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Is my puppy the right size?

1K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  Sabis mom 
#1 ·
My male purebred gsd is 8 weeks old today and 10 pounds. My breeder says the part of the litter he has left is 20 pounds, but my vet says he's normal. Are the growth charts online wrong, or is he really small? He had tapeworms and roundworms, and he just got dewormed on Tuesday. Thanks.
 
#4 ·
I got him right before the breeder was going to deworm. I treated him for fleas a week ago. What is with this chart I've been seeing everywhere then? I was going to put a link, but it won't let me; please look up german shepherd growth chart. Multiple sites have the same thing. With a 20 pound 8 week average.
 
#5 ·
Ignore the growth charts. Your puppy will grow at the rate his genetics tell him to grow. Keep him lean.
 
#8 ·
Like lhczth said, ignore the grown charts, and keep him lean. It is best for them to grow slow. Mine was no where near the charts. Still isn't. She is raw fed from the day I got her.

I was stressed like you. They all grow at different rates. Breeder should have wormed all of them long before you got him.
 
#12 ·
That is so true. Dena was Keefer's half sister, about a year older. We got each of them at 9 weeks old. They were within a pound of each other at that age - 18/19 pounds, and I think Dena was actually the larger of the two. She weighed several pounds more at 6 months old than he did, but at adulthood she was around 72 pounds and he was 80 pounds in his prime. She grew faster at a young age than he did, but he made up for it in the long run.

Halo was much smaller than either of them at every stage of development and ended up in the 54/55 pound range as an adult. I don't remember the interim weights of Dena and Keefer since it was such a long time ago (Keefer is 13 now!) but I know Halo only gained 8 or 9 pounds between 6 months and 18 months, which is where she remained at adulthood.

Cava was the smallest of her litter by quite a bit and as of two weeks ago, her sister still weighed 14 pounds more than her and at 10 months old already outweighs their dam, who is 68 pounds. My guess is that Cava will be under 65 pounds at maturity, and maybe closer to 60. But who knows? She could be growing slowly now and have a growth spurt later.
 
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#13 ·
This!

Sabi was the runt. Just a bitty little girl at 7.5 weeks. She ended up being a tank! She dwarfed her one brother who apparently was the biggest pup but topped out at a mere 70lbs compared to Sabs 82.
Shadow weighed less then a can of pop at about 2.5 weeks but by 12 weeks was a solid 20 lbs. She has topped out at just around 23 inches tall and about 45lbs.
As long as your puppy is in good condition for him he will grow the way he is supposed to.
 
#10 ·
Ignore the chart completely. Mine (male) was 13lb at 8 weeks (20lb at 8 weeks? That's almost abnormally huge but nothing wrong with that nonetheless) and only 40ish at 6 months when he was supposed to be according to the chart around 55 and up if I'm not mistaken. Now he's 16 months and 90lb and hasn't even filled out yet.
 
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