Concerned about my puppy's size

Hello,
I bought a black lab puppy named Lily 2 weeks ago and I'm concerned about her size. This is my first labrador and my first puppy (but not my first dog) so I think I was a little misinformed when I got her. She was 13 weeks old and 6.4 lbs. Now she is 15 weeks old and 9.2 lbs, and she is about 12 inches tall when I measure her up to her shoulders. Both her vet and her trainer said she looks too small and puppy-like for her age. She still has skinny limbs and a round belly, which they said she should have grown out of by now. The vet said other than that she is completely healthy. She runs and plays normally and she eats normally. The breeder said she should be about 70 lbs fully grown, but I'm starting to doubt that. The only reason I'm concerned is because I am training her to be my psychiatric service dog and need a large dog for some of her tasks she will be trained to do. I love her to pieces though and just want what's best for her! Is there anything I can do to help her growth, or should I be concerned? Do you think the breeder lied to me? He never mentioned her being a runt or anything like that. I made it clear to him that I was selecting a dog to train as a psychiatric service dog. I chose Lily because she has such a good temperament. I thought the breeder had a good reputation and that's why I chose him. Lily was the last dog left from her litter, though. All her siblings were already sold. I attached a current photo of Lily for reference.
Thanks!

I've never owned a puppy but my first thought is intestinal parasites (worms). Have you taken a stool sample to the vet?

Hi and welcome! Your puppy does look teensy for her supposed age. I haven't seen the whole range of sizes for lab puppies but I will say both of mine were much larger at that age. Several folks on here have said a rule of thumb for a lab's adult weight is to double the pup's weight at 4 months of age and that will be about their adult weight. Did you actually see her parents or any of her siblings? A couple of members on here have gotten puppies recently, barry581, meeps83, and Sparky. They've posted a lot of photos of their pups at various ages, you can kind of get an idea of what their pups look like at various weeks of age.

Let's test the theory

Honestly, she doesn't look like a lab. There may be lab in her but you don't see the typical characteristics. I mean it is possible she is lab but if she is, and no offence she is poorly bred lab. She is a very cute pup though what ever she is, but just not seeing a while lot of lab in her.

Hard to tell but are those white spots on her side and back leg? No pure lab would have that, ok not normal labs. There are genetic defects that could occur but those are very very rare but you would still see pure lab pup there just weird splotchy colors.

Did you meet her parents? Did the breeder have all the health clearances, eyes, hips, elbows, heart. Genetic testing? Look through the puppy pics on this site and you will see a lot of lab puppies, she doesn't resemble them to me in the face or ears. Also at 15 weeks she should be double her size.

Here is a link to Barry's new pup brooks at 15 weeks. Brooks is a very well bred pure lab. At 15 weeks he is pretty much knee high and and high on life.
Brooks at 15 weeks

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Originally Posted by Jeff

Honestly, she doesn't look like a lab. There may be lab in her but you don't see the typical characteristics. I mean it is possible she is lab but if she is, and no offence she is poorly bred lab. She is a very cute pup though what ever she is, but just not seeing a while lot of lab in her.

Hard to tell but are those white spots on her side and back leg? No pure lab would have that, ok not normal labs. There are genetic defects that could occur but those are very very rare but you would still see pure lab pup there just weird splotchy colors.

Did you meet her parents? Did the breeder have all the health clearances, eyes, hips, elbows, heart. Genetic testing? Look through the puppy pics on this site and you will see a lot of lab puppies, she doesn't resemble them to me in the face or ears. Also at 15 weeks she should be double her size.

Here is a link to Barry's new pup brooks at 15 weeks. Brooks is a very well bred pure lab. At 15 weeks he is pretty much knee high and and high on life.
Brooks at 15 weeks

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That was my first thought too. Looks like a mix to me. I think Barry's thread is a good one to reference, Brooks' growth is very similar to Bacon's.

Did you see parents? Did you get AKC registration papers?

Lab puppies can range in size depending on pedigree (hunting or show). My show puppy was over 25# at 10 weeks. My hunting lab pup was 7# at 7 weeks and she was on the smaller side.

Rethinking it some and looking at some of the 8 week old pup pictures. She might be lab, again not well bred lines, as there is something else in those lines and they gave her to you when she was 6 weeks old and not 13. 9lbs is typical of an 8 week old lab 6lbs at 8 weeks for a lab, I have never heard of. Which if they gave her to you at 6 weeks, which is unethical for a breeder and illegal in most states, then she may come from bad breeding. Did she comes with vaccination records and 8 week checkup from their vet? She should have had 2 rounds of vaccinations as well by 13 weeks from the breeders vet. So I would hope you received that paperwork as well.

I agree that she doesn’t look typical for a well-bred Lab pup. That doesn’t mean that she won’t turn out to be a wonderful dog, but it does mean that she might not end up looking like a typical lab in either size or looks. And if the breeder didn’t do the proper health clearances on the parents, then there could be a higher risk of things like hip and elbow dysplasia, blindness and other problems. Doesn’t mean she’ll have any of those, but proper checks on the parents lessen the risk for the offspring.

We’re not trying to say that if she’s not a well-bred pup she’ll be a bad dog by any stretch, but it does make it harder to predict things like future size.

I wonder if the patches are thinning hair instead of white spots. I'd take in a stool sample. For sure.


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Hello and Welcome!

I'm not the best on puppy information as we home seniors. She does look small for the age. Did the vet give you an estimate of age?

She sure is a cutie.

Unfortunately, due to their popularity, Labradors are the most overbred breed of dog. This has led to many people producing Labs of all shapes and sizes. If your vet has given you a clean bill of health, and your dog is parasite-free, there are tons of scenarios that could be in play still which make it hard to predict future size -- is this dog younger than you were led to believe? Is this a mixed breed? Are the parents unusually small for the breed?

There is no miraculous way to make a small dog grow larger, if its genetic makeup doesn't allow for greater size. You can simply feed the puppy properly and hopefully it turns out. Hindsight is 20/20, and maybe this is a good learning experience that when looking for a service dog, you go to a breeder with a history of placing/training dogs for the type of assistance needed, who has verifiable proof of all health clearances recommended for the breed, and who can provide references (preferably to other owners of their pedigrees who are currently working as service dogs).

Thanks for all the replies! I have the AKC papers that she is a purebred and vaccinations and checkups from the vet her breeder took her do. I took her to my own vet about 10 days ago with a stool sample and she had Giardia, but I was given meds for her and that cleared up. Now the vet says she's healthy. She said the skin patches are from scratching. She has dry skin but was tested and doesn't have any diseases, so I was just given an anti-itch spray for her twice a day. The vet said before 4 months of age, some puppies skin glands aren't fully developed yet, leading to dry skin. I think I'm going to go back to the vet again for another checkup and to ask her questions. I also called the breeder and he invited me back to meet her parents and discuss her size/any issues, which seems good. He says she was part of a large litter and is small but has some catching up to do. He still thinks she will reach at least 60 lbs fully grown. Regardless, she is very happy, active and playful. She's also gaining more weight in my care than she was before I got her.

She's a cute little thing. Welcome to the board, both of you!

Giarida can be tough to clear up, sometimes requiring multiple doses of med. We've had two dogs with it, one as a puppy direct from the breeder with it, and both dogs were reevaluated about 6 weeks or so after the meds were used up (to make sure it was gone). Both dogs cleared up after the single dose, but some don't.

It sounds like Lily feels good, so that's definitely in her favor.

My youngest (yellow) is a small lab and weighed 12 pounds at 10 weeks. She has topped out at 55 pounds at 1 years old and I don't expect her get much bigger.

At 15 weeks and only 9 pounds I wouldn't expect her to reach 60 pounds unless she has some massive, uncommon growth spurt. Most lab puppies gain between 2 to 3 pounds a week and that will slow down a great deal after 7 months old or so, so the timeframe when most weight gain occurs isn't a huge window. I personally don't think she will even reach 50 pounds, I could certainly be wrong.

Regardless, focus on her health and clearing up those patches of missing fur where she is scratching.You cant change her size, she is what she is

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Originally Posted by Michelle12

Thanks for all the replies! I have the AKC papers that she is a purebred and vaccinations and checkups from the vet her breeder took her do. I took her to my own vet about 10 days ago with a stool sample and she had Giardia, but I was given meds for her and that cleared up. Now the vet says she's healthy. She said the skin patches are from scratching. She has dry skin but was tested and doesn't have any diseases, so I was just given an anti-itch spray for her twice a day. The vet said before 4 months of age, some puppies skin glands aren't fully developed yet, leading to dry skin. I think I'm going to go back to the vet again for another checkup and to ask her questions. I also called the breeder and he invited me back to meet her parents and discuss her size/any issues, which seems good. He says she was part of a large litter and is small but has some catching up to do. He still thinks she will reach at least 60 lbs fully grown. Regardless, she is very happy, active and playful. She's also gaining more weight in my care than she was before I got her.

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Yeah puppies are itchy, that soft puppy fur is growing out. Those thin spots then should grow in. I do believe you in that she is doing much better with you than with the breeder. The point you came here to ask shows very much you care. Runts of the litter sometimes grow to be the big ones. My sisters lab was the runt of the litter, tiny 9 lbs at 8 weeks for a male pup, he grew to be 115 of solid muscle. The biggest of the whole littler.

Either way, you need to go to the puppy pictures section and just post a whole lot of pictures for us to see and enjoy because no matter what she is cute and we want to see her grow too as much as you do.

Oh and keep an eye on the poop for a while, Giardia can come back, it can go dormant for a while then come back in a month. We had it too, it can be a real pain.

I talked to my vet and she said there's no need to come in for another check up. She answered all of my questions over the phone, which was really nice of her. She said that since Lily was born really small and was part of a large litter, she will probably be smaller than average, but due to those circumstances I can't refer to average growth charts saying my dog should weigh X pounds at X months. It will take longer than average for her to reach certain growth milestones. She even said she's seen some dogs smaller than Lily at this age end up being the biggest dog of their litter! That gives me some hope that Lily won't be too small when she's fully grown. Either way, I love her to pieces. ❤️
Also, Lily has been doing amazingly well in her training! She learns new commands very quickly and is always so eager to please. That means she will probably be a great service dog regardless of her size. I'm so proud of her. ��

My Daisy at 16 weeks (last week) was 24.9 lbs and this week is 26.8lbs. Your girl seems tiny, but I am sure she is very lovely! She may have a huge personality!

She looks like a pure lab. Maybe the sickness made her look a bit sick. She I think will be a size as expected.
Gigi is 11 months and from a backyard breed .She not even pure .The female was yellow lab shepard mix and the male chocolate lab.
Even then the lady told us 70 lbs and she hit it on the nail. She is 65 at 11 months.
Her sisters who were smaller are the same. The brother ofcourse close the 100lb father.

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Are you still around, Michelle12?

How's Lily doing?

I think her dog is big now....Old resurrection ..Hahaha

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