How to tell if my growing puppy or dog is overweight or too heavy?

Rather than a particular weight, we want to go for an ideal body condition score. Now with young puppies (just like kids) they are growing and the body condition scoring doesn't matter as much, but we still don't want her to be very overweight. Here is a helpful guide to checking body condition at home : https://www.aaha.org/public_documents/professional/guidelines/weightmgmt_bodyconditionscoring.pdf and your vet can also weigh in on this.

It's difficult to judge body condition at two months, so I wouldn't be too concerned; but it's advised not to let them get too fat as a puppy, because he will eventually be a fat adult. You can avoid him getting too fat and growing too quickly (another concern for problems later on) by ensuring he's fed the correct amount of large breed puppy food. A quality dog food brand will be formulated for puppies and have specific feeding instructions to ensure they get adequate nutrients and not too much. Below is a link to more information about how to look for a good food. https://mobile.petcoach.co/amp/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food I hope that helps and all is well with Invictus.

Well there can be certain breed standards of weight, but even as a puppy, it's hard to say what's a standardized weight. If you are concerned that Bella may be fat, it's best to have her seen by a vet to discuss this. It may be she is fine and not overweight. I hope this helps.

This is above the upper weight range typical of Miniature Schnauzer's so yes she may be overweight. I see she's only about 8 months old, so instead of putting her on a diet (it's because she's still growing and you shouldn't restrict her feed when she's growing), I would increase her exercise. Make sure she gets at least 30 minutes of exercise twice a day.

It's difficult to tell from the picture, but she doesn't look too skinny, or too small to me. It would take a physical exam to make this determination though. I would question the need for her to gain weight if she was otherwise healthy and not too small for her age. As long as Stella has received appropriate parasite treatment from your vet and is getting the right amount of food, she would be expected to grow well. This is all assuming that she doesn't have any other medical issue causing her not to grow well. Your vet can help make sure that is not the case. You definitely don't want her to grow too much and too fast, because this can cause a few different bone and joint problems that can cause life-long problems. I recommend feeding her food labeled for puppies at the amount recommended on the back of the bag. This can be changed to adult dog food around 8 months of age. Make sure she also visits a vet regularly for deworming, vaccines and other preventative health care. With these simple tips, Stella should grow well and stay healthy. I hope that helps and all is well with Stella.

I would feed her according to the instructions on her bag of food, but I would divide it into three equal portions to feed her three times a day. I don't worry about puppies being fat, especially if they are very active. They are growing, and they don't need to be a diet. I hope this helps!

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! How long you want her to heel on a walk is up to you. If you want her to not pull and be by your side then she should be able to do it the entire walk. At 7 months old Sienna is still growing bone wise. She doesn't look overweight in your pictures. Dogs do tend to get overweight after their spay, so you do have to be careful. I would continue the current amount of food. I provided a link on how to determine ideal body condition. If she gets too overweight, cut back. She is approaching the high end of the weight range for a female. I am guessing she will hit 50 lbs. If she is a larger framed husky she could go over that. I hope this helps! https://oregonvma.org/files/Purina-Dog-Condition-Chart.pdf