# How much weight/girth after age 1?



## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

My dog is 12 months old now ..how much weight do they put on after 1 year , about? How much girth do you think? An inch , 5 inches ? lol

I only ask because I am starting to invest in some gear. My last little skin baby goes to school full days starting June 2nd and I want to do some serious day hikes and workouts with my GSD and my Boxer mix. Boxer mix is 5 so he is easy to size  Looking for backpacks , nice harnesses , for them etc.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

I bought Halo's backpack when she was 16 months old, and had her wear it empty for two months. At a year and a half I started pretty light, with just a 1/2 liter of water in each side, and then built up to more weight. Properly conditioned, an adult dog can safely carry as much as 25-30% of their weight, but mine are usually in the 10-15% range because we only do day hikes. 

With the Ruffwear packs there was enough of an overlap between sizes that Halo can wear either a small or a medium, and Keefer can wear either a medium or a large. I chose to go with the smaller sizes since the bags are sized accordingly, and I don't need the extra capacity. 

Keefer was an adult when I bought his pack so he was easy - his girth is 33", which put him 3" under the maximum for a medium (26"-36"). With Halo I did have to guess, but her growth had already slowed down quite a bit by then, so I felt safe going ahead with the small - her girth was 28" at the time (no idea if she's any bigger now, at 5 years old, but the pack still fits perfectly and there are still couple of inches of play in the straps), and the small goes up to 30". 

Have you measured Alvin's girth? If you can wait a couple of months you'll have a better idea of what size to get unless he's well within the size range for whatever pack you decide on. Halo has the Ruffwear Approach and Keefer has the Ruffwear Palisades.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Depend on the lines. Otto is all DDR, he outgrew a harness and a 24" collar at 4 y/o

Venus is 14 months - mostly WGW, 1/4 american & a dash of DDR to give her a sense of humor. She's still in the same harness I bought her at 6 months and she's probably not going to outgrow it.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Thanks! I am going to check out ruffwear  I have to measure his girth..his chest is pretty narrow at the bottom of it right now..I think he may fill out quite a bit still. I suppose if I go with a size and he outgrows it I can just sell it. He is 12 months and 76 pounds at the vet 2 weeks ago.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Girth measurement is the most important criteria to determine fit, so start there.  My guess is that he could wear either a medium or a large, but it just takes a few seconds to wrap a tape measure around his chest.


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## Sri (Apr 25, 2013)

I just measured Frodo today for a harness as well! He is a bit less than 31 inches in girth. Between 25 - 26" in height.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

I only have a metal tape measure lol I will have to get some string and do it that way. I am mostly looking for a cool backpack for day hikes  

To measure girth do I just measure around the deepest part of his chest?


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## Sri (Apr 25, 2013)

Yeah i think so. Just behind the front legs. 


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Oisin's Aoire said:


> To measure girth do I just measure around the deepest part of his chest?


Yes! The Ruffwear website has a diagram:










String is fine - just wrap it around him, mark the spot, and then hold it against your metal tape measure.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Thanks! 

I am going to order backpacks today. It is 1st day of Spring and nice out . I am itching for it to be June 2nd. I think I 'll wave bye bye to my little ones and be throwing all of our roll out gear in the truck before the bus turns off my block lol . I'll have from 7:30 to 3:30 free every week day! I adore my kids , but I have been struggling to get back in shape and lose the last 25 pounds of baby weight ( because , you know , the baby is like almost 3 years old lol ) . 7 years home with babies , I am ready to have just the dogs during the day for a while lol 

Alvin is finally ONE so I feel good about some hard exercise besides tug ( I was worried about his hips but they seem pretty good now ). The boy needs some serious workouts ..78 pounds with the zoomies in a 3 bedroom colonial is getting old I'll be taking my 90 pound boxer mix with us too..looks like he is a large and my GSD a medium. 

Spring fever !!


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## Sri (Apr 25, 2013)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Keefer was an adult when I bought his pack so he was easy - his girth is 33", which put him 3" under the maximum for a medium (26"-36"). With Halo I did have to guess, but her growth had already slowed down quite a bit by then, so I felt safe going ahead with the small - her girth was 28" at the time (no idea if she's any bigger now, at 5 years old, but the pack still fits perfectly and there are still couple of inches of play in the straps), and the small goes up to 30".


I was looking for Ruffwear Approach. Some sites list Medium at 26" - 36" which would be perfect for me to buy. But some list it at 27 - 32" which he would outgrow .


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Sri said:


> I was looking for Ruffwear Approach. Some sites list Medium at 26" - 36" which would be perfect for me to buy. But some list it at 27 - 32" which he would outgrow .


I noticed that the way sizes are listed on the Ruffwear site now (picture I posted above) is different than the way it used to be, but I don't think they actually changed the sizes, they just no longer show the overlap. Instead, each larger size starts at the same dimension that the previous size ended with. 

You could try sending the company an email and ask, or post on their Facebook page. The way it is now is more confusing, IMO, it used to be really easy to figure out what size to buy even if your dog wasn't fully mature yet. With the "new" sizing I would have bought Halo a medium and Keefer a large, even though they both fit perfectly in the smaller sizes which have plenty of capacity for our needs.


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