New German Shepherd Puppy - size? full bred? - Page 1

Hi,

My husband and I purchased a pure bred German Shepherd female yesterday and we've been questioning if she actually is pure bred or not based off her size and body shape.

She is 9 weeks and 2 days old and only weighs 6.5lbs. Her body itself just looks so small in height as well as chunkiness of the legs to me compared to any other GS pups that we've come across

Just looking for some opinions on what you think about her and if anyone else has had a 6.5lb female at 9 weeks.

Thanks so much!

Does she have papers and do they indicate that the age is correct?

at 9 weeks my current puppy was 14.5 pounds.  my last female puppy was about 13 pounds at 9 weeks.  I don't have records of weight at exactly 9 weeks for her.
Your pup looks adorable, but 6 1/2 pounds seems small for 9 weeks to me. 

Darcy

I do not know who you got the pup from, but she looks more like a 6 week old pup, than a 9 week old pup to me. I think I worm 6 week old pups a 10lb dose, and 9-10 week old pups get like 15-20lb doses, all depending on specific pup.

No way can he be a pure bred GSD.  My litter I weighed recently at  6 1/2 weeks old
were between  9-11 pounds.

ok, I think we had two posters say they thought she was probably younger/imply she was younger than stated and that is what I am leaning towards.  the op has not stated any more facts aobut seeing parents, records, etc.

Darcy

The coat and body shape looks GSD.. However, for some reason I'm questioning myself by looking at its head. The big legs and paws are OK. I also see it has black nails. Assuming everything is legit it looks like it would grow up to be a bi-color.

Like Keith said it's certainly small for 9 weeks. Did you get papers? If so which KC? and what is the DOB of the litter?

Nothing about her color or physical appearance causes me to think she is not a GSD.  AKC papers I assume??  I had two GSD working line female sisters with excellent breeding that weighed around 5 pounds at 9 weeks when I got them.  They had been starved by their mother and were full of whip worms.  Use a high quality wormer (fenbenzadole) that has a broad spectrum and excellent safety and worm her for 5 days instead of the three days normally recommended in case you have hard to control parasites.  I don't test I just worm them regardless if they are not growing normally.  You may want to reworm in 3-4 weeks just to be sure.  Eyes full of puss or dirty eyes are an indicator something is wrong and is common with internal parasites.  Pay close attention to the puppies stools and how much urine she is producing.  Runny stools are a sign something is wrong.  If she is drinking way more water than normal and producing lots of urine she could have damaged kidneys from a vaccine reaction if she has been vaccinated before you received her.  Be careful vaccinating the puppy again until she starts gaining weight every day and is near normal for her age. You should weigh her daily to make sure she is growing and gaining weight every day.  My puppies were OK after about a week of touch and go and the worming cleared their parasites .. they are now 20 months and around 56 pounds.  If you get a puppy with abnormally high water consumption day after day and high urine output return it as I had one with bad kidneys and she was two years old when she died.  She was a great little dog but never grew normally, had a painful life, and died very young .. I don't want to repeat that experience.  Vaccines given to sick or weak puppies can wreck there kidneys so be careful.  My GSD puppies born and raised in house at 9 weeks will be 16-20 pounds for most males and 14-18 for females.  Goats milk works wonders (condensed or whole) for underweight puppies.

When I first got my sable male Sam he looked a lot like this at 8 weeks old. He is now 3 years old , quite big and looks like the typical GSD but with a less sloped back.
So, I'd say the pup is younger than you were told. Sam was also very dark and mostly black like this with some tan but now looks like a classic light red and black with some sable on him.

have puppy checked for coccidia and giardia........and worms too.

sometimes small puppies are caused by these issues.