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Topic Dog Boards / General / Is it possible to predict how big my puppy will get?
- By akira [gb] Date 12.09.11 19:15 UTC
Of course, I mean approximately. I've adopted a GSD/husky cross and I am wondering whether my pup will be more of a husky or a GSD size. I wouldn't mind either, I am just curious. So my puppy is a male and he is 10 weeks old. His weight is 7.9kg (about 17.4lbs). Two weeks ago, it was 4.9kg (about 10.8 lbs).
What do you think? Is his weight an average husky's or a gsd's pup weight? Or in between?
- By Nova Date 12.09.11 19:25 UTC Edited 12.09.11 19:28 UTC
IMO it is impossible to say, with a pure breed you can look back a few generations on each side and make a good stab at the answer but with cross breeds there is no way of knowing which genes came from which parent and what is likely to be dominant and which is not.

Do you know anything about the dam and sire, are they registered and health tested if so you may be able to look at the sort of dogs their lines produced and what traits were carried forward and make a guess but at best that is all it can be.
- By Lokis mum [gb] Date 12.09.11 19:25 UTC
How long is a piece of string?   You might as well ask that question!   When you know what the breeding is behind a puppy, you have a pretty fair idea of just how big the puppy will turn out to be - but even so, there can still be anomolies in the sizes of pups in litters.

When you only know that one parent was a GSD and t'other was a husky - then you have absolutely no yardstick to measure him by!   Were the parents large specimens of their breeds or small?   Do you have any idea of what sizes their parents were?   

Just enjoy him!
- By MsTemeraire Date 12.09.11 20:40 UTC
I'll agree it's going to be difficult to say. You only have to look at all the Labrador x Poodles which - their breeders claim - will be a size in-between the two, but end up taller than both parent breeds.

I had a neighbour a few years ago who bought two puppies, from a litter born to a Pointer (I assume GSP), father was said to be a GSD, but I think that was deduced only because they had upright ears. Once they matured it was very evident they were sired by a Siberian Husky as they had a lot of the body shape, angulation etc. in common, as well as a few hints around the tail carriage.... not to mention the bog-off approach to recall! They were both jet black - and about the same height as a husky.
- By cornishmals [gb] Date 12.09.11 21:21 UTC
Agree to difficult to say,could inherit traits of either parent.At this stage comparing weight to husky or GSD puppies isn't conclusive.Do you know how big the litter mates were.
- By PennyGC [gb] Date 12.09.11 21:31 UTC
yep impossible to say, even where you know the parentage - one of my collies was the smallest of 4 (2 girls, 2 boys) and in fact rejected by breeder in favour of his brother as she wanted a big dog, needless to say he now towers over them all and is big for a collie - far bigger than either parent.  My big black hairy shep is also bigger than her parents - although her sire (who was the biggest pup in his litter but grew up quite small) is known for siring bigger pups than himself.  You'll have to wait and see I'm afraid!
- By MsTemeraire Date 12.09.11 21:32 UTC Edited 12.09.11 21:35 UTC

> Do you know how big the litter mates were.


Yes... at this point if you are in contact with the breeder, can you ask whether yours was the biggest or smallest? I was told with my crossbreed he was the biggest in the litter and he's matured to about the same height as his sire (possibly a bit smaller) at 24-25" to the shoulder.
- By Goldmali Date 12.09.11 21:40 UTC

Yes... at this point if you are in contact with the breeder, can you ask whether yours was the biggest or smallest?


When I had an accidental crossbreed litter (first cross) a friend of mine had one of the pups. We simply called him "big black dog" initially, as he was the biggest dog pup. Once adult, he was a couple of inches smaller than the dog I kept! I was so surprised the first time I saw him as an adult! He's much smaller than both parents. The dog I kept is bigger than both!
- By akira [gb] Date 12.09.11 22:39 UTC
Thank you for replies everyone, you are all very kind.

I don't know much about his parents, except the fact that father was a gsd and mother a siberian husky. Apparently the owner of the parents couldn't be bothered with finding homes for the pups so he gave them away for adoption.
His litter mates were about the same size as him... No significant difference in sizes.
Guess I will have to wait a bit :)
- By lincolnimp [gb] Date 12.09.11 23:49 UTC
A neighbour of mine has 2 litter mates, poodle/bichon cross. At 8 weeks they were identical - all black with white feet. Now, at 2 years one is Bichon size and shape, the other is Min Poodle size and shape :)
- By gwen [gb] Date 16.09.11 08:49 UTC
I have seen a lot more labradooddle and goldendoodles recently while attending agility/obedience classes, and what has never failed to surprise me is that they are all much bigger than I would have expected either parent to have been, I think I commented on this fact on here a while back and several CDers said this is a well known phenomenon with crosses, they have a tendency to exceed the size of the parents.  One of the smaller crosses, A shih Tzu x pug, at 20 weeks is pretty much full pug size in body, but with shorter legs.  The Cockerpoo types don't seem to be quite so much bigger than expected, but this is pretty much guess work as very few of the owner seem to know if the Poodle parent was a min. or toy - or even know the difference!
- By LucyDogs [gb] Date 16.09.11 09:18 UTC
Yes, the doodles at my various clubs are all huge. I also groom a Cavalier/Shih Tzu/Lhasa which is about Tibetan Terrier size, much bigger than even the biggest Cav I have seen let alone the other 2 breeds.
Topic Dog Boards / General / Is it possible to predict how big my puppy will get?

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