Is Thor Skinny?! (bonus: lots of Thor pics)

[MightyThor]

A recent thread about Pro Plan and weight reminded me that I've meant to post about this. I've gotten some comments about how 'skinny' Thor looks. They have come from both people who have known him since we got him at 8 weeks old, and people who have never seen him before. But I don't feel like he's too skinny at all.

He's almost 20 months old, so he's pretty much adult sized and past the puppy chub stage. When I rub my hands down his side I have to press to feel his ribs - they don't stick out by any means.

We've fed him ProPlan sensitive skin and stomach ever since we took him off puppy proplan focus. He's done great on it. We feed him exactly the recommended amount. (3 cups a day, split over 2 1.5 cup meals). He gets various treats scattered throughout the day (from yogurt to veggies to biscuits to peanut butter). If I give him any more, his poops get runny which I have always thought is a sign of over feeding.

On our last vet visit, at about 1.2 years old, he weighed in at 67 lbs and the vet said he looked good. His mom looks a lot like him, just smaller, and is 55 lbs. He's the spitting image of her father (Thor's grandpa), except Grandpa is a bit more muscular and weighs a few pounds more. His dad is 90 lbs and leans slightly towards field lab body type. Our breeder is mostly a pet breeder, aiming for health and temperament/trainability (and with dogs that have been successful hunters to therapy dogs to active outdoor dogs), and while their lines are mostly from bench labs they are not breeding for that specific body type.

I rounded up some recent pictures to see what everyone here thinks. Like I said, he feels and looks fine to me, is perfectly healthy, and gobbles down all of his food and has good poops. I would have no reason to be concerned other than that I've now heard this comment enough times to wonder. I wonder if it's because labs are so notoriously overweight that a normal weight one looks abnormal? Of course I also get people asking what he's mixed with due to his wide head (it's called not neutering until he's older) so I can't exactly trust people's evaluation of the labrador physique.

[greagre]

Thor is so handsome and my Dudu looks like him a lot. I think Thor is about right, not skinny at all.

[dxboon]

If your dog is doing well, and you're happy with how he looks, then why care what others think? At 20 months your dog will still continue to develop, especially if he wasn't neutered early.

[SunDance]

I think he looks wonderful.

Two things, though...

Holy cow, look at the tongue on that Boxer.

If that's not a Halloween display, you've got some weird neighbors.

Enjoyed the pics!

[arentspowell]

He looks like a healthy weight. Very handsome dog.

Daisy has been lean all her life and looks more filled out now at 5 than she did at 1 (she was spayed at 8 months). I've always ignored comments about her being thin. Let's face it, most pet owners have overweight dogs. Our vet actually complimented us last year for having lean dogs.

[kelsyg]

Thor is one handsome boy! He looks thin in the couch picture, but thin is not skinny. I Love the boxer, too!
Have to agree with Sundance's post about the "strange neighbors"

[sparky]

I think Thor look very heathy. I agree with others, if you are happy with Thor's weight and your vet is ok with his weight don't worry about what others say.
Mocha is down to 98 pounds from a high of 114 last winter. He has a waist, you can feel his ribs, we are happy and his vet says this is a good weight for Mocha. He's tall & leggy, 28" at the shoulders.
Love all the pictures of Thor!

[Jeff]

Nope Thor looks perfectly healthy. He a lean and muscular, which nothing wrong with that. Dog are like humans, no one is the same body shape. Thur is more the body of a bicyclist or a runner, lots of good lean muscle and little fat. Which honestly is a very good thing. Fat cells grow, however they never go away. Once you have fat cells you always have fat cells they just get like bags and fill up and deplete with fat. So really not starting to get fat cells at early age means healthier leaner weight through out life.

[Meeps83]

Agree, Thor looks thin but not skinny.

[BaconsMom]

Thor seems to have a body type alot like Bacon's. He looks lean and muscular, but not too thin. I like the rib test the best. If you can feel but not see them, then he is healthy, if you can see them, up food intake. If they are hard to feel, doggie diet time!