How do you know when a dog has stopped growing?

As per the title really....

Monty is just 7 months old and I've always gauged his growth by how often I have to adjust his collar.

Now recently he's had his meals dropped down to 2 a day but gets fed a bit more on the basis of his feeding chart weight guide.

I don't think I've adjusted his collar for over a month now so has he stopped growing height wise and will now just fill out or should I expect another growth spurt??

He was the same height as his mum when we went to visit last month and I've only seen photos of his dad who looked huge!

I was expecting that he'd be fully grown height wise at 12 months then would fill out upto 18 months.

I haven't adjusted Murphy's collar since he was about a year old, but he is definitely bigger now than a year ago!

My boys have both grown upwards until they were at least one, and then variously filled out. Max is 3 and has never filled out, and I suspect he won't; whereas Murphy is nearly 2 and is about as full as you can get!

Is Monty generally getting more exercise now the days/nights are lighter etc? I don't mean more walks per se, just more time on the go?
It could be that his energy is being used up in this way, rather than on growing? I find that both my boys eat loads more between about April and September, as they are on the go (not that Max ever looks anything except half-starved).

I think with my two their growth slowed down at around 7/8 months but they continued to grow height wise til about a year and it took until they were about 3/4 to finish filling out Finn is only now at 4 looking more like an adult boxer.

Boxers seem to be all different shapes and sizes while growing but all get there in the end.

A large dog doesn't normally finish growing till at least 2 years old. My 2 were 3 years old before they finished. I noticed because they started growing outwards instead of upwards, He has a heck of a lot more growing to do yet

Interesting to see the differences between dogs growth spurts.

Monty is on the go probably a bit more than he was as it takes more these days to really tire him out. A quick run and game in the park doesn't cut it these days!! He's definitely got more of an appetite as well.

Friends say to us all the time that he's grown but I think because we see him every day we don't notice it as much.

It is funny how boxers can vary so greatly in size. He towered over a female boxer we saw on a walk on Sunday and she was about 6 years old.

Pepper was a real skinny Mini until she was about 2, only then did she start to fill out and it looks like Gozo is following a similar pattern and they are both small dogs! So I reckon Monty has quite a bit more growing to do, one way or another.

J

When I want to adopt them Esme -that's when you know they're full grown

You mean you wouldn't want Monty now?!?

Can't possibly imagine why not, he's an angel!!

Angel he most likely is, I'm just not a puppy girl
I like doggies mature, like me

It really depends on the breed. With my breed (Labs), they tend to do the bulk of their growing in the first six months. Then any growing they do from then slows down quite considerably, but they continue to 'fill out' (gain muscle mass/bone) until they are 2 or even 3 years old.

Good breeders should be able to tell you how long it takes for their lines to mature.