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Curious if a puppy's birth weight tends to show any indication of what size it might be when full grown (as far as big vs average vs little)? In a breed that tends to average 9-12oz at birth, a small dam just whelped 15 1/2 and 15 3/4 oz girl puppies. She's a tiny thing at less than 19inches tall while sire is a big boy at 21 1/2 inches.

Thoughts? We were expecting small girls and big boys or the like from the pair but I'm hopeful this might suggest these two girls could grow up nice and big...


TCrown

In my breed (std poodles), my experience has been that birth weight is never a good indication of final size.

Good luck with your puppies - enjoy!

Kathy

I worked very closely with a Keeshonden breeder and I can tell you after practically raising 3 litters, birth weight has little correlation to full size. Especially if you help with feeding for smaller pups.

I agree, in my last litter the smaller pup at birth (2 boys and we are going by weight here) was the bigger pup by 6 months of age. Seelie was not the biggest pup in his litter either, but he out grew both his parents and is 10 lbs heavier than his brother.

krisk

Id say little indication. Countless times ive seen the intial "runt" turn into the largest pup. Especially if its a breed that tends to have larger litters- litters with singleton/twin babies can get bigger in the womb because theyre getting more and have more space

Dead Until Dark- that's the case here, just a litter of 2. In the cases where they might just grow larger in the womb do you see them later average back out to what you might expect from any more "normal" sized litter (herding breed here)? Or do you think that extra growth tends to stay with them and create a larger dog once mature?

It doesn't really matter to me in the long run. I'm getting one of the girls if all goes well and since I hope we'll be competing in agility together I was just interested in finding out how common or not it might be that this little "extra" might stay with her to adulthood (instead of small or average maybe she'd be on te larger side?) and if so I'd be that much happier for it due to possibility of an easier time over taller jump heights. So yeah, just curious. If she matures into a little gal like her dam we'll just take that much precaution to see what jump heights she's comfortable at and jump her there


TCrown

No, how many pups born has little effect on the size the pup will mature at. This is more about the genetics behind the puppy. Now the pup may be born at a higher weight than you are used to seeing for that breed. But end growth will reflect the genetics of the dog.

Twice I have (or been involved) with litters of 2 puppies. The first litter had two big puppies (one male, one female). Now one of these puppies was my old boy Connor who ended up maturing at 107 lbs (heavy for a GSD), but he stood 26" at the shoulder (in standard for GSD). This breeding was repeated 2 more times (both those litters were 7-8 puppies), his younger siblings matured big boned pups to. In fact he had a younger brother that could of been his twin. The other litter was Molly's and we have just repeated the breeding. Now Molly's second litter is a little young to see how they compare, but they seem to be keeping up with the two pup litter.

krisk

Wss^ born at a higher weight, but wont be an indicator of a larger adult dog.

Totally agree with all of the above posts. The smallest puppy in our breed (Pyrs) sometimes turns out to be the largest out of the litter.

I agree with others. And, in addition to number of puppies in the litter, puppy birth size has a lot to do with the dam and genetics.
Last year my Cairn had a smaller litter, 4 puppies. All four were also smaller than average (3.9oz - 5oz). Another litter born the same year had 7 puppies that ranged 6oz - 8 oz. Both dams are the same size (~16lbs) but from different lines.

In my litter of 4, the smallest puppy at birth (3.9oz female) caught up and was equal to her siblings at 10 weeks. She also grew taller than her brother who was the 5oz puppy.


Edited because it kept changing "eight ounces" into the shocked smiley.
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Last edited by GraceInGlory on 9/3/2016 11:44:05 AM

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Last edited by GraceInGlory on 9/3/2016 11:45:22 AM