How big will my puppy get? (Pics included)

[Irish9697]

I figured I'd ask on the DIS because it seems we have an amazingly wide range of knowledge on here.

We got our puppy Humphrey on May 12th and he weighed approximately 5 pounds. He was born April 3rd, so he was about 5 1/2 weeks at the time.

His mom was a full-bred (not registered, but they claimed full-breed and she looked it) Border Collie. She was pretty petite. Since we've gotten him, we come across a lot of Border Collies and they same to be petite like her or a good solid medium dog. Anyway, they said she weighed 25 pounds or so.

His dad was a neighborhood dog and the described him as a German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd who weighed about 45-60 lbs., she guessed.

Humphrey is now 5 1/2 months old. We weighed him this morning and he was about 35 pounds. I measured his height and to his shoulder, he's about 18 inches, but to the top of his back, it's more like 21 inches.

It's been a long time since I had a puppy (since childhood!) and I am not positive on their growth cycle. When do they stop growing? How big do you think he'll be full-grown? I was thinking 50 pounds? He definitely has Border Collie coloring (all the boys in the litter of 7 did, while the girls were black and tan like a German Shepherd), but shepherd fur. He loves water and catching balls and frisbees like Border Collies, by the way. And, he's incredibly smart. Was kennel trained since day one and has been totally house trained for about 5 weeks. He's a chewer, though.

I am attaching a picture of him when we brought him home and another a week or so ago, so 5 weeks and 5 months. So, how big will my Humphrey be?

 

[doxdogy]

No idea how big he will get. But he is adorable and I love the name. We did have a border collie/german shepherd mix as kids. She weighed around 50 pounds and was the little bigger then a border collie and not quite as big as a german shepherd.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Here is our Border collie mix, I think, that we got in May, and he is 39 lbs and is full grown.

 

[happily single]

Soo cute. The biting should go away once he's done getting his "adult" teeth.

I would guess he will be between the size of a border collie but smaller than a shepard.

 

[MouseMomx2]

We also have a mixed breed dog. The general rule of thumb is to take their weight at 14 weeks and multiply it by 2.5. The formula is right on in our case. Our puppy was 16 pounds at 14 weeks and is now 30 pounds at 6 months. He should end up right around 40 pounds.

Dogs reach their full size, on average, between 8 and 15 months. Smaller dogs reach their full size at the earlier end and large dogs mature more toward the later end.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Wow, what a mix! He is adorable - I can definitely see the two breeds in him.

The short answer is - there's really no way to tell for sure how big he'll be. Even purebred dogs within the same breed have a lot of variation. Hang in there a few more months and you'll know.

Make sure you teach him lots of games, tricks, etc and keep him busy - he's a "working dog" for sure. Oh, and watch that mouthing/chewing thing with him. Dogs usually aren't ready to go until about 8 weeks old. In that time they learn a lot about good behavior from Mom and siblings (who would correct him if he bit too hard, or got obnoxious, etc). He missed out on 2 1/2 weeks of that learning time. Just something to keep in mind. Keep his mouth busy throwing him balls and frisbees, etc.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My border mix, Gracie, is about 40lbs, but she is a girl. I think 10lbs of it is HAIR!She has the dreaded double coat.

Here she is at 5 months

Here she is at about 4yrs old (along with Butters the lab mix).

 

[Irish9697]

Here is our Border collie mix, I think, that we got in May, and he is 39 lbs and is full grown.

I loooove his polka dot nose!

 

[Irish9697]

We also have a mixed breed dog. The general rule of thumb is to take their weight at 14 weeks and multiply it by 2.5. The formula is right on in our case. Our puppy was 16 pounds at 14 weeks and is now 30 pounds at 6 months. He should end up right around 40 pounds.

Dogs reach their full size, on average, between 8 and 15 months. Smaller dogs reach their full size at the earlier end and large dogs mature more toward the later end.

Seems like I did read that somewhere. He was 22 pounds at 14 weeks, so that would put him at 55 pounds...

I can't wait to find out!

 

[Irish9697]

Wow, what a mix! He is adorable - I can definitely see the two breeds in him.

The short answer is - there's really no way to tell for sure how big he'll be. Even purebred dogs within the same breed have a lot of variation. Hang in there a few more months and you'll know.

Make sure you teach him lots of games, tricks, etc and keep him busy - he's a "working dog" for sure. Oh, and watch that mouthing/chewing thing with him. Dogs usually aren't ready to go until about 8 weeks old. In that time they learn a lot about good behavior from Mom and siblings (who would correct him if he bit too hard, or got obnoxious, etc). He missed out on 2 1/2 weeks of that learning time. Just something to keep in mind. Keep his mouth busy throwing him balls and frisbees, etc.

We have a fabulous (!!!!) dog park (multiple acres, several lakes, lots of trails) nearby and he has had such a blast there meeting other dogs and running. He will sometimes try to catch their balls and frisbees. I am wondering how I will train him to be okay off the leash like the other dogs. He is such a bundle of energy. He knows sit, stay, come, down, but in public, he gets so excited. I know he's still young, and we're working, but I'd love a tried and true method.

I also know he was young to be taken from mom, but they wanted them gone and would've given him to someone else had we waited, so we took him home. The night we brought him home, we gave him a large stuffed bunny (wish I'd taken his pic with it then) and he still loves that thing. Actually nurses on it's tail! I'll upload a pic.

Oh, and to another poster, he just finished getting all his big boy teeth so furniture chewing is pretty much done, but he will still chew on candles, remotes, shoes...anything laying around.

 

[Irish9697]

My border mix, Gracie, is about 40lbs, but she is a girl. I think 10lbs of it is HAIR!She has the dreaded double coat.

Here she is at 5 months

Here she is at about 4yrs old (along with Butters the lab mix).

She is precious!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

We have a fabulous (!!!!) dog park (multiple acres, several lakes, lots of trails) nearby and he has had such a blast there meeting other dogs and running. He will sometimes try to catch their balls and frisbees. I am wondering how I will train him to be okay off the leash like the other dogs. He is such a bundle of energy. He knows sit, stay, come, down, but in public, he gets so excited. I know he's still young, and we're working, but I'd love a tried and true method.

You can begin to teach him the Recall. (Google it and you'll find lots about it.) The key is to NEVER let your dog get away with not coming to you and to NEVER give the command to Come when you cannot enforce it. And one more really important thing is to never call the dog and punish him - he will learn it doesn't pay to come. Coming should always be pleasant. But this is something that should be practiced in your yard for a good long time before he's reliable. Doing it in the dog park might be quite challenging, but start small and work your way up to it. He's still got a lot of learning and practicing to do, and if you're consistent with it, someday he'll be very obedient. But the training process is lifelong. He's a smartie, I'm sure he's just hungering to learn.

 

[Irish9697]

Bad lighting, but that's him sucking some bunny tail. It calms him just like a paci does a baby. He's doing it right now. I love watching it!!

 

[A4Disney]

I'm going to guess he'll be 55 lbs


ETA=he's adorable!

 

[Principessa1284]

My mom has a boarder collie/boxer mix. She was a small puppy - had the boarder collie coloring and face/ears, with the boxer body. Both mom and dad were on the smaller side.. so they didn't think she'd get too big. Well.. She got to be larger than average boarder collie size, made of SOLID muscle like a boxer. She weighs around 70 lbs.. but she's super sweet and thinks she's a lap dog. It's fantastic and she's a wonderful dog.. smart as heck. I taught her to ring a bell when she had to go out for potty instead of barking. Learned in about a week. She's also wonderful with children, older people, and other animals.

 

[Cat0727]

Humphrey is adorable! what a sweetie!

 

[justhat]

So glad you posted this as we just adopted a dog who, we think, is a border collie/Australian shepherd mix. She's about 2 months old and 9 lbs. now and I have been wondering that same question. Be sure and update when she's fully grown so I have an idea of what to expect!

And Humphrey is quite the adorable puppy!

 

[Mermaid02]

Bad lighting, but that's him sucking some bunny tail. It calms him just like a paci does a baby. He's doing it right now. I love watching it!!

OMG I love it!!

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

I am lovin' all these doggie pix! SO darn cute. I like the "before and after" of what they looked like as pups and what they do now.

OP, my bet is he'll end up around 50 pounds -- I had a (much beloved) collie who was very solid as a pup who ended up at close to 80 pounds. Our current mixed breed was around 35 or 40 pounds at 6 months, and she's been just under 60 as an adult. He's just adorable, though!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have a fabulous (!!!!) dog park (multiple acres, several lakes, lots of trails) nearby and he has had such a blast there meeting other dogs and running. He will sometimes try to catch their balls and frisbees. I am wondering how I will train him to be okay off the leash like the other dogs. He is such a bundle of energy. He knows sit, stay, come, down, but in public, he gets so excited. I know he's still young, and we're working, but I'd love a tried and true method.

I also know he was young to be taken from mom, but they wanted them gone and would've given him to someone else had we waited, so we took him home. The night we brought him home, we gave him a large stuffed bunny (wish I'd taken his pic with it then) and he still loves that thing. Actually nurses on it's tail! I'll upload a pic.

Oh, and to another poster, he just finished getting all his big boy teeth so furniture chewing is pretty much done, but he will still chew on candles, remotes, shoes...anything laying around.

Train, train, and train. Walk, walk, and walk.

Seriously, do a large walking and training session on leash prior to going to the park. The park will be the "reward" for doing hard training. Your border will pick up what you want. They love routine and if you do the "same thing" they will fall in line quickly because they are people pleasers.

The training prior to the park will reinforce who is the boss and when you recall or correct the dog, they will listen better. Eventually the dog will listen 100%.

Your border will know what you want even before YOU do. They are masters of study. They will study your every movement.

Gracie is over 5 now and she knows exactly everything I am going to do due to sound and body language, before I even get up.

Here is the bad part. She got attached to a ball, the one in the picture. That ball is over 5yrs old and disgusting, falling apart, we think it is making her puke. (She will clean it like she is taking care of a puppy).

So, she is moping and in withdrawal because we took it away 2 days ago. She is not happy.

My suggestion to you is to make sure they keep retrieving all kinds of things and not get attached to a ball. It is TORTURE!

We are trying to get her to play with other balls and oh no, you can forget that.

Today is day 3. We are in a battle of wills.