Before & After, can he be growing up at 2 years?

[Islanddog]

Just curious...

 

He's paperwork puts him down as born July 2014, so 2 now, 18 months in January when he arrived. He was 30 lbs on intake, and is now 38 lbs, they said he was underweight, but he just looked thin to me, and he is still trim now.

 

His behaviours were very puppyish at first, but that could be appeasement behaviours of a dog trying really hard to fit in to a new home.

 

He had zero undercoat, and now, even though it's summer, he has a visible undercoat.

 

He had a thin tail, sparse belly hair, just less hair. Maybe he was trimmed at the groomer, but it looked very much like a natural coat to me. Now he has a plume tail, and longer hair on feathers, ears, butt, etc.

 

He just looks/seems, grown up now, whereas he seemed very puppy to me when he arrived.

 

Maybe regular meals promoted a late growth spurt?

 

Before:

 

After:

 

and sorry if it's off-topic for the board, I know he may be zero 'real' border collie, and the only sure thing he is is a street dog from the islands, but I wouldn't know where else to go to get a better answer so I hope you don't mind my asking. Thanks.

 

[Sue R]

I think he's 100% fabulous!

 

Some dogs just mature later than others. Plus, if nutrition was skimpy in his youth, you could be seeing some compensatory gain in his growth since he's been on better rations.

[rushdoggie]

My Papillon puppy grew between ages 3 and 4. Hes trim and athletic, and his swim vest had to be adjusted a notch this spring, and the platform I use for training used to be just the right size for him to fit on and he can no longer quite get a sit on it. Some dogs mature very slowly.

[Gloria Atwater]

I was also going to say that improved nutrition may be working wonders for him! He is still young enough to put on growth, especially in musculature, and very often dogs don't get their full coats until 3 or 4 years old. My first BC didn't come into her full coat until she was 5!

So, I'd say his new life is definitely agreeing with him, right down to the molecular level.

I'd sure be inclined to think there's a dose of SOME kind of herding dog in the mix, whether Aussie or BC. Whatever he is, he's definitely 100% adorable.

~ Gloria

[waffles]

We got Levi at 2 years old, from his original owners so his age was known. We neutered him two weeks later.

 

When I look at photos of the first 6 months and then beyond, his coat changed a lot and he starting looking less puppy-ish. Someone told me their coats can really change after neutering (my vet seemed to agree). His became flufflier (more cotton like) and eventually curly/wavy in spots. When we got him it was poker straight and coarse. He also ate cheap colorful food and lived outside 24/7 with a fully dreadlocked tail. He put on a lot of muscle in that first year and started to look more filled out, adult like.

 

I think it was a combo of better nutrition, finally getting exercised and possibly the neuter. So this may possibly be the same case with your boy. He looks quite happy to have found you too!

[Islanddog]

Wow, thanks, mysteries solved then. I thought I was imagining things, then looked at the photo's, thought they 'shaved' him--which really didn't make sense either.

I'm sure his skimpy tail (and other feathery parts) was from 'dreadlock' removal. He really does need regular brushing now (and it's a pleasure), but the short body fur looked natural. So it all makes sense now knowing that coats can take time to grow in with age or nutrition.

As for musculature, not sure, (with all the new hair, hard to tell), but it may well be then that it's not just my imagination that he looks 'mature' now, and puppy-ish then.

Anyway, I'm a very happy (thrilled) with him. He's a smart, 'natural' aka moderately built, lively, fast (very fast) agile little guy, (I keep calling him little, because all of my previous dogs were gsd). He is a whole lot of dog and fun to own.

[D'Elle]

He looks border collie to me, at least in part. And beautiful. Having done a lot of rescue fostering, I have seen similar transformations in dogs due to good nutrition, exercise, and love, which had been lacking in their previous lives. I have also seen this in dogs a lot older than one or two years old. Looks to me as though he is simply thriving in your care, and so good for you (and him).

[alligande]

He is looking very much like a border collie now. At 2 I thought my dog had a lovely silky coat with a minimum of under coat by 3 he has the same silky coat but a very heavy under coat. He was done growing at just over one but continued to fill out until over 3.

[MyRuna]

I saw a similar transformation with my rescue, Zuri. She was between 1-2 yrs, had been a stray and just weaned 9 puppies. She didn't have much of a coat and I remember watching her run in the yard and thinking, "I wish she had a fluffier tail" (she had kind of a rat tail). Sometime during our first year, I noticed how much her coat had changed, including a magnificent fluffy tail. After briefly considering joining a coven to explore the extent of my mystical powers, I accepted the fact it was due to the much improved diet.

I don't think my before and after pictures look that much different than yours. Might have been diet, not dreadlocks removal.

He is a beauty!

[Islanddog]

I saw a similar transformation with my rescue, Zuri. She was between 1-2 yrs, had been a stray and just weaned 9 puppies. She didn't have much of a coat and I remember watching her run in the yard and thinking, "I wish she had a fluffier tail" (she had kind of a rat tail). Sometime during our first year, I noticed how much her coat had changed, including a magnificent fluffy tail. After briefly considering joining a coven to explore the extent of my mystical powers, I accepted the fact it was due to the much improved diet.

I don't think my before and after pictures look that much different than yours. Might have been diet, not dreadlocks removal.

He is a beauty!

I think we should hold out on that mystical coven--now can we cure baldness too?

 

The pictures show the same transformation, impressive.

[GentleLake]

It's pretty normal for a bitch to have blown her coat after whelping, so I'm sure part of Zuri's transformation was simply normal regrowth of coat after the litter.

[MyRuna]

It's pretty normal for a bitch to have blown her coat after whelping, so I'm sure part of Zuri's transformation was simply normal regrowth of coat after the litter.

I didn't know about blowing a coat after whelping.

 

When she started getting fluffier, I just assumed that being an underfed stray and carrying nine puppies hadn't left anything to grow hair. She came into foster with no coat and had her puppies the same day. Now I'm wondering if she was in bad enough shape that she blew her coat early in her pregnancy?

 

Fluffy was a nice surprise, though I still would have loved her just as much with the rat tail.

[GentleLake]

I'm no expert, but if she had poor nutrition during the pregnancy, especially since she was so young, It wouldn't surprise me that she may indeed have blown her coat early.

 

I also adopted an approximately 1 year old stray who was very malnourished when he was picked up. I suspect that partly because of his age, poor nutrition and the fact that he moved from Kentucky to upstate NY, his fur thickened noticeably over the next year, year and a half. Hard to separate out the various components. Could have been any one of them or more likely the combination.