collar size

Question
Hello Dlee,

I have a five-month-old (female) Labrador-Newfie cross.  (I always said, if I could design a dog, that would be it--and I was lucky to find such an "accident" in my own neighorhood.) My problem is in guessing how big she is likely to grow. Given she looks much more Lab than Newfie--in particular with her dainty-ish Labrador feet--I am guessing this should give me some idea of her final size. (She has a Newfie-ish head, but seems also to have a typical Lab neck--which is my problem. It's been a very long time since I had a Labrador, and (my first question): I forget at about what age they reach their full size.

Related to that, as she is about to ourgrow her second (presently 18") collar, I would rather her third be her last, so I want to guage the new size correctly--in particular since I have my eye on a rather spectacular (read: "expensive") red model that would really show off her shiny black coat.  But I don't fancy the idea of having to toss that one too, out, in a few months.

Got any idea of what size collar I should be looking at?

ATB,
Dan

Answer
Hello, My 80 pounds adult labrador retreiver(purebred) has a 22 inch collar or neck...I think collar..the collar must be 2 inches genrally longer then the dogs neck measurement...you want to be able to stick two or three fingers into it so it shouldnt be overly tight. A large breed dog reaches adult size in height and weight at 2 years of age. I'd go with a cheaper collar for now a thick nylon collar with a buckle(not snap) would be strong adn fairly inexpensive you can upgrade to a nicer model when your sure she is done growing.