Puppy Weight At Birth

[Aphra]

I pulled a little red stumpy tailed cattle dog X out of the pound when she was heavily pregnant. She had four puppies (http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=203548).

Three of the puppies are HUGE. The biggest is two weeks old today and last night weighed in at 1640 g. The other two aren't far behind and while the runt is growing like a weed, she's only half the size of her siblings.

I don't know anything about puppies and was wondering if what I have are three puppies who are going to be very big dogs, or just three puppies who are doing well out of a mum with lots of milk and only four pups?

I realise that bigger dogs have bigger puppies, but is there a rule of thumb that will give me a clue as to how big these babies might end up? I have no idea at all about what the father might be, I'm assuming a X breed of some sort.

[corvus]

If it means anything, I have had two dogs that were the smallest in the litter. One stayed under-sized her whole life and the other grew into a giant. So... I think it doesn't necessarily mean anything what the size is at birth, although if one is considerably smaller it might never catch up.

[sas]

I have one of the smaller pups from the litter and he is an undersized adult.

However I've heard of many small pups being the biggest as adults.

[SparkyTansy]

My bitch was the smallest in her litter and she has ended up at the top of the standard in height for a bitch.

Is it possible that the smaller puppy could be from a different sire?

[Alyosha]

I've seen the same. My boy was the runt in his litter and is not even close to being the smallest now they're grown up. But some do stay small.

[Baileys mum]

With my first Aussie terrier litter, the smallest pup born, ended up being one of the biggest pups when he left for his new home at 8 weeks. :D

[Sayly]

Holly's breeder has had small ones grow to be on the bigger end of the scale.

Holly was a small runty baby but is now bigger than her mother (she's not a big girl though). The next litter from the same bitch, different sire, the smallest (very small) looks like she's bigger/heavier through the body than her sister who was much bigger at birth. The lighter built bitch is actually taller, although this is all going on pictures and measurements, the girls are in different states to each other although I hope to change that at least for a few days later this year. :D

[Lyla]

I don't think birth weight is a guide to adult size.

I had a bitch puppy who was 2nd biggest in the litter up until 8 weeks when she left, and did not grow to be an especially large adult. 8 weeks is such a short time with such a huge amount of growth, and I have found that every few days the heirarchy of puppy size changes.

Some pups mature a lot slower than others too. I kept a pup from my last litter, and I was pretty disappointed with her development in regards to conformation and size, but now at 10 months old, she has really started to come together. She's very much the Ugly Duckling to Swan scenario.

[oakway]

Birth weight is not always an indicator.

In your case even more difficult as the litter may have more than one sire.