# My puppy is so small!!



## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

I am concerned with the size of my German shepherd puppy. When I picked her from the litter, all of the puppies were about the same size. Mom was about 70 lbs and dad was larger. The colors of the puppies were mixed from mom and dad. My puppy was 3 lbs at 7 weeks old when I got her, but a bag of bones. I have had her for a week and a half now and she has gained a few pounds, one of her ears is starting to stand up, and she is starting to feel healthy and no longer malnourished. My concern is that based on every size chart I have seen, at 8-9 weeks old she should be substantially larger. Is she possibly a late bloomer based on how skinny she was when I got her? I am including a photo of her and a photo of the parents as a reference.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

LOL it's way to soon to be worried about size?? My guy is a OS WL GSD 116 lbs, so all the spec WL GSD's look small to me.


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

Chip18 said:


> LOL it's way to soon to be worried about size?? My guy is a OS WL GSD 116 lbs, so all the spec WL GSD's look small to me.


I am a bit concerned as I bought her as a guard dog and currently she is smaller than all of my toy dogs lol.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

That black adult looks malnourished.


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> That black adult looks malnourished.


Yeah I felt horrible. I would have taken all of the dogs there if I could.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Make sure you are not working against worms. Slow growth is good. I think you will be happy with her size when she is full grown. The time to worry about her size was before you brought her home. She is yours now.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Laurac said:


> Yeah I felt horrible. I would have taken all of the dogs there if I could.


Did you pay money for the puppy?


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

selzer said:


> Make sure you are not working against worms. Slow growth is good. I think you will be happy with her size when she is full grown. The time to worry about her size was before you brought her home. She is yours now.


She came out with a perfect health check from the vet, with the exception of needing to gain some weight. I thought she would have had worms but luckily she doesn't. I think my boyfriend paid like $200. Obviously not a situation I would want to support, but it is what it is at this point, and seriously this puppy is so vibrant and intelligent. When he first brought her home she was very dull eyed and tired, now she is a crazy little puppy as she should be.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Enjoy her. 

The $1000 dollars (for 5 puppies) more or less, is certainly not enough to upgrade the food she is feeding her dogs or puppies, but certainly enough for her to breed them together again in 6 months. 

What most people cannot understand is that they can fuel the bad breeders on significantly less than half of what they give to good breeders for a dog, and the good breeders barely break even.


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## MineAreWorkingline (May 2, 2015)

Even though this puppy was cleared for worms, I would still worm her as a precautionary.

By the way, she is a cute little thing.


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> Even though this puppy was cleared for worms, I would still worm her as a precautionary.


Oh definitely. The vet has done this and we are going back in a few weeks for more shots.


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## Besketball (Apr 27, 2016)

She's adorable. Don't worry about her size, enjoy her while she lasts. Soon she'll be a huge girl and you'll wonder why you ever worried in the first place.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

LOL ... freaking Mals barely weighed more than my baby girl Struddel (65 lbs.) Still ... I did not want to get hit in the chest by her at full gallop!! A White Boxer coming at you "recall" out of the night in the snow, that may or maynot be planning to bounce of your chest ... yes pretty exciting! We had to work on that! 

GSD's aren't that big ... I would not worry about it myself ... the "little" one seem to do just fine.


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

Chip18 said:


> LOL ... freaking Mals barely weighed more than my baby girl Struddel (65 lbs.) Still ... I did not want to get hit in the chest by her at full gallop!! A White Boxer coming at you "recall" out of the night in the snow, that may or maynot be planning to bounce of your chest ... yes pretty exciting! We had to work on that!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks for reassuring me you guys. Given that my current "big dog" is a 5 lb havanese and my other 2 top off at about 3 lbs, I'm sure any size my shepherd grows to will be good enough to guard us.


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## voodoolamb (Jun 21, 2015)

My male was 5.2 lbs at 8 weeks. 

He is now pushing 70 at a year and is 24 1/2 inches at the withers. He still has filling out to do and him gaining another inch or even two would not be unheard of. 

My tiny little guy ended up within standard. I had breeders of shepherds tell me he was going to be undersized all the way up till 11 months. He went through a late growth spurt in the last 6 weeks.

Just some anecdotal evidence so you don't worry about those bloody size charts lol.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

MineAreWorkingline said:


> That black adult looks malnourished.


Not if she just had puppies though? We turned down a GSD before getting our first one because the mom was too thin and had lost some fur. Then I found out about motherhood and dog moms. Of course, you have a lot of experience... :wink2:


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Laurac said:


> Thanks for reassuring me you guys. Given that my current "big dog" is a 5 lb havanese and my other 2 top off at about 3 lbs, I'm sure any size my shepherd grows to will be good enough to guard us.


LOL ... there you go! And she is a "cutie" ... "Boxer" talk. :laugh2:


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## ZABDI SHAMAR (May 8, 2016)

My Puppy is the same size pretty much. I am Kinda worried also. Vet cleared him he was 2 days shy of 7 weeks and 4.6 pounds last Saturday. I will weigh him this Saturday again.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

LOL dogs to big, or dogs to small. They are puppies, people need to relax and enjoy there pups, they'll get bigger sooner than you think.


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## ZABDI SHAMAR (May 8, 2016)

Your right chip 18. Either way I love him


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## Concordium (Mar 31, 2016)

Make sure you feed your pup good quality food to give her the best chance of racing her full potential. Mine was full of like 3 different types of worms when I got her. Then we found out she had coccydia. We got her clear of everything and now she is doing great. Happy as can be and her body has caught up to where she is supposed to be, growth-wise. 

Your pup's body will catch up. Don't worry. She'll be as big as she's supposed to be. As far as guard dog goes, I'm no expert, but I think the personality and natural talent is more important for that than size. Just my $.02.

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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

skinny black adult looks like the sire...


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Ya know, with the rough start that Cupcake had, I managed to get her to 8 pounds by the time she was 8 weeks old. I know how rough that start was. I would be very skeptical of the health and husbandry practices, if they had puppies that were 8 weeks old that weren't at least 7-8 pounds for GSDs. 

Ok, I am going to say it. Buyers need to have some knowledge when they go and buy a living thing. Puppies are cute and it is so hard to walk away from a litter without taking one home. But if a puppy that should be 8 pounds, is 4 pounds, then buyers should walk away. They should at least ask questions and find out why the pup is so small. 

Breeders who pass off 4 week old puppies as 6 week old puppies should be ashamed of themselves, but they are out there, and buyers should be able to say, why are you selling six week old puppies that look like four week old puppies, when the law in this area is 8 weeks old before they go home? 

There is a reason for the laws. Now small pups, do they grow up with more health concerns than regular-sized puppies? I don't have the data to make that claim. But, when I am putting my money out there, I want to support breeders who have a clue about nutrition, who gives the pup the best chance of getting a good head start. I wouldn't want to go home facing malnutrition issues. 

That being said, if the litter is large and the bitch is small, and the dog is not over-sized, and... It is possible that the pups are just a little smaller than what I am accustomed to, and not abnormal. But puppies should not appear to be sad and lethargic, they should be moving good and should be able to engage with the people coming to view them. They do not have to be fat and roly poly, but they shouldn't appear to be a bag of bones.


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

My puppies gain about 2 pounds every week of life. After reading this, I wonder if mine are too big.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

My week old puppies are small, between 22 ounces for the smallest and 39 ounces for the largest. But a 1 week old puppy is over 2 pounds. in another 5-6 weeks the pups should be 10-14 pounds. And my last litter of 7 pups had them at 12 pounds at week 7 -- the largest. The smallest wasn't that much smaller, as she caught up with the majority of the puppies. 3 pounds at seven weeks old -- it is hard to picture that. I'd be feeding that pup 6 small meals a day, and maybe giving it spiked water. I'd probably call AC on the breeders -- and I do not say that kind of thing lightly.


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## Besketball (Apr 27, 2016)

The black one is definitely the sire.


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## Laurac (May 13, 2016)

Update: At a little over 1.5 years old, she is now 80 lbs. Tall with a good build. I let the growth charts scare me, when every dog is an individual and will grow at their own rate. Her sister was a much larger puppy, and is a lot smaller. Funny how that works out. At least I know have two great cuddlers/guard dogs.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

this story did turn out alright but this needs to be said --

there is nothing okay - ever to have a pup in this condition "when I got her, but a bag of bones."

there are reasons , set backs where this might happen - but that dog should NOT be leaving for a new home

both parents look dull and not well fed -- byb?

so although your pup turned out alright places like this should not be supported


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

carmspack said:


> this story did turn out alright but this needs to be said --
> 
> there is nothing okay - ever to have a pup in this condition "when I got her, but a bag of bones."
> 
> ...


I totally agree! I fought tooth and nail to have the pondscum that I took Shadow from shut down, I put myself in harms way to get her out of there. And screwed my husband out of a job. 
I am NOT condoning what I did. It was wrong. But no way would I give someone like that money for a pup.


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## Armistice (Oct 12, 2017)

My female is 13wks and has been weight 3 times since 8wks. Everytime she's been 10# under the target weight for her age. Both parents are on the taller and heavier side of the standard. I assume she'll fill out later


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## gzape (Nov 20, 2017)

wow she looks great! Since I'm new to this thread I wanted to bring up a question about my GSD. My pup weighed 25 lbs by 16 weeks(gladly he was normal) but now that he's 8 months, he's about 55 lbs now. Did you experience this with your pup?? I just feel like hes a bit small for his age because I have seen larger ones at 6 months. 

Here's my puppy below. I'm 4'11 so he will appear larger lol.


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## Femfa (May 29, 2016)

Don’t base your dog’s size off of others, if anything I would be happy to keep a dog lean and thin. The numbers of the scale mean very little unless a dog is overweight. Go by body condition.


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## Armistice (Oct 12, 2017)

gzape said:


> wow she looks great! Since I'm new to this thread I wanted to bring up a question about my GSD. My pup weighed 25 lbs by 16 weeks(gladly he was normal) but now that he's 8 months, he's about 55 lbs now. Did you experience this with your pup?? I just feel like hes a bit small for his age because I have seen larger ones at 6 months.
> 
> Here's my puppy below. I'm 4'11 so he will appear larger lol.


I like to use this site for comparing to the standard

Find Out Your Puppy's Adult Weight | Puppy Chart

What you've mentioned, he was quite under standard weight at 16mos, but now at 8mos he's barely under standard. He still has a lot of growing to do. He can gain another 15# by the 1yr mark and he'll be in standard

My female pup is way under standard as well... by about 10#

Another member said their pup was small and around 8mos it hit a few growth spurts and is now on the top end of the standard for both weight and height. This is what I'm assuming will happen with my puppy because both of her parents are on the large size of the standard

I wouldn't worry about numbers though. Is your dog a healthy weight for its size? That is all I would care about. If he ends up on the small size, then all the more better for a lap dog :grin2:


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## camperbc (Sep 19, 2017)

Armistice said:


> I like to use this site for comparing to the standard
> Find Out Your Puppy's Adult Weight | Puppy Chart


I too have been using this calculator every week for the past 6 weeks, (since Sheba first came home) as it will be interesting to see how accurate it is in the end. Results have been pretty consistent so far, showing her as a 78-82 lb adult. 

Glen
Focus On Newfoundland


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## Armistice (Oct 12, 2017)

camperbc said:


> I too have been using this calculator every week for the past 6 weeks, (since Sheba first came home) as it will be interesting to see how accurate it is in the end. Results have been pretty consistent so far, showing her as a 78-82 lb adult.
> 
> Glen
> Focus On Newfoundland


Says mine is right on track to be 45# by 1yr old... :|


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## voodoolamb (Jun 21, 2015)

I put in my boy's weights from his 8 week, 12 week, and 8 month check ups into that calculator... 

5.2 lbs @ 8 weeks and the calculator told me to expect a 17.3lb adult dog. 

17.6 lbs @ 12 weeks it told me to expect a 44.6lb adult

48.8 lbs @ 8 months and I was told to expect a 53.7lb adult.

Yeah. My eyes just rolled so hard they fell out of my head and landed at the feet of my 73lb 2 year old. Which is *gasp* within the breed standard size!!! 

I have very little faith in these calculators and growth charts. Forget them. Look at the condition of the pup in front of you. Feed it appropriately and let the genetics do their thing.


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## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

Lol mine should weigh 55.7 as an adult. He's almost 20 lbs overweight already, so I better get out the celery!


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## Trix (Jun 22, 2017)

A slower growing GSD is really ideal for their joints. Mine had been a beast since we took him home. 18 lbs at 8 weeks, 38 lbs at 15 weeks, and 60 lbs at just shy of 6 months. He has stayed lean but it concerns me of his joints still. He wears out faster than smaller dogs his age due to his size. He’s insanely fast though. He’s plenty lean, although we did just cut his food back a bit. His sire was 85 lbs and dam around 70-75. Honestly I’d prefer a 70 lbs GSD over a 100 lb one any day. I’m hoping he doesn’t go over 80-85. Here’s a couple recent pics. 
















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