38#? That’s not a Lab, that’s a lap puppy! LOL How’d you get a purebred Lab that small? Did you withhold food?
I know that you have fine, fine dogs. I’ve seen the pictures and read their exploits. But I did not know that your Chocolate was so small.
I think what's going on is that the breeding was a profound outcross -- a short, stocky, blocky conformation champion father and a tall, lean, leggy daughter of a National Field Champion (the only Choc ever to take that title). When the DNA was shook up and dealt, Shelley got the leanness (and the birdiness) of her mother, but the short back and short legs of her father. So she's not only small, but lightly built. She is just an inch or so shorter than my other two, but both of them are VERY long in the back and that adds weight. You can really see the difference when they run full out -- Katy and Ruby undulate like porpoises, Shelley just flies along in a straight line like a missile. The bigger girls are faster over a longer distance, but Shelley is a blinding sprinter and can turn on a dime.