Puppy Growth Rate Is Explained

 

The majority of all new puppy owners ask the question "How big will my puppy get?"  To determine puppy growth rate, one has to 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 one 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 old.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 you purchase a puppy, you really need to do your research on the different dog breeds.You really need to know if your new puppy is going to reach 9 pounds or 109 pounds.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 bull dog will reach 20 pounds at one year, and 35 by their second year.A larger breed dog, like the german shepherd will reach 70 pounds by the first year, and 75 pounds by the second year.And the largest breeds, like a great dane will reach 110 by year one, and 130 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 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.My slender, long legged toy poodle at home was not to get any bigger than her 6 pound mother.Instead, she had the genes of her mothers sister, and topped out at eleven pounds.  Just understand that puppy growth rate is an average estimate of what your dog will grow up to be.(And I wouldn't trade in my eleven pound poodle for any six pound poodle in the world.)

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