# Is 20 pounds at 9 weeks small?



## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

So we weighed Pippin this week and he is about 20 pounds is that on the small side?


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

no that is fine actually might be a bit on the larger side.


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

at 9 weeks, Jax was about half of that... he's probably nearing 90lbs now lol
I'm sure they can vary a lot at that age and you're not on course for a 200lb dog though


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

I think Kopper was 12 or 13lb at 9 weeks. 

From what I've seen, the age they are at puppyhood doesn't have much to do with their size at adulthood. Some grow faster than others. Pups from larger litters may be smaller than pups from smaller litters, but they can still be the same size at maturity. A better way to tell is to look at the parents and grandparents.


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## BGSD (Mar 24, 2011)

Mine is 20 lbs right now, but he is almost 13 weeks.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Cupcake was 8 pounds at 8 weeks. But she had a rocky start. Her name is Nova now. I saw her and played with her last night. She looks like a 3 month old puppy now -- which she is. I do not know how much she weighs, but I would be very surprised if she hasn't doubled. But again, with a rocky start, can't go by her.


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## jprice103 (Feb 16, 2011)

Cheyenne was 16 lbs at 8 weeks, so I'd say your right on track. As others said...puppy weight varies significantly. But you seem to be definitely in range!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

At 9 weeks the pup should be 9 to 12 pounds.
I would be worried about hip dysplasia .


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## VomBlack (May 23, 2009)

Odin was a little over 19 pounds at 8 weeks, he's been sitting around 80 pounds now at 2 years old.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

As others have said, that is large, not small.


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## JPF (Feb 5, 2011)

ASDogGeek said:


> So we weighed Pippin this week and he is about 20 pounds is that on the small side?


yeah thats on the large side. Enzo is only 30 pounds at 16 weeks...but he is on the small side for now. He was 10 pounds at 8 weeks. He should be around 80-85 pounds judging on his parents


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

I've seen pictures of Pippin you have posted - he is in no way 'small'. Quite the little brontosaur.  Why are you worried about him being small for his age?


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

My nine week old pups are probably 17lbs. So 20 may be a bit on the heavier side, but just a bit. You would rather they are on the lighter side than heavier side. You dont want to have growth problems with being obese.


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

Castlemaid said:


> I've seen pictures of Pippin you have posted - he is in no way 'small'. Quite the little brontosaur.  Why are you worried about him being small for his age?



I'm honestly not sure I guess it is mostly I want to make sure he is developing properly. I worry about a lot with him and my current girl Nim. I think I though small because when we got her she was 20 pounds and that was at 8 weeks I believe but my memory could be mixed up too..... Nim is now 82 pounds and needs to loose 10 or more punds according to her vet she is diagnosed with CHD and recently osteoarthritis in the knees  I love my girl she is my angel but sadly her breeder turned out to be a byb. Mom got Nim for me when O was 16 she was my Easter present


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

dawnandjr said:


> My nine week old pups are probably 17lbs. So 20 may be a bit on the heavier side, but just a bit. You would rather they are on the lighter side than heavier side. You dont want to have growth problems with being obese.


He is actually kinda lean


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

ASDogGeek said:


> He is actually kinda lean


Not lean but not obese otherwise his vet would have gotten really mad lol


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## GSDElsa (Jul 22, 2009)

ASDogGeek said:


> He is actually kinda lean


He looks like a pudgy little beast from the picture in your profile! Not sure I'd call it lean! Not that I'm implying he's fat, but definitely not anything close to small!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

ASDogGeek said:


> I'm honestly not sure I guess it is mostly I want to make sure he is developing properly. I worry about a lot with him and my current girl Nim. I think I though small because when we got her she was 20 pounds and that was at 8 weeks I believe but my memory could be mixed up too..... Nim is now 82 pounds and needs to loose 10 or more punds according to her vet she is diagnosed with CHD and recently osteoarthritis in the knees  I love my girl she is my angel *but sadly her breeder turned out to be a byb*. Mom got Nim for me when O was 16 she was my Easter present


Why is her breeder a byb, and what exactly does that make you?

I mean every dog that turns out to have a problem, like CHD is due to them being a BYB? But someone who has a dog with such an issue, and allows her to be 10+ pounds overweight, what is the cutesy little Acronym for that person? 

One of the best ways to improve your CHD girl is to keep her on the lean side. 10+ pounds for an adult human is not the same as it is for a 65 pound bitch. Especially if she has a problem that will cause her trouble down the line, arthritis, etc. 

Now she has problems with her knees. 

Friend, you are killing your dog with what pseudo-kindness. 

And you may be well on your way to doing the same for your puppy. Please follow your veterinarian's advice on feeding the puppy to ensure that it is not too heavy. 

Hip Dyplasia is polygenetic and according to most it is caused completely by the genes, but that does not mean sire and dam and possibly the next generation had any problems with hips at all. The genes are what they are, but you can sometimes limit how symptomatic the problems are. 

Others feel that hip dysplasia can be encouraged by overdoing calcium, allowing the puppy to be overweight, or even what types of exercise etc, you allow the dog to do. 

Elbow dysplasia does seem to have more of an indication that it is effected by the puppy's environment. So if you are allowing the puppy to jump off a deck onto concrete for months, and later discover, wow, the puppy has bad elbows -- @#$% breeder must have been a BYB. 

Breeders are supposed to give warranties for health, and anything less than money back and paying of vet bills including surgeries, is suspect of them being BYBs (NOT!), but what warranties or guarantees do breeders have that the owner will feed an appropriate food, not overfeed, not provide the puppy with the means to literally break itself down, not encourage the puppy to break itself down? 

You may have gotten the dog from a BYB. That is certainly possible. But just because a dog has a problem does not mean the breeder did something unethical, or has shoddy breeding practices. The best breeders puppies have health problems too. Just about the only guaranty you can ever get is that your dog WILL get sick and die from something, given it does not die from an injury first.


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

GSDElsa said:


> He looks like a pudgy little beast from the picture in your profile! Not sure I'd call it lean! Not that I'm implying he's fat, but definitely not anything close to small!


yeah that is why I corrected myself I had to rethink that. in my profile picture of him he was 6 weeks old and still had worms so not sure if that was a feactor or not


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

selzer said:


> Why is her breeder a byb, and what exactly does that make you?
> 
> I mean every dog that turns out to have a problem, like CHD is due to them being a BYB? But someone who has a dog with such an issue, and allows her to be 10+ pounds overweight, what is the cutesy little Acronym for that person?
> 
> ...


I know her breeder is or was a BYB was because he worked with mom he had no papers, the parents had NO health tests. he may have had good intentions and I am not judging him as a personbut wa NOT a resposable breedr. A for Nim's hps and knees we have her in hydrotherapey and she ut the wieght on this winter due to the fact that we had a LOT of snow and didn't have much in the way of an ability to excercise her. I take the best care of her as I can I was stupid and didn't regulate her diet per decrease in exercise over the witner. The snow is hard for us because she can't walk in the stuff very well or long before she is in a lot of pain the next day. this is also why we do hydrotherapey. her CHD as diagnosed at 2 but symptoms showed at 6 months old. She was also the only puppy in her littler who did NOT develope epilepsye. I am working hard to take off her wieght and I spend many hours doing physical therapey with her. this dog and now Pippin too are my life. Our vet didn't seem concerned about him being over wieght (Pippin) I called and asked


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

also I would NEVER aalow my dogs to jump off counters or on concrete ESPECAILLY not as pppies. Allso Nim's elbows are fine thank god


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

That's kool. The dog's breeder is indeed a BYB. But it almost sounded like the reason you felt she was was because of the health concerns. And others, on the site too, burned by BYBs say things like they are paying the money up front to avoid the health concerns. 

Health concerns are, unfortunately, throughout the breed and in all lines. Responsible breeders try to limit it as best they can, but it is just not possible.

Good luck with getting the weight off of her. It sounds like you have a real struggle to keep her quality of life up. What are you feeding? There is a lot of good info for people with such problems here. Vitamin C is supposed to be very good. 

What are you feeding the pup. Have you found the nutrition section yet? 

It took me a week or so to realize there were more forums down below the original screen.


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

selzer said:


> That's kool. The dog's breeder is indeed a BYB. But it almost sounded like the reason you felt she was was because of the health concerns. And others, on the site too, burned by BYBs say things like they are paying the money up front to avoid the health concerns.
> 
> Health concerns are, unfortunately, throughout the breed and in all lines. Responsible breeders try to limit it as best they can, but it is just not possible.
> 
> ...


Nim is eating evo she loves it  

Pippin's breeder fed him purina one puppy food (large breed) but my vet wants us to switch him to a healthi ER brand told me to go to where we get Nim's food and ask for suggestion. Sadly eve doesn't come in puppy food and is not for dogs under 2 years and of course Pippin managed to get some from her bowl and now we have to put him in his crate while Nim eats then put her bowl up when she is done because he is seemingly adicted to it  he keeps us busy lol Nim seems to have gotten a renewed energy since we got Pippin though  do you have any food suggestions? I will have to check out the puppy food section


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

I would recommend Wellness large breed puppy for Pippin


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

Rerun said:


> I would recommend Wellness large breed puppy for Pippin


Thank you


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## lanaw13 (Jan 8, 2011)

ASDogGeek, Osa is very large puppy, she weighed about 18 - 19 lbs at 9 weeks…. a monster, we call her franken puppy. She was born into a very small litter, only 4 pups. Smaller litters tend to be larger pups, more food to go around…. 
We feed her Raw and she is very lean at 18 weeks. She has a waist and you can probably see her last two ribs if she wasn't so furry. The vet thinks she is perfect….
Remember that hip dyplasia is genetic. We went with a reputable breeder who has OFA'd all their breeding stock. Over feeding causes problems with rapid growth and can cause bones to grow too rapidly. Too much weight on a dog will aggravate genetic problems…. just like people. I am a nurse, and I have never seen a skinny person get a knee replacement. 
Can a more knowledgable person tell us how many lbs a week a pup should gain…? That would be helpful info!


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I was just curious. I think the wellness is a good choice, it is heads and tails over purina one.


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

lanaw13 said:


> ASDogGeek, Osa is very large puppy, she weighed about 18 - 19 lbs at 9 weeks…. a monster, we call her franken puppy. She was born into a very small litter, only 4 pups. Smaller litters tend to be larger pups, more food to go around….
> We feed her Raw and she is very lean at 18 weeks. She has a waist and you can probably see her last two ribs if she wasn't so furry. The vet thinks she is perfect….
> Remember that hip dyplasia is genetic. We went with a reputable breeder who has OFA'd all their breeding stock. Over feeding causes problems with rapid growth and can cause bones to grow too rapidly. Too much weight on a dog will aggravate genetic problems…. just like people. I am a nurse, and I have never seen a skinny person get a knee replacement.
> Can a more knowledgable person tell us how many lbs a week a pup should gain…? That would be helpful info!


I would love to know the lbs gained a week a pup should gain too. Is raw diet expensive


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I just don't know if it is possible. Some GSDs grow faster than others. Some will be bigger than others. Some mature faster than others. Some have higher energy and stay leaner than others. It is not like you can put in 2.5 cups of xyz dog food and equal 2.8 pounds per week. I wish it were so.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

I had a look at Pippins picture which you say is at 9 weeks of age. Are you sure about this. The head looks a little more mature than 9 weeks, maybe not . 

I also noticed a little knob on the dogs front leg where the wrist is . There is a bone inflammation that is found in large fast growing dogs , especially over weight, too many calories , too rich food , too much food. That is hypertrophic osteodystrophy 
Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy: A Bone Disease in Growing Dogs

Far better be it for the animal to be on the lean side .

Carmen
Carmspack Working German Shepherd Dogs


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## AutismDogGirl (Oct 7, 2010)

carmspack said:


> I had a look at Pippins picture which you say is at 9 weeks of age. Are you sure about this. The head looks a little more mature than 9 weeks, maybe not .
> 
> I also noticed a little knob on the dogs front leg where the wrist is . There is a bone inflammation that is found in large fast growing dogs , especially over weight, too many calories , too rich food , too much food. That is hypertrophic osteodystrophy
> Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy: A Bone Disease in Growing Dogs
> ...


Are you saying he has this? Hob? Yeah I am positive he is 9 weeks 10 weeks on Tuesday


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