Puppy Care

A question asked by all new Puppy owners is going to be “How big will my Puppy get?” To determine Puppy growth rate, you have to first consider a lot of variables to ever be able to get an accurate answer for any individual dog breed.  And even then, you will only be able to get an average “Puppy growth rate” range…or a ballpark figure.

But how does a person guess how big their Puppy is going to get?What you really need to know is that puppies at different ages grow at different rates.The very same way that puppies of different breeds grow at different rates.This makes it very difficult to pin point exactly to the pound, how big your Puppy is going to be at one year old.And, if it will continue to grow larger in it’s 2nd year.

Determine Puppy Growth Rate

Generally speaking, here is one way to determine Puppy growth rate.An adult dog will weigh almost twice as much as it did when it reached 4 months of age.And the rule of thumb for the giant breeds, your dog will double what they weighed when they were 5 months. 

So, before you purchase a Puppy, you really need to do your research on the different dog breeds.You need to know if your new canine is going to reach 9 lbs or 109 lbs.You have to understand the Puppy growth rate on the different breeds of dofgs. 

Different Breeds Grow At Different Rates

An average small breed dog, like a toy poodle will reach full weight by year one, at 8 pounds.A bull dog will reach 20 pounds at one year, and 35 by their second year.  A larger breed dog, such as a german shepherd will reach 70 pounds by year one, and 75 pounds by year two.  And the largest breeds, like a great dane will reach 110 pounds by year one, and 130 pounds by year two.

Also understand that two male puppies from the same liter can also vary in size, the same way two brothers can be very different in size.  (I’m three inches taller, and fifty pounds lighter than either of my brothers)

What About Genetics

This then tells me, that genetics can also play a big part in Puppy growth rate.I have a slender, long legged toy poodle that was expected to get no bigger than her 6 pound mother.  Instead, she had the genes of her mothers sister, and she topped out at eleven pounds.But understand this, Puppy growth rate is an average estimate of what your dog will grow up to be.(And I wouldn’t trade my 11 pound poodle for any 6 pound poodle in the world.)

Find out everything you need to know about your Puppy’s health.