# Puppy not hitting height standard



## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

Hi might just be short. Or maybe he'll have a growth spurt. Is he proportionate?


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## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

Also, did you do slow-grow?
I wouldn't worry too much until he is a year or so- a male should be 23-24 at the shoulder when adult.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Goldens continue to grow until about 2 years old. I wouldn't worry at his age, he has plenty of time to fill out and up.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

How are you measuring him? At what point on his body is he at 19"? Are you measuring at his withers? Do you have a stick? Mine was short even at 11 months. I haven't measured him recently. Really, though, unless you are showing conformation, and as long as he is healthy, it doesn't make much difference if he is under standard.


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## ItsMyLife (Oct 11, 2017)

Measurement is at the whithers. He was purchased as a show puppy, but if he isn?t going to hit the height, then his career is going nowhere.


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## ItsMyLife (Oct 11, 2017)

And yes, he is relatively proportionate, but is a little longer in body than I would like.


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## usually lurking (Apr 21, 2017)

ItsMyLife said:


> Measurement is at the whithers. He was purchased as a show puppy, but if he isn?t going to hit the height, then his career is going nowhere.


Yep. That would be an issue, then. He's still got time to grow.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Can you have somebody else measure him - just in case?

My little guy is involved with the GRLS - and the vet who has been doing his exams for the study gave me a heartattack on his first official visit when he was about 16-17 months old. She measured him to his shoulders and told me that he was 19". <= He was being shown 2 weeks later. 

I gather he was squatting down a little and that's why she was so off... ! 

He was 22" at 8 months. 

He'd measured 19" at 5 months... and shot up to 21" by 6 months. Another inch through 8 months, another inch between 8 and 9 months. And finished off at 23.5 before he was two.

^^^ The above should tell you that there is growing time left. But I'd first double check the measurements.

http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/golden-retriever-puppy-up-1-year/124217-height-check-4.html


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## ItsMyLife (Oct 11, 2017)

You?re right. We did remeasure again last night. And in the last week he shot up to 20.5 inches. So he grew 1.5in in a weeks time. So maybe there?s still hope after all.
He?s been being measured with a wicket, so i know it?s been accurate. Maybe he?s just going to take awhile to mature. We just need another 2.5inches


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

Many dogs will duck a bit under the wicket, some are really sneaky at it as well doing it, and just so slightly its not really noticeable. its likely that he was ducking a bit rather then growing that much although stranger things happen. Some dogs grow to their full height very slowly you have time he is really young and I would not overly worry about it. My friends GCH reached his full height and maturity around three.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

He's still a puppy for crying out loud. He's nowhere near maturity yet. Exercise a little patience and let the boy grow up. Males don't reach maturity until 24 to 36 months of age, you have a long way to go yet before you're there.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Totally agree with Swampcollie. I’ve had boys that didn’t finish growing until 3 years old. Check with the breeder, they will have insight on what the growth pattern of the pup will be.

It’s like looking at a pup’s bite to see if it’s over or under. Don’t do it when they are young. You will drive yourself crazy!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

The reason why the height thing is something you worry about if you are showing in conformation is golden retrievers have to be full height in order to show. You could wait until age 2 in order to show your dog, however you will be going in with a green dog against dogs who have 2 years worth of showing experience. Anyone who thinks showing dogs is easy from the outside perspective has never been inside the ring and trying to keep all wheels on the bus going the same direction...  

The dogs that go into the ring at 6 months need to be breed standard height or close enough for the judge not to think twice about it.


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## LJack (Aug 10, 2012)

Megora said:


> The reason why the height thing is something you worry about if you are showing in conformation is golden retrievers have to be full height in order to show. You could wait until age 2 in order to show your dog, however you will be going in with a green dog against dogs who have 2 years worth of showing experience. Anyone who thinks showing dogs is easy from the outside perspective has never been inside the ring and trying to keep all wheels on the bus going the same direction...
> 
> The dogs that go into the ring at 6 months need to be breed standard height or close enough for the judge not to think twice about it.


UKC does not require adult height until they are over 12 months old. I have never seen an IABCA show even have a wicket. There are places to get ring exposure so you don't have to be green at 2 years old. I will say as an owner handler, I prefer hitting the AKC ring with a more mature dog. Tizzy is 15 months old and she will probably be 2.5 to 3 before I will really focus on her AKC conformation show career.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

LJack said:


> UKC does not require adult height until they are over 12 months old - There are places to get ring exposure so you don't have to be green at 2 years old.


I agree. Would absolutely do UKC for practice anyway because if you show UKC and have a good nuff dog, you're going to be going into the ring ten million times per show and it's more "Fun" than doing a handling class. Expensive (costs $20 more than AKC entries by last recon), but fun. 

But AKC standards - if you want to show a young dog in AKC, he has to be breed standard height. Or look close enough for the judge not to have to think (I guess you don't want your boy to look visibly shorter in the line up with the adults).


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## Altairss (Sep 7, 2012)

in the pacific northwest I see a fair amount of very small (boys and girls) Puppies and the judges don't bat an eye about it for the most part or even become particular about it until they are out of the puppy classes or its obvious they are fully mature. Most judges accept the fact that some lines are slow growers and while some owners wait till they are more mature or take them to smaller shows for experience, others just show all out. There are several lines I see regularly around here that grow really slow it doesn't keep them out of the ring at all. They may or may not be competitive against the other dogs in the ring that varies with the judge and without being able to go hands on may not be the reason they did not go up with that judge. Breed standard height is intended for adult dogs and in general its understood puppies grow at different rates. And frankly I have yet to see a judge wicket any goldens not even the really tall ones


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

(ok I had my coffee) 

This had been a conversation elsewhere and it actually caused me to think twice about something else.... 

There was a breeder judge and a well respected person in the breed who weighed in at the time and said that there is an allowance for 6 month old pups (and I gather they will ask the age if they are considering the odds) if entered in 6-9 month class. But if a judge thinks that a pup will not reach full height (bare min is 22" for boys and 20.5" for girls), that he should ask for a wicket and excuse a dog. 

So don't show to this judge if your dog isn't full height! 

But from what I've experienced or witnessed, judges are very reluctant to excuse dogs even when there are problems. One judge, for example, should have excused my dog at a show this summer because my dog refused to let the judge go over him. The judge was very old and wheezy. It only took him leaning over my dog's head and wheezing loudly in Bert's ear to have Bertie absolutely refuse to let this judge go behind him. <= The judge and I worked it out and I moved my dog for him. And ended up placing. Knowing my dog should have been excused for the behavior, I felt like the people who placed behind me were aiming hatchets at my back... 

Another example that I witnessed was a pup who was hobbling around the ring. The handler told me that she knew he was limping and it started that morning. She was showing him because she was paid to show him and it was letting the guy have the experience since he'd been groomed up and prepped already by the time the limp was discovered. 

The judge was a movement judge and you knew he saw the limping. He did not excuse the dog. The just ended up getting dumped in winners. That was all. 

But everyone in that conversation and others that I've see - they basically said that while a judge might allow for a pup to be off by 1-2 inches from the lowest end of the breed standard at 6 months, there are no exceptions in the breed for puppy heights. Which means people keep pups out of the ring until closer to 9 months and then if they aren't measuring up close to breed standard then...


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## K9-Design (Jan 18, 2009)

Most likely you are not quite measuring correctly or the puppy is moving/crouching when you're trying to measure. 20.5" at 8 months is nothing to worry about but it's unlikely he truly grew 1.5" in a few weeks 
I would give it time but unless he's really close to 22" would not show him.
There is NO allowance in our standard for height for puppies. Male puppies even 6 months old must be 22" at least or else you risk a DQ on his "permanent record."
I was at a specialty earlier in the year, the judge was a breeder judge and also very involved in judge's education for the GRCA. In the 6-9 bitch class were four puppies. One was CLEARLY the BEST puppy of the bunch both moving and standing, but she was TINY. The judge that day measured her under and disqualified her. Later on I talked to the judge and asked her why she did that, clearly the puppy will grow, and it's a beautiful puppy, why couldn't she just place it last in the class if she thought it was too small? She said, first off our standard dictates you must measure if you feel the dog is out of standard, there is no allowance for age, and as head of judge's education I must set a good example of judge's behavior. And if you place what is clearly the best puppy in the class last, just to avoid measuring the dog out, you look like an idiot for placing the dog last. Made sense.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

I cringed the first few times I showed Lucy. She was under height in the beginning. It took Lucy about 1.5 years before she reached 21" and later she finally reached 21.5". No judges ever pulled the wicket. But had they pulled the wicket, I would ask they wicket all the dogs and make it fair across the board. Let's face it, we all see over height and under height dogs and bitches in the ring. Rarely does anyone do anything about it. When it does happen in another breed like a toy breed, boy people get upset!


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## ItsMyLife (Oct 11, 2017)

Since my original post, we went to a show. Not for conformation, but to compete in obedience. We did, however, go check out the goldens doing conformation. He is noticeably smaller than the other males - even smaller than his full sibling who was there. In fact, he was repeatedly mistaken for a small female ?
We got him measured while over there and he measured in at just over 20in. He?s now just shy of 9months, and everyone seems to think it is unlikely that he will hit the standard. 
I spoke to the breeder and all I really got was ?all of my dogs will be within standard?. 
He obviously can?t compete right now, even though we have put in a lot towards ring classes. I hope he does grow more in time so we can actually compete, but I guess he is what he is.


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