german shepherd pup too small? - Page 1

I just adopted a puppy from my local vet, whose owner dropped her off and never came back to pick her up. She is around 12-15 weeks old and around 17 pounds. This is the first German Shepherd I have ever owned, so i dont know what are usual puppy standards. She just seems too small to be a purebred, which was what the employees who gave her to me said. Anyone who has advice or puppy information and comments i would be appreciative.

She may have been the runt,  she may be wormy, or she may just be out of smaller parents.  She could have had a rough start in life. we can't tell you much about her without pictures.  I had a german bred female who only weighed 50 lbs, and she was out of larger dogs, mom was a 90 lb female.

A few years ago I had a litter in which there was a runt female, weighed only 5 lbs at 7 weeks old, which was half the weight of all the others in the litter. Parents were average size. I gave this runt to my best friend, and also kept the biggest female in the same litter.  At maturity, my pup was 70#, and my friends runt pup was 68#, so not much difference at all considering that hers was half the weight of mine at 8 wks.  I also have a male who just turned 2 yrs old, who is 100# LEAN working weight and 29" at withers, out of a 60#, 23" bitch and a 78#, 25" stud.  So size can really not be a guaranteed thing, either way.  But most of my pups are about 10# at 8 weeks.

My pup Virgo weighs 59 pounds at 16 months, some females can be on the small side, one of her sisters
weighs 10 pounds more than her.  Virgo has an aunt that is 78 pounds.
Virgo's great-great grand-mother was 90 pounds!

Be thankful, small dogs fit better in your car

As long as your puppy is healthy, worm free and eating good, she should be ok.
I was told by someone, you should be able to feel the ribs but not see them.

Oh ya,Violett goes to the vets tomorrow, I'll let you know what she weighs in at, Violett is 12 weeks old, and the
lady that has her sister says her pup is 26 pounds, but it was the biggest in a litter of 10.

This is Violett>>

Try & post a picture of your little girl

My Sita was 16lbs at 16 weeks, she gained 1.25 lbs a week for months and now at 10 months 22" tall and weighs 55 lbs. When she fills out she will be within the breed standard. She has always been the smallest puppy in our SchH puppy circle, she kept her puppy appearance a bit longer then the others too. Now, she's a great older puppy that keeps up with the best of them and is often quicker and more agile then the larger dogs and still packs a punch on the sleeve.

Make sure she's healthy, love her, feed her, give her a place to run, and play, train her and everything will be just fine.

GSD's are NOT large dogs......far too many are oversize.

Height:
Male German Shepherd Dogs range from 24 inches to 26 inches.
Female German Shepherd Dogs range from 22 inches to 24 inches.

Weight:
Male German Shepherd Dogs range from 75 to 90 pounds.
Female German Shepherd Dogs range from 60 to 70 pounds.

There is no problem regards your pup being underweight, why do you think that,

My Heidi is about 18 lb in weight and is 11 weeks old, I do not want a big heavy pup,

She is fed the correct amount of food in three feeds a day, She is growing slow and steady just the way i like it

If your Pup is showing the usual puppy ways, into everything, looks well ,eats well then forget the the weighing scales,

Just feel her or him on occasion to see the pup is not putting on to much weight too fast.

People seem to think they must grow big over night, i want mine to grow nice and steady, and she was only weighed then because she was checked over at the vets to see all was well and that was part of the contract that the vet check her over, otherwise i would not bother to weigh her at all I go by eye and what i see, not what the scales tell me

Steve

Do you have photos of your puppy?

Young Goran when he had his booster Vacc the vet weighed him he was 64lb at seventeen months old, he will not get much bigger,

 But he is a pocket rocket , he will clear the meter jump by a near foot airspace and will keep going over the A frame non stop if you let him, he loves it, you only have to point to it and he is gone

No he is what he is and he stays in good condition so i do not bother about how big he is

.Infact it is quite comical to watch him at foot during his training he is like super glue against my brothers leg and the way he looks up at him during the excersise is funny to watch, but he does the job right

Steve

 Your dog might be a mix, so what ??? Feed and train the little thing, and it will love you forever. That is most important.

The idea of overnutrition leading to increased risk of HD applies to very young pups in the 5-8 week range, I read from at least one source.

It was discovered that pups from C-section (with lower weight as young pups, why?) have less chance of developing HD later.

My females pups are about 4.25 pounds at the start of the 5th week. I think I need not worry about them being as large as they possibly be genetically. Mom is 24.5 inch and Dad is 26.5 inches. If the females mature at 23 inches it would be OK, if their skeletal health is very good.