I recently adopted a Cardigan from a shelter and they guessed his age at 1 year old, but I suspect he is younger.  He is still very puppyish in his ways and quite submissive.  We live in the mountains of Colorado, he has a nice coarse coat but no undercoat at all, and the fringe on his tail is still short. He was  a bit skinny  and weighed 20.6 Lbs.  His head is bulky and seems large for his size, as if he still is growing into it, ears are large, but not huge.  I am thinking he may be around 9 months old.  I tried to find some data on growth rate in the Cardigans, but have not found anything regarding averages for  age and size. Would love some feedback.

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I know, at least with the pems, they take A LONG time to mature. My corgi is almost 2 and is still growing. When he was a year old he was only about 18 pounds, no undercoat, no frilly butt, etc. He is now almost 2 and he has developed an undercoat (not as thick as a normal corgi) and has gotten lots of frills on his butt and collar. He has also gained over 10 pounds (not at all fat still). They develop like a large breed dog, so your dog may very well be 1, but with the corgis since they take a while to fully develop, may seem to you like he is a lot younger. Being a shelter dog will affect his personality a lot (i.e. may be why he is submissive)

Thanks Melissa, I always had large dogs, so I am familiar with their growth patterns and your analogy is helpful.  As for his personality, he was at the shelter for  just two weeks, he was picked up roaming and had been picked up before, so they knew who he belonged to.

He had no shots (not even puppy shots).... and the owners did not claim him, unwilling to pay the fees.  Luckily he ended up in a no kill shelter where he got all his shots, microchipping, neutering and, with all that stress and exposure,  kennel cough.  I saw him on Petfinder.com the eve of my birthday and the next day he was mine :-)  He is doing well, is such a love and fits in great with my other dogs!  I feel very lucky to have him in my life and look forward to seeing how he develops.

If he is that young, your vet should be able to guess the age within a month or two, based on what adult teeth he has and how worn they are (or in this case aren't).   They were able to guess the age of a kitten we adopted based on the fact that she had all her adult teeth, but they looked brand-new so had likely just come in.  

 

Good luck with the new guy!   Rare to find a Cardi in a shelter like that, since they aren't that common.

Some Cardis grow much more slowly than others, but at a year for a male, 20.6 is very small (as you already know).  If he was skinny, that does explain some of it though.  He could just be genetically built smaller - it happens.  My smaller boy is between 33 and 34 lbs at one year.  He was maybe 31-32 lbs at 9 mos. 

 

Do you have any other photos of your guy?  Are they certain he's purebred?  He looks like a Cardi in the face from your profile pic.  As far as the coat, if he was malnourished, his coat will reflect it.  Coat can vary a lot in thickness/length within the Cardi "standard".  Some have tight, flatter coats and others are longer and thicker.  My correct coated merle was already greatly endowed with adult coat (including a huge fox-brush tail) at 9 mos.   I can't use my fluff for comparison.

 

Heads were never really out of proportion with bodies (ears were another story).  Are his paws in proportion to his leg bones?  Younger ones' paws look larger until their legs fill out - but even by 9 mos. you shouldn't notice that.

 

I bet his breeder would love to know how he got in a shelter.  Cardi breeders  - at least the ones I know - are VERY protective of their babies.

 

Oh, and my two are very much still puppies mentally.  I understand male Cardis can be mentally "puppyish" for like four years.
Thanks Elizabeth.  Yes he is a Cardigan, he's a brindle, good thick flat coat, just no undercoat which surprised me because of our cold weather.  His head could look big because he's skinny...  No good pictures yet, he was sick and we kept him mostly inside. Feet are not big, compared to the leg bone.  Since whomever had him didn't even give puppy shots, I'm assuming he was fed cheap food.  That can affect growth....   Sure would love to know where he came from.

Both of mine are blowing coat. The fluff barely has any undercoat left and it's cold in VA, too.  Doesn't make sense.

Went to a dog show today to see my fluff's sister compete in conformation.  She is a year old, quite petite and has a very flat, coarse coat.  Her tail also has very little brush, but she's still within standard.  Totally puppyish, too.  Putting her beside my merle who is six weeks younger,but much larger with a lush coat of fur, I'd NEVER guess she was older than him.  She looks younger only because her coat and build seem underdeveloped in comparison.
My male is still "puppyish" at 9 years.....I think it is environmental....I do sometimes encourage slacker behavior.  I think that he has never technically left if dog mom has something to do with it to.  He is just our big, overgrown, puff-a-lump puppy...HAHAHAHAH  ^,,^

It's really hard to say especially without pictures, but 20 lbs. would be quite small for an adult male. Of course there are always dogs that will be over or under-sized compared to the standard, so he may just be on the small side. As far as his coat, it's possible he may have blown his undercoat while he was roaming or at the shelter due to the stress of it all, but cardis can really have a variety of coat lengths. Not all will have the big fluffy fox tail.

Just for comparison my cardi boy is 7.5 months and about 24 lbs. He's on an all life stages food so I assume his growth is somewhat slower than if he was on a regular puppy food, but corgis in general just seem to mature very slowly.

Jane, what are you feeding and how much?  As for coat, his coat is very good texture and quantity on the body, he does not look like he blew coat, he looks like he's not developed any undercoat yet.  I've now had him 4 weeks and there is zero shedding.  I read they don't develop undercoat until their second winter, is that correct?

I feed Fromm's Four Star Nutritionals - the chicken variety at the moment, but I alternate the flavors each time I buy a bag so they're used to getting different foods. Luke gets about 3/4 cup twice a day along with occasional treats.

Luke started to get undercoat when he was around 6 months old I think and it's quite evident now. Your boy may just have a tighter/shorter coat.

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