[FlyingQuizini]

My male is 21.5" at the withers and 43 lbs soaking wet. He's 6 yrs old. Perfectly healthy. Just small.

 

[Pointgold]

I'm surprised at the focus on weight for a 'dwarf' dog....I thought it was the height of a dog that made it dwarf?? Maybe I am totally wrong...please correct me if I am.

Apple weighs in at almost 60 pounds (as of a few weeks ago) but - her height is not nearly what it should be. That's why the vet told me she was dwarfed....that and along with the long body and smaller head (for her breed and age).

Apple seems to have a few things running towards 'dwarfism' - but not her weight.

I think that being a lesser weight is just petite....

??

"Dwarf" refers to the length of the legs, and there are deformaties and health issues associated with dwarfism that surely one should not want to intentionally reproduce. The weight of a dog with dwarfism usually exacerbates the problems with the legs, and can cause the dog to be in pain. This is a far different situation that a dog that is simply undersized.

 

[Bender]

Storee is small, she grew a few inches when she was just about 2 and is now about 20 inches at the shoulder. She's not heavy either but looks small compaired to Bender and most goldens out there. But then Bender usually gets called small as well when we're out, because she's 21 or so at the shoulder, and most of the goldens we run into are in the 24-28 range, from BYB and overweight....

At six months she still has a lot of time to grow up, I wouldn't worry. She may take after her mom and be small (they don't always 'average' between the sire/dam's size...).

Lana

 

[jnmarr]

Thanks again everyone,



Never in my life have I had a dog that fell within breed standards, I always get huge monsters LOL. Now I got a little one...

Julie

Maybe her vet can shed some light on this..

My kids were always big for their age. I hate those charts. When my daughter was in the first grade her doctor told me she was 4 inches too tall.. I asked him what he suggested I do??? Can't pidgeon hole every thing.. If you were breeding, showing, etc. it would be imparitive to stick within the standards... but for a loving pet... not so much.

I love that Penny is smaller.. she fits better next to Rusty... when we travel, etc. If a room is crowded she will run right under him! Perfect match!

 

[Dreammom]

My camera needs new batteries, but I took this with my phone this morning. Still hard to tell how small she is, but here she is - I apologize for the quality of the photo.

 

[kgiff]

My male was 38 pounds at 7 months. He's almost a year and hasn't been weighed in a while, but I doubt he's 50 pounds now.

Are there other reasons for concern besides her size?

From the responses here, it seems like she's a fine size for being on the smaller size of the breed standard.

 

[mdoats]

Oh, she's adorable!! She may be on the smallish side, but she's awfully cute.

In the video of the dwarf golden, the limbs are quite short in proportion to the rest of the body. It's tough to tell from that photo, but Layla's limbs don't look out of proportion to the rest of her body.

 

[Dreammom]

Aww thanks, she is kind of cute LOL.

She does look in proportion, her legs are a bit short, but maybe she will catch up.

I swear I don't know where that 47 lbs is... we joke that she must have rocks in her head. I guess she is a pocket golden.

 

[jnmarr]

She is adorable! Look on the bright side, less room, less food, medicine cost less, less hair.. She is your baby and she is precious!

 

[missmarstar]

My male is 21.5" at the withers and 43 lbs soaking wet. He's 6 yrs old. Perfectly healthy. Just small.

Wow he's definitely a little guy My Sammy is probably 55 lbs soaking wet... Some just come in smaller packages!

 

[Dreammom]

Well her chihuahua bark is getting annoying LOL... and she has had some digestive problems for the last few months.
Otherwise she is a bundle of energy, and that 47 compact lbs. can yank you right off your feet...so I guess she is healthy.

Are there other reasons for concern besides her size?

From the responses here, it seems like she's a fine size for being on the smaller size of the breed standard.

 

[NuttinButGoldens]

That there is the cutest thing I've ever seen

http://landofpuregold.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/caesar-the-dwarf-golden-retriever-needs-a-home/

 

[Dreammom]

another question... if her proportions are normal, and she has no other symptoms of dwarfism... are there midget dogs? My kids always call her midget...LOL.

 

[NuttinButGoldens]

Yeah, everyone see's the 100 pound Goldens. They are the exception to the rule, and frankly most I've seen are over-fed (I've been guilty of this too).

Comet looked good at 103 pounds. But he also looked good at 87 pounds. It was kinda weird, actually...

47 pounds at her age isn't all that small. I think it's probably just that your reference points are so big that you're seeing her as smaller than she really is. I had a dog who was slightly out of standard on the small side at 60 lbs, so the idea of a bitch being a few pounds below 55 (the minimum AKC standard weight for Golden bitches) hardly seems like something to worry about.

 

[shortcake23]

another question... if her proportions are normal, and she has no other symptoms of dwarfism... are there midget dogs? My kids always call her midget...LOL.

I don't think she's extremely small and could be called a midget or what not... the height for fully grown female Goldens is between 20 and 22 inches.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/goldenretriever.htm

Don't forget that she's not fully grown yet, at 7 months old, and that most Goldens you see out there are bigger than the standard.

I used to worry too about Mia's height/weight and that is when I learned all this... people still think that Mia is tiny at 9 months old... but she's 50 lbs and 21 inches high... which is well within the norm! Like members have told me on this forum, people are just used to seeing the big Goldens!

Hope this reassures you :wave:

 

[Susan6953]

There are many types of dwarfism. The most common type is achondroplasia. Acondroplastic dwarfs have normal sized heads and torsos and short limbs. The darling dog in the video is an achondroplastic dwarf. As was mentioned, orthopedic problems are common in achondroplasia. Another type of dwarfism is caused by pituitary insufficiency. Those dwarfs (often called midgets) are small but normally proportioned. Tom Thumb, for example.

I suspect that most of the small goldens mentioned in this thread are examples of what would be called "familial short stature" in humans which means they just happen to be at the short end of normal.