, but tell the folks what your pup from the litter weighs. A show bred, English style lab puppy looks very little like the pups the vets see every day. It is worthwhile to keep close tabs on your pups. I send out reminders when the 2nd and 3rd vaccinations are due. I tell folks how much my pup(s) weigh and how much they are eating.

This is a curious subject to me. Is it really true that how a puppy is fed in the first year has any bearing on how much substance it will have as an adult? I thought that was purely genetic? I have always kept my puppies thin and have had practically no orthopedic problems and I contribute that to keeping them light as growing dogs. In what ways can this affect their substance? Muscle? Bone? I see no difference between the adult size of my dogs who are lightly fed in comparison to my adult dogs who have been raised at a heavier weight by co-owners.

I can only say from what I have been taught by many wonderful old timers and also what I've seen first hand.

Yes, feeding can and does affect the final product IMHO.

I love when my buyers come back for visits and I encourage it. I have seen many of my pups that left here as close runners up to pick and then came back to visit and had not even close to the bone, size or substance that my keepers had.

This has been my observation, take it for what it's worth.

PS - I don't have hardly any ortho issues either and I keep my pups just a little chunky but not obese.

You only need to look at the children of people who have immigrated from countries where they grew up in poverty. The parents were raised with minimal resources. Their children grew up in the USA and they tower over mom & dad.

I do have one pup I placed in a performance home. He was deliberately kept thin. By the age of 2 years, the difference was stunning. He could not compare to his littermates who had been fed appropriately.

I have an 11 week old male lab pup who weighed 21 lbs at 10 1/2 weeks. The pup was 17 lbs at 8 weeks of age. My other male was 18.5 lbs at 8 weeks. Neither of the pups are too fat (and I am a veterinarian). Sounds like that pup is right on target ... it is really important with these guys to look at how their rib cage is sprung. Many have wide-sprung ribs as little guys and will give the appearance of being "too chubby", when the ribs are still easily palpable. The "wide" shape is just normal. In just a week or two, the legs will sprout and the vet will probably think the pup looks at a better weight, when in reality the pup is growing normally. My opinion.