The best way to judge if a dog is the right weight or not is by putting your hands on them.
You should be able to feel your dogs ribs easily with just a little pressure.
Make a loose fist with one hand. Now with your other hand run a finger over the back of your fisted hand. If that's what your dogs ribs feel like then she is probably overweight. Now run your finger lightyly over the knuckles of your fisted hand. If your dog's ribs feel like that she is too skinny. Finally run your finger over the fingers of your fisted hand. This is approx what you should feel when lightly running your hands over your dog's side.

One other thing is that I wouldn't determine if Tikeya is a senior just by her age. If she is acting like normal and isn't gaining weight easily then I wouldn't feed senior food. Most dog foods classify dogs 7 and older as seniors. By their standards then Emily would be a senior, but she's as active as ever.

I hope this helps.

Originally posted by binka_nugget
Is 35-50 according to the breed standard? The standard for Shelties says 14-18 pounds but there is just no way that Kai could be healthy at 18 pounds. The Vet said Kai's ideal weight would be 35ish or so... standards aren't always that reliable.
FYI there is no standard weight for a sheltie. Not in the actual ACK or CKC standard. So anything you've read about shelties having to weigh between a certain ammount was just written by someone who pulled the numbers out of their...umm "hat" so to speak.
http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/shetshee.cfm