I wasn't sure if this post should go under Health, or Breeding, or here. I hope the Mods will move it if necessary.

I've just bred my first litter of springer spaniels. All went smoothly (I spent over a year researching stud dogs and had a waiting list of 8 working homes, who I knew personally before the bitch was mated) She gave birth to 10 pups and 8 have gone to their new homes and are doing well. I kept 1 pup as intended...

The first-born came out backwards way, got stuck en-route and had to be revived and then put onto mum to suckle. As planned, I had a more experienced person with me and the vet on speed-dial. This pup was markedly smaller than her siblings. In fact, she was the size of a large mouse. We were prepared for the worst for the first 3 weeks, but she began to steadily put on weight with a little help from Lactol and her ears and eyes and mobility developed at the same rate as her siblings.

The vet has pronounced her healthy - just very small! When I registered the litter, I put a breeding endorsement on her but even so, we've decided to keep her and do the basic socialisation and foundation work with her rather than let her go, despite several offers. She's 9 weeks old now and has been growing steadily, but she's still half the size of her remaining litter-mate. I know working springers come in all shapes and sizes, but sire and dam are both from very large, powerful lines and she is so petite and dainty compared to the other 9 pups.

So, question 1: so far, she seems like a very bold, lively and bright little puppy. Is there any risk that she may have suffered some brain damage at birth? Her behaviour suggests she's a spaniel, but otherwise normal if a little hyper, even for a spaniel.

2. I've heard of tiny pups that catch up and even overtake their siblings. If she's still half the size at 9 weeks, is there still hope for her?

We have a couple of people who really want to take her at 6 months, who are experienced working dog owners and she seems such a lovely, friendly little dog, we're tempted to keep her ourselves, because she'd get lots of work. I'm just really curious to see how she develops! Has anyone else had a tiddler like this?

Also, as she's from very large lines, if someone were to mate her, is there a risk that she could produce pups that were too big for her to cope with? She's got the endorsement and she'll be rehomes (if she is ) to people we know - but nobody can be certain what the future holds and an endorsement on a working spaniel doesn't really mean much as plenty of people aren't bothered if the pups are KC registered or not. It's not something we would ever contemplate for her, because she's been through enough already and we would only breed when we want another bitch, in maybe 3 or 4 years' time and only then if we find a suitable sire and have a waiting list of people who we know will work their dogs in a way we are happy with.

First born puppy in my first litter was only 6 oz, half the size of next smallest, the other two were 13and 14Oz.

By 8 weeks she was 3/4's the weight fo the toehrs.

At 11 months she came back vf rehoming.  She was standard size, just a 1/2 inch smaller than the sister I kept, an I wished I had chosen to keep her instead.

She lived to 15 in her new home.

Small size can be a sign of heart issues, but if your vet has ruled her healthy then I don't think that is likely.

On principle I would not breed from her if she hasn't caught up by puberty, as in my view you want to breed from Good doers.

Ive got a very tiny one at the moment..really tiny and the funniest thing is seeing normal development in a four week old but the size of a newborn.
My little guy has had such a zest for life from day one despite being 80g at birth so he will have my best shot and I will keep him if necessary.

Ive had quite a bit of feedback from other breeders and many say the same as Barbara..they often make up their size eventually.

Welcome to the forum MMD

I don't know about the breeding side, but I selected the biggest girl pup in a litter of working springers, mum was average size and dad largish for a worker.  At 8 weeks she was a big chunky pup.  At 4 she weighs about 12kg and would measure under 16 inches...  I am not in touch with aby of her littermates but I would say size can change immensely

My Inka is like that the biggest bitch puppy I have had yet is bang on standard for size, based on her double grandmother and one of her grandfathers I expected larger size.

Her smaller slighter sister turned into a big girl.

Last year we had a litter of 12. There were 2 pups much smaller, half the size, of the rest of the puppies. We ended up keeping the smallest one, did exactly what you shouldn't do and kept 2 from the litter, as my kids had grown very attached to him. Anyway Koba is now bigger than his brother who was the biggest puppy in the litter at birth.

We have had the opposite experience from you. My girl had 2 pups, a boy and a girl. The girl was always bigger than her brother, first to eat, first to drink milk and had a good 1and half kilos on him when he went at 8 weeks. They will be 2 next month. He now weighs 47kg, stands at 27/28 inches and is heavy boned. She weights 25kg,  stands at 24 inches and is dainty. I know bitches are meant to be smaller than dogs but she is more petite than any other shepherd I have seen, not even made her mother's height and isn't a dwarf...so it can work both ways...

My last GSD bitch was 23 inch and weighed 27 kilos when she was fully mature. I didn't think she was small to say she had come from show lines. I know some working lines are larger but isn't the breed standard 24 to 26 inches for males and 22 to 24 inches for bitches?

Yes, she does fit the breed standard and is a great example of the breed but if you look at the parents and her brother, then she is the odd one out. As a pup she really looked like she would end up looking like she was part horse so just goes to show that you can't predict what a pup will turn out like.

I haven't been online for a while but just saw this thread and thought I'd reply. My bitch had her last litter in October and of the 7 pups the 4 boys were all normal sized - between 350 and 420g, 2 of the girls were also normal sized, 320-340g, and then we had Titch, who was the second-born and weighed in at a whopping 164g! When she came out I actually thought that it was just an empty sac until I turned it over and realised there was a tiny, but perfectly formed, puppy inside. Anyway, I wasn't hopeful about her chances but right from day one she acted like a normal puppy, just much much smaller. I obviously monitored her constantly but she was a little fighter; she fed well, never let herself get pushed away by her siblings, took enthusiastically to weaning when the time came, and was always the first out of the playpen and the last one back in. The only real difference is that when the litter was docked and dewclawed at 48 hours I didn't have her done, she was so tiny and I just didn't want to risk it.

Titch never caught up with her siblings size wise, but she was healthy, perfectly in proportion and hit all the right developmental stages at the right times, she was bright, playful, confident and cheeky. At 8 weeks the other pups all weighed around 3-4kg, she was just under 2kg. I wasn't really in a position to keep her myself but at the same time couldn't bear to part with her - although I could have sold her 20 times over, she was so cute everyone who saw her wanted her! - and luckily I got the next best outcome as when my parents met her at 4 weeks they fell hook line and sinker and they took her home at 8 weeks. She is now just over 7 months old, still small but not weedy or skinny, she's very sturdy and perfectly formed and as cheeky as they come, and totally rules the roost. She has been heart checked and had blood tests for liver function etc. with all results totally normal, and she is as bright as they come - she's being trained for shooting and for search and rescue work and taking to both extremely well. She currently weighs about 8kg, her litter brother who belongs to a good friend is 13kg. Her mum is my FTCh bitch and she is of a good size (14kg), as are her parents and siblings, and the stud dog and the other pups in this litter, and in her previous 2 litters. I have no idea where Titch (who has been renamed!) 'came from', she really was unbelievably tiny, but thankfully in every other way she was/is a totally normal pup.