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Quite often the first question prospective owners ask when considering a new puppy is – how big will he get?

If you are hoping for a small or medium size of dog and end up with a very large dog, that end result may be significant factor. On the other hand, if you want a big dog and wind up with a little feller, you may be disappointed.

Size will have a bearing on a number of issues including exercise and grooming requirements, potential temperament, personality, and level of energy. In this case it can be stated definitively - size does matter! Big dogs need more space at home and in the car. They may require special fencing, be more expensive to feed and medicate, and they may be more difficult to physically manage.

Estimating a a young dog’s probable adult size is generally not too diificult in the case of purebreds.

You will get a very good indication by looking at the puppy’s parents and by looking up breed standards. these are publicized in a book such as the American Kennel Club’s Complete Dog Book. Breed standards will indicate a typical weight range for each breed as well as height at the shoulder, length of the muzzle, and other associated details. You will occasionally see a runt in the litter but these will usually be obvious by looking over the litter and assessing average size.

Mixed breed pups are more difficult to assess for size at maturity. This is especially true where information about the standard breed size, the puppy’s parents or the exact age of the puppy is unknown. The younger the pup is, the more difficult it is to predict probable size at maturity.

Here are some considerations to give you a handle on a puppy’s growth potential.

Breed and size of both parents. Common sense will tell you that two 20-pound terriers will not produce offspring that will grow to 27″ at the shoulder and weigh 99 pounds. Likewise, it is highly unlikely that a pair of retriever sized dogs will not give birth to pups that only reach a weight of 20 pounds. It just doesn’t happen. It will be a bit more difficult when when one parent is big and the other small. Generally in such cases, the bitch’s size will carry more influence than the sire’s.

As with people, big feet indicate greater height and weight potential.

The looser a puppy’s skin, the more room he has to grow and the larger he is likely to become.

The really rapid phase of growth occurs from birth to 6-months of age. Thereafter growth slows to an eventual halt at 8-14 months of age. Either height at the shoulder or weight can be plotted on a chart to be assessed at intervals. For a dog that is properly fed, weight gain should be fairly steady throughout the growth phase.

For example, a dog that is expected to weigh about 100 pounds should gain around 2.5 pounds per week after about 4 weeks of age. A dog expected to weigh half this size will gain weight correspondingly slower.

It may experience a short pause in weight gain when about 65% of the dog’s mature weight is reached and really slow after 95% of mature body weight is achieved.

It is often believed that whatever the puppy weighs at 14 weeks double it to get the adult weight.

Reaching standard mature size does not entirely coincide with reaching standard mature weight. There comes a point of a young dog’s life at which growth plates of the long bones becomes fused and bone length no longer increases. Though growth plates close between 8 - 11 months of age, body weight continues to increase until full adult maturity is reached. This may occur months later in larger breeds. A simple estimation for predicting adult height is that a puppy will be 75% of its adult height at around 6 months of age.

Using these facts as guidelines, it should be possible to make a reasonable assessment of a puppy’s probable size and weight at maturity. And at least there will be no BIG surprises though even the best considered estimates can be 100 % accurate.