feeding my puppy

hi everybody, I am fairly new so you wont have yet realised the extent of my paranoia! I am always wondering if I am doing the right thing by max who is a 3 month old chocolate lab well he is 15 1/2 weeks. He has been on lamb and rice jwb since he has been with me. I always gave him what it says on the packet for his age weight breed etc and used bits of this for treats except he does get tubos when I leave him in crate once when I go out and 2 gravy bone thingies when I put him in crate to go to bed. Anyway a few people had commented on him carrying a lot of weight. He is 16kg but he is going to be a big boy as his feet are massive. He is chunky but I can feel his ribs and he does have a bit of a waist. He is bigger than his 2 sisters but then they are female and shorter than him with smaller chests feet and heads. What finished me off was when I was at dog training class this week the trainer commented on max being slow was because he was carrying extra weight!! How rude!!! He was most upset! Anyway a friend said that not to go by what it says on the dog food packet as they overestimate so I have cut it back a little bit and he gets 125g 3 times a day but now he is desperate for all his meals and wolfs them down in seconds where as before he would meander over and eat at his own pace. I dont know what to do. I dont want to grow an obese dog and a puppy we had when I was a child got fat and never managed to lose it again and suffered arthirits as an older dog although did live 13 happy years. Anyway in short (sorry I know I waffle) What is the right thing to do. Does anybody know how much I should feed him? I dont want him to be hungry but I dont want him to be fat. Does anybody know when I can add veg to bulk out his food? Sorry to go on and thanks in advance for any replies.

im not exactly an expert, but heres my advice to you from what people have told me with indie.
If you are giving him treats during the day, then you would need to cut down the amount you give him in his main meals.
Does he always finish the meal? I have found the portions they suggest for indie are too big and she doesnt finish it.

Also, how many meals is he on a day? and are you dividing it evenly? sounds like a stupid question, i know, but u can never be too sure.

Alsom what sort of dog is he? is he really hyperactive and running around all day or is he quite quiet

I take his treats out of his daily food allowance apart from 2 extra things he getas each day. I divide the rest into three portions he gets at 8 2 and 8. He is a chocolate labrador and he finishes everything he gets always!!!! He varies between being hyper and being lazy. He has manic periods and then sleeps for hours but other times he just potters round the garden resuming his effort to break through to australia and watching what we are doing he also spends alot of time sitting between my kids when they are on playstation still waiting for his go.

hmm.. it might just be the way he is built. since as you said you think he will be a big dog... perhaps to everyone else he looks big, but that is because hes going to grow lots. Does he have any fat on him? or is it muscle (obv hard to tell with a puppy cos they have puppy fat).
I dont think you need to worry about it just yet since you said you can feel his ribs, which im sure thats how its meant to be. perhaps you can post a photo of him onhere? if youve work it out yet. hehe

i have posted some pics in the piccy comp thing but he was a diddy pup then I will try and post a more recent one in the picture section thingy but to be honest with me its a bit hit and miss. Sometimes I can work it out and sometimes I cant plus I am really slacking and need to take some more pics of him!!!! I will try and find a fat one of him and maybe then stick it on dog food cupboard for him its supposed to work for humans after all. (although I just ignore mine)

Hi Katy

Can u feel his ribs? Does he have a waist?

If not he's probablely (cover his ears!!!) a bit on the chubby side

I'm not at home right now, but I'll look in my calendar and see what Luna weighed and how much she was fed when she were his age. Its 15 weeks right?

Maybe that can help you a bit!

from the pics he doesnt look fat, and if you can feel his ribs, its probably ok. its probably more puppy fat than anything, and he will run that off.

that would be a great help. He does have a bit of a waist although not as much as his sister. I can feel his ribs though.

As Jenny said and as I've written in the pics topic he's not fat.

But I'll have a look for you, it shouldn't be long before I'm home, just gotta get the girls out first

Ooops mentioned the food thing the wrong place. Oh well here goes:

When Luna was 15 weeks old she weighed 12 kg, Max should prob weigh a bit more as he is a boy!

Luna was at that time fed Nutro Choice Large Breed Puppy and got 290 grams a day, I followed the bag.

She gained about half a kilo per week.

Hope this is any use to you.