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Yeah, pretty sure a growth spurt won't get my boy to where your girl is, then. That's a wide-ass dog and 10-12 months won't get him to that size.
I almost wonder if it isn't because I worry so much about joints. I always keep them on puppy food through about 18 months because I want those bones to develop pretty slowly to keep his joints healthy. And I keep my pups about 20% above the bottom of the 'recommended' weight range, still well within a healthy range but also a little below the median 'ideal' weight. The tuck he has in that still picture is the tuck I've tried to keep on him since about 6 months when I cut back his feeding to once a day (I let them have their fat puppy bellies for the first several months due to rapid early-life growth/energy needs).
But if you try to slow grow them, I'm guessing eventually the growth hormones just slow quite a bit and by the time you get off puppy food onto stuff that doesn't try to slow their growth, they've kinda run out of fuel in that regard.
Best theory I have really. But every other dog I've had has locked right into the middle of breed standard by adulthood and generally looked exactly like mom/pop.
This one's just a little confounding to me. I don't imagine he'll even get as big as my big ol' blocky black lab is. He'll be somewhere between the two chocolate's that came before him - tall as the taller brother and as wide as the broader one. Those guys spent 10-12 (of 14 and 15) years locked between 72 and 75 lbs with really no vacillation. The Black lab is generally between 80 and 90 lbs. If Winston fills out to his build but another inch or two taller, he might creep to 100 when I forget to monitor his weight as well, but I'll probably try to keep him at about 90.
Just not gonna be a truly large dog - which is probably okay because like I said here when I bought him - 130 lb dog would be fun but probably just a little more than I wanted anyway.
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