# I know it's not the lab board



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Finn looks great and I'm guessing he is loving the boat rides. Labs vary so much in body shape that is hard to tell. Can you feel his ribs easily?


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## Abbydabbydo (Jan 31, 2007)

The doc (not our regular Dr. Mike) said he could feel them and he had a nice tuck. Green beans on the way.


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## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

Muscle weighs more than fat, so if he is solid, and you can feel his ribs and see a waist you could substitute a bit of the green bean diet, but you can't go by just what the scale says.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

I agree-it's hard to tell when he is sitting but he doesn't give the impression of being overweight. Green bean diet probably won't hurt him, but keep an eye on him if he is really muscular and active-he may lose weight fast (I may have to hate him if that is true-jk!)

He is such a handsome boy!


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## Heidi36oh (Feb 27, 2007)

I always thought he looked good, Sadie is on the small side and still weighs 65 pounds. She don't look it at all


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## TriplePinesFarm (Sep 15, 2007)

I don't know......... Finn looks absolutely perfect to me.
It's hard to believe his weight fluctuated that much from just 6 months ago.
BTW......... He's just such a beautiful boy,...... my girl Jazz has fallen head over heels....LOL!!!


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## kjarv24 (Nov 7, 2008)

I see no reasons why we can't share our other pets 
Finn is just beautiful!!! 
Right before I got Jake I ran into a woman with a white lab, and Oh My!! Just gorgeous!!
I think he looks perfect with his weight, Definitely great compared to a lot of labs around here who are just way overweight!!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Can you take him to other places with scales to see if that weight is true? If you get a big difference in weight you might contact the vet and have them get their scale checked. That happened with our cat. When I took him in they said he weighed 16 pounds one year ago and 12 this year. And they went thru his file and he always had weighed 12. And then she remembered the scale was acting up last year. So my boy was on a diet for nothing. He looks good to me.


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## gabbys mom (Apr 23, 2008)

Long time lab owner here- I'm on my first Golden, but def. not my first Lab! 

Did you know the Lab standard actually does not call for a tuck up? the tuck up in pet labs is a vet created thing- labs are not supposed to have them! Check out the pic and associated standard: http://www.akc.org/breeds/labrador_retriever/ There has many articles, etc written about it the supposed lab tuck up standard. 

Boys sometimes "fill out" and in the process of maturing, put on a few pounds. If the vet said he looked good and he would have seen the change in weight on his chart, then I wouldn't mess with his food.


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## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

I think Finn looks good, but if he truly did put on 12 pounds in 18 months, then you might want to cut back his food a bit. He sure does look like he loves the boat


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I think he looks great, and happy! 80 lbs is not that much for a lab, is it?


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## coppers-mom (Jan 9, 2009)

Labs mature late and he might have just been filling out. I think you may have answered your own question here " He gets tons of exercise and is solid as a rock."
Does he like visiting the vet (copper does!)? If so maybe you could run him by and have a recheck on his weight. We go by periodically just for a weight check.
Finn sure is a good looking boy! Looks like the boat rides are quite a success.


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## LifeOfRiley (Nov 2, 2007)

I can only agree with what everyone else has already said - he looks great to me. It's hard to tell from those photos, but he doesn't look like he's overweight.

It's true that muscle weighs more than fat, so as long as you can feel his ribs and he doesn't look overweight to you, I wouldn't worry about it.


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

It's hard to tell in those pictures, and he's definitely not bad compared to other Labs, but in the side view which I think is your signature it does look like he might be slightly big. Part of that is just breeding - if their ribcage is that wide, there's not much you can do because you have to keep a certain amount of fat on him to keep from scaring people. But if you can't easily feel his ribs, he could probably stand to lose a few pounds.

The AKC standard for males says 22.5 to 24.5 inches tall and 65 to 80 pounds. It seems to me that something happened with the structure of current Labs to mean that when they don't have a tuck (as the standard calls for) they're usually overweight (both by vet standards and by the AKC standard). Or they're right at 22.5 inches tall and 80 pounds - "but he's within the standard!" - no, that's not really what the standard had in mind. I think it's obviously much healthier for a dog to have a tuck and weight in proportion to his height according to the standard. My Lab is a little over 22" tall and 62 pounds (both are slightly below standard).


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## Abbydabbydo (Jan 31, 2007)

Thanks all for taking the time to give me your opinion. K and D, he does look pudgy on the boat, pudgy comfortable. I am definitely watching it and I have cut out some treats and bought a bag of carrots  Thanks.


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