# My Golden Female is so small



## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

How big is she??? Height, weight??? At a year I would think she would still be filling out some. BTW, welcome to the forum.. we'd love to see some pictures of your sweet girl. Please jump in and join the discussions and fun. I think you'll find a group of really nice golden fanatics.


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Could you post some pics and her height and weight?


----------



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I've seen some pretty small female goldens. One in particular was a female golden that came to Ryley's Run the fist year was barely 50# at a year old.


----------



## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Hi Doris and welcome to the forum. :wavey:
Everything Penny and Maggie's Mom said is true. And as she asked how tall and what is her weight. Although your dog will probably not "grow" in height anymore she could continue to fill out and mature until 3 or 4 tears of age. Actually contacting the breeder is a GREAT idea. They will probably be able to tell you at what age their "line" tends to finish maturing at.


----------



## PeanutsMom (Oct 14, 2007)

My Peaches weighs 54 pounds and she'll be 2 on the 31st. I can't do accurate height checks, not sure what whithers are. lol, but shes very short.


----------



## goldeneskimo (Jul 18, 2008)

:wave:I will post a picture soon as I can -- of Ginger and also her big sister Lacey Loo, an American Eskimo. So nice to receive replies from you so quickly. I needed someone to "talk to" today, and thank you for being there!!

Doris


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

Sometimes us golden lovers get concerned about stuff because we love them so much!
I was worrying about Gunner's face turning white too early and his nose getting less black!


----------



## Blaireli (Jun 3, 2008)

Maggie will be three in November and she is consistently 52 - 54 pounds. How small is your girl?


----------



## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

*tu*

It's my understanding that a lot of the field line goldens are small like this. I love big dogs, I have a big girl myself but it's so much easier on their joints if they stay small like yours. My golden had ACL surgery on her left knee a year ago. Now I'm taking her into the vet tomorrow because it looks like she's going to need the same thing with her right knee. It's disabling and heartbreaking. Too often, bigger comes at a hefty price.

Welcome to our forum, by the way. Look forward to seeing pictures of your girl :wave:


----------



## gold4me (Mar 12, 2006)

My Emmy is 6 years old and she is 60 pounds and 22 inches at the withers. She was shown and did quite well so she is in the appropriate weight and height. Did you say how much your little girl weighs and how tall she is?????


----------



## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

Because so many Goldens are actually oversized, people think that the ones that are within the standard are "small". Height is measured at the withers, shown in this illustration: (which is a Great Pyrenees, but the illustration is great for showing how to measure)









The standard for Golden Retrievers states:
_*Size, Proportion, Substance*_ -- Males 23-24 inches in height at withers; females 21 1/2-22 1/2 inches. Dogs up to one inch above or below standard size should be proportionately penalized. Deviation in height of more than one inch from the standard shall disqualify.


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Oaklys Dad said:


> I've seen some pretty small female goldens. One in particular was a female golden that came to Ryley's Run the fist year was barely 50# at a year old.


Puh-lease! Quiz is a 5-yr-old male who is 43 lbs soaking wet! 

Some Goldens are just smaller than others!


----------



## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

Maggie is 22 1/2 and weights 64 lbs and Abbie is 21 and ranges between 54-60 lbs


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

FlyingQuizini said:


> Puh-lease! Quiz is a 5-yr-old male who is 43 lbs soaking wet!
> 
> Some Goldens are just smaller than others!


I agree that many are used to seeing oversized Goldens, thus, sometimes proper size dogs look small. It's DEFINITELY true when it comes to weight! So many see fat Goldens, that a healthy weight dog is seen as too thin!


----------



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

FlyingQuizini said:


> Puh-lease! Quiz is a 5-yr-old male who is 43 lbs soaking wet!
> 
> Some Goldens are just smaller than others!


I agree...Caue is 15 months and still hasn't seen 60 pounds yet. He is fit and trim but and I feed him quite a bit more than Oakly but I still would like to see a little more meat on his ribs.


----------



## LibbysMom (Jan 15, 2008)

Libby is a little over a year and she is barely 45lbs.. She is the same height as my parents labs but she is much shorter in length then they are. She has always been small though. Perfect size for us =) !


----------



## Adriennelane (Feb 13, 2008)

FlyingQuizini said:


> Puh-lease! Quiz is a 5-yr-old male who is 43 lbs soaking wet!
> 
> Some Goldens are just smaller than others!


Yeah! Like some of us humans!


----------



## PeanutsMom (Oct 14, 2007)

Pointgold said:


> Because so many Goldens are actually oversized, people think that the ones that are within the standard are "small". Height is measured at the withers, shown in this illustration: (which is a Great Pyrenees, but the illustration is great for showing how to measure)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you! I never could find a diagram:doh:. Now I measure.
Peaches is right at 21, but I don't have one of those soft measuring tapes, just the one from Donnie's tool belt. lol


----------



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

My dog Finn grew an entire inch between one and two , and matured through the chest until age three. I _think_ large breed puppy food keeps growth slower, but that might not be true?


----------



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

PeanutsMom said:


> Thank you! I never could find a diagram:doh:. Now I measure.
> Peaches is right at 21, but I don't have one of those soft measuring tapes, just the one from Donnie's tool belt. lol


Stand her against a wall and put something thin and flat on her shoulders, the mark the wall with a pencil. Use the measuring tape to measure from the floor to the mark on the wall.


----------



## MILLIESMOM (Aug 13, 2006)

Millie is 22 inches and weighs 63 pounds My lab Pearl is the same size. I feel they are the perfect size.


----------



## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

MILLIESMOM said:


> Millie is 22 inches and weighs 63 pounds My lab Pearl is the same size. I feel they are the perfect size.


 
And they both truly _are. _Millie is right in the Golden standard for height, and Pearl is right there for the Lab standard, which is:
_Size_--The height at the withers for a dog is 22½ to 24½ inches; for a bitch is 21½ to 23½ inches. Any variance greater than ½ inch above or below these heights is a disqualification. Approximate weight of dogs and bitches in working condition: dogs 65 to 80 pounds; bitches 55 to 70 pounds.

(And they are both just plain pretty, too!)


----------



## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

MILLIESMOM said:


> Millie is 22 inches and weighs 63 pounds My lab Pearl is the same size. I feel they are the perfect size.


Your girls are just beautiful! Love that sleeping pic!


----------



## Aprilpa (Mar 24, 2008)

I have no idea how tall both of my Golden girls are, but they are the same height. Both of them also weigh around 55#. Honey looks stockier than Berkley, but also looks a little bow legged. Berkley looks longer and leaner. I would love for Berkley to bulk up a little, but this is the same size she has been since we found her. 

I agree with the other posts that have said so many dogs are oversized and overweight that seeing a normal size looks odd to people. I get comments all the time on how thin they are, when really, they are the appropriate weight for their size. Here are some pics, the light one is Honey and the darker one is Berkley. (Sorry you can't really see Berkley's body type, I couldn't find any of her posing like Honey).


----------



## Steve Fisher (Jun 15, 2012)

*Looking for a small golden ret. girl for Search and Rescue*

Hey, everybody. I'm new to this forum but noted the discussion on small golden girls.

My golden male and I do Search and Rescue (trailing) and my wife wants to find a female for area work. This is wilderness not disaster work so the dog is not in toxic jeopardy. 

She needs a high-drive girl. The smaller the better because if the dog were to be injured in the field she'd need to be carried out.

If anybody knows of a 8mos -2 yr small female for sale or adoption that we could come and evaluate for aptitude I'd appreciate the tip. 

We live in California but if we were to find a dog with the right combination of aptitude, size and age, we'd travel to evaluate her.

Thanks, Steve


----------



## bonacker (Jun 30, 2009)

MILLIESMOM said:


> Millie is 22 inches and weighs 63 pounds My lab Pearl is the same size. I feel they are the perfect size.


I see this was originally posted in 2008 ... not sure it you are still checking in on this site, but this is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen ... gorgeous pups.


----------



## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

You could check with Sunfire Goldens. I know they had a girl that just turned two this week that was available. I don't know anything about her, but she is a half sister to my boy. If she is anything like him then she'll fit the bill for small and high drive....Flip is 47 pounds and very high drive.

www.sunfiregold.com


----------



## tmgolebiewski (Feb 18, 2015)

My golden girl is also very small and I have been wondering the same thing. The vet says she's perfectly healthy but she said she was full grown at 35 pounds! She's a year and a half and still only 40 pounds! Her parents were normal sized. I'm just curious how this happens or will it take her a few more months to get to the "average" size?


----------



## Susan: w/ Summit we climb (Jun 12, 2014)

I'm afraid that the "average size" doesn't actually tell you anything about your girl in particular. The size of her parents are the best indicators of her eventual size, but there's still no guarantee.

My pup's mother is a bit small, and he in turn is on the small side, even though his father is full-sized.

We do know that their bones keep developing until 2 to 3.


----------

