my pups are 17 days old now. all have their eyes open at last and starting to get up on their feet!! the runt who was last born, took ages to bring round, and was not feeding.... is now bigger than the other two... the other two pups weigh 1lb 1oz and 1lb 3oz. but this big pup is 1lb 9oz. could this mean hes going to be bigger than the other two? or could he just be a little ahead of them?? hes been steadily over taking them since around day 8!

I have found over 20 years of keeping meticulous litter weight records that size of pups within the litter has little to no bearing with eventual adult size.

Some of my biggest pups have gone on to be average adults an small pups gone on to be tall and/or substantial.

You take a look at parents and grandparents and expect pups to be somewhere in the ballpark.

If size was an issue with either parent then I'd avoid the largest or smallest pup depending which direction you wanted to avoid, but even then it is uncertain.

>If size was an issue with either parent then I'd avoid the largest or smallest pup depending which direction you wanted to avoid, but even then it is uncertain.

Barbara is so right.  I had a litter (toy breed) and the whole family arrived to see the pups.  Mum was happy to let the 2 daughters pick.  Dad was adamant that he did not want a tiny puppy.  There were 3 bitches, and I told them that I had noted all weights, and it was obvious that one girl was at least 100gm heavier than the others.  Dad got his way, and the largest bitch was reserved for them.

By the time these pups were 6 months old, almost adult size in this breed, the LARGE bitch was the tiniest of them all.  I asked if they wanted me to take the pup back.  It seems dad was outvoted 3 to 1!  :-)