Determine Puppy Growth Rate

 

The commmon question of all new puppy owners is "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 now how does is a person to estimate how big their puppy is going to get?  What you need to know is that puppies at different ages grow at different rates.The same way that dogs of different breeds grow at different rates.This makes it very hard to pin point exactly to the pound, how big your puppy is going to be at one year.And, if it will continue growing larger in the following year.

Determine Puppy Growth Rate

Generally speaking, here is one way to determine puppy growth rate.An adult dog will weigh about twice as much as it did when it was 4 months of age.And the rule of thumb for the giant breeds, your dog is going to double what they weigh at 5 months. 

So, before buying that puppy, a person needs to do their homework on the different breeds of dogs.You need to know if your new dog is going to reach 9, 19 or 109 pounds when grown.You should understand the puppy growth rate on the different dog breeds. 

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 bulldog is expected to reach about 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 1, and 75 pounds by year 2.And the largest breeds, like our great dane will reach 110 pounds by year one, and 130 pounds by year two.

But also understand that two male puppies from the same liter can also vary in size, the same way your two brothers can be very different in size.(I'm around 3 inches taller, and 50 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.Daisy, my slender, long legged toy poodle was not suppose to get any larger than her 6 lb pound mother.Instead, she had the genes of her moms sister, and she topped out at eleven pounds.Just accept the fact that puppy growth rate is an average estimate of what your dog will grow up to be.(And I wouldn't think of trading my eleven pound poodle for any six pound poodle in the world.)

Find out everything you need to know about your puppy's health.