Puppy Growth Rate Explained

 

A new dog owner is always going to ask the question "How big will my puppy get?" To determine puppy growth rate, a person has to consider a lot of variables to ever be able to get an accurate answer for any individual breed of dog.And even after all that, you will still only be able to get an average "puppy growth rate" range...or a ballpark figure.

But how does a person estimate how big their puppy is going to get?It helps if you understand that puppies at different ages grow at different rates.The very same way that dogs of different breeds will 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.And, if it will continue to grow larger 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 reached 4 months of age.And if you own one of those giant breeds, your dog will double what they weigh at 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 5, 15, 25 or 125 pounds.You have to educate yourself on the puppy growth rate of the different breeds of dogs. 

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 will top the scales at 20 pounds year one, and 35 pounds by year two.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.

NOTE: 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 3 inches taller, and 50 pounds lighter than either of my 2 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.Just understand that this "puppy growth rate" is an average estimate of what your dog will grow to be.(And I wouldn't trade my eleven pound poodle for any six pound poodle around.)

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