A question to all you breeders. Is it normal for a litter of 4 week old puppies to differ in size? I've just been to look at a litter & some of the pups were significantly smaller than the others.

I aim to try to get all mine as close in size as possible but it could just mean that the breeder didn't interfere and just let mum get on with it.

If the breeder didn't get involved then the smaller pups would easily get pushed out of the way by bigger pups. Is it their first litter? To be honest it would indicate to me that the breeder wasn't a confident breeder and didn't know to put smaller pups towards the back of the milk bar or to top up the larger pups if mum didn't have enough supplies but then again some people don't like to get involved at all and just let mum get on with it - there's two ways to look at it.

Sometimes you will get some size difference - I had one litter and he was always HUGE compared to the other pups but the others were all more or less the same.

I think another thing you would need to be aware of is checking that it is a genuine breeder. I've heard horror stories where puppy farms have put pups from 2 different litters together in someone's house and the bitch they were with wasn't even their mum - were they definately just different sizes and not different ages?

5 weeks into my first litter :)

We had the obvious small pups but for the 1st week they were weighed twice a day and the smaller ones were all put onto the best teats at every given opportunity, by 3 weeks you cant see the smallest pup without picking them up.

Hi, thanks for your reply. Yes she is a first time breeder but she appears to be doing everything right. I was just concerned about the difference in size between the two pups I am interested in. The smaller one is the one I would really like but wondered whether the bigger one was a better bet. I am more than happy that she is genuine - I was given her details when I contacted a reputable breeder.

How many pups in the litter and how many of them are obviously smaller than the others? 

I have been very lucky with my litters that they are all fairly even.

There are 6 in the litter. 1 really small bitch which she is keeping for the moment, 2 large bitches, 1 small  & 1 large dog & 1 small one

We had 11 in our last litter most were all about the same size we did rotate the litter but still had one really big girl and a small boy; the breeding was an out cross on the lines and this may have contributed towards the size difference. Funnily enough the best bitch in our litter turned out to be the smallest of the girls and we kept one of the middle sized boys. Size isn't everything and go with the pup that you want. 

I wouldn't expect more than a pound difference at 4 weeks in my medium size breed between the largest and smallest.

The smallest in one of my litters ended up being one of the largest, and the largest (same litter) ended up being one of the smallest, so size at this age doesn't necessarily mean very much. So long as they are healthy and putting on weight I wouldn't count the smaller one out yet.

Without knowing the breed it is difficult to give firm advice.  I personally would be a little worried if with that sized litter the differences were so obvious.

Have they started weaning yet - they may well pick up then.

Don't make a decision on whether or not to have one until you are 100% happy.