# Weight?



## Walter (May 31, 2015)

Not sure how much help I'll get, but I'm a bit worried about Walter's weight.

He's about 14 months old, he got a full cut yesterday and came out looking skinny. His coat is so thick, even when short, that it's impossible to see if his ribs are poking through, though he does have about 5-10mm of 'grabbable' fat over them. His back legs seem skinnier than they were last time he was cut at 10/11 months although he wasn't cut as short last time.

I thought he was getting enough exercise however I'm now wondering if he just got used to what we were giving him and accepted that as normal. He gets about an hour a day and then is no trouble. I decided to up his food and exercise to see if I could get him to build a bit more muscle.

He generally eats his food which is the Millie's Wolfheart Riverside Mix rated at a 4.8 out of 5 on all about dog food, but he does tend to leave some of it unless he realises that something better isn't going to come along that day. Sometimes he just wont eat it. If I switch his food for something else he'll eat it all. I'm thinking of perhaps supplementing his food with some raw meat or switching to one with a higher fat and protein to carbs ratio.

I also just took him on the field behind the house. Granted it is hot, and a yappy little yorkie decided to keep him on his feet, but after about 45 minutes of solid high-octane running round he decided that he was done and found a nice shaded spot to lie down. He did jump up every time I threw the ball though.

The other problem is that he's a standard poodle crossed with a cocker. The vast majority of information on the internet seems to assume that you have a miniature or toy poodle cross so I can't find any accurate weight recommendations. I know he should be more slender rather than shorter and stockier given the standard poodle genes but I'm not sure what the tolerances are.

Does anyone have any experience with standard poodle crosses and can you give me any advice as to what I should be looking for at 14 months?


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Standard poodles tend to be relatively slim dogs but 5-10mm of grab able fat sounds like he is just fine to me to be honest. I like dogs to have a defined waist from above, a decent tuck up below and ribs to be fairly easy to feel.


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