# Is my puppy too small for her age?



## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Denver was 9.6 pounds at 8 weeks but continued to grow and steadily gained weight until he was pretty much falling within the weight chart. According to the weight chart he was right in the middle of the average. As long as she is eating well and steadily gaining weight I would not worry.


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## sumter (Jun 10, 2019)

Emmdenn said:


> Denver was 9.6 pounds at 8 weeks but continued to grow and steadily gained weight until he was pretty much falling within the weight chart. According to the weight chart he was right in the middle of the average. As long as she is eating well and steadily gaining weight I would not worry.


Emmdenn - thanks! Yes she is eating pretty well and is starting to gain more weight since she hit 12 week mark - about a little over 2 pounds every week. Hoping she hit her growth spurt and will go over 20 pounds (in a healthy way) by 16 weeks! It sounds like she is on track but I just want her to be as big (again, in a healthy way) as she can be, and right now she keeps falling out of the lowest average weight recorded for her age - she was 12.8 lbs at 12 weeks for example


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Staying lean and growing slowly and steadily are what you want! Better for those developing baby joints. If I remember correctly our vet said 2 pounds/week is the goal!

She sure is a cutie


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

There is absolutely nothing too small about your puppy. If your vet is seeing her on schedule and is happy with her condition, do not worry about her being too small. I'm going to assume you're feeding her a good quality puppy food for large breed puppies, so she is getting the nutrition she needs. The important thing is that she continue to grow on a smooth trajectory (not gaining too much in a time period or not gaining anything) If you have children, your pediatrician will have told you the same thing - just a nice smooth curve on the growth chart.

Here is some reading that may ease your mind - the weights are a good rule of thumb, do the math and figure out that she should only gain small percentages from week to week. https://cvgrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NEW-Slow-Grow-2017.pdf

There is a ton of scientific information to suggest your dog will have a longer, healthier life if she is kept very fit and lean (just like people, they are better off being a bit too thin than a bit too heavy). https://www.prevention.com/life/a20461443/extend-your-dogs-life/
And don't forget how important daily exercise is for them too, a tired dog is a happy dog


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Make sure to continue regular worming.. it's hard to catch parasites and usually cost about the same to have them wormed as it does to do a fecal check. Because the parasites run in a 2 or 3 wk schedule it's easy to miss.

She's as cute as a button. Coat looks good, if parents did not have an abundant coat I doubt she will either. I have one that looks like a Yettie and one that looks more like your girl. Trust me, the lighter coat is so much easier to take care of!


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## eeerrrmmm1 (Apr 15, 2018)

sumter said:


> Hi, new member here.
> 
> First time dog owner, obsessed and overly concerned with every single aspect of our puppy's life and wellbeing as a result.. :frown2:


Completely understand. I'm the same way with my now 14 month old. 

Your girl is an adorable little peanut. She's on the smaller side but nothing extreme so there's no need to worry if she's eating well and healthy and your vet isn't worried. Relax and enjoy her. The tiny phase won't last much longer. 

Have you seen this chart? She's still falling in range, she's just a peanut. 

http://www.genuinegoldens.com/files/Female_Puppy_Weight_JAN.pdf

Don't worry about her coat. They don't get their decoration fluff until later. You'll probably start to see wavy adult hair on the ridge of her back around 4-6 months old. Eventually she'll start to get featherings on her legs etc. The full coat won't come in completely until she's a year or two old.


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## sumter (Jun 10, 2019)

eeerrrmmm1 said:


> Completely understand. I'm the same way with my now 14 month old.
> 
> Your girl is an adorable little peanut. She's on the smaller side but nothing extreme so there's no need to worry if she's eating well and healthy and your vet isn't worried. Relax and enjoy her. The tiny phase won't last much longer.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the chart! I haven't seen this one. And yes other than her digestive issues (we're trying all kinds of stuff to figure out what's wrong with her system right now), she is relatively healthy - playful, loves people, eats well as long as there are tasty additions to her kibbles - like pumpkin puree. I have been noticing that she is growing coarser hair along the ridge of her back by her butt area, was wondering if that's her adult coat coming in!



nolefan said:


> There is absolutely nothing too small about your puppy. If your vet is seeing her on schedule and is happy with her condition, do not worry about her being too small. I'm going to assume you're feeding her a good quality puppy food for large breed puppies, so she is getting the nutrition she needs. The important thing is that she continue to grow on a smooth trajectory (not gaining too much in a time period or not gaining anything) If you have children, your pediatrician will have told you the same thing - just a nice smooth curve on the growth chart.
> 
> Here is some reading that may ease your mind - the weights are a good rule of thumb, do the math and figure out that she should only gain small percentages from week to week. https://cvgrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/NEW-Slow-Grow-2017.pdf
> 
> ...


Thank you! We try to take Mochi out for her daily short walks (~30 min per day total) and take her to all kinds of places like puppy socials, dog-friendly parks, stores, etc. An hour or two of this seems to wipe her out! 



puddles everywhere said:


> Make sure to continue regular worming.. it's hard to catch parasites and usually cost about the same to have them wormed as it does to do a fecal check. Because the parasites run in a 2 or 3 wk schedule it's easy to miss.
> 
> She's as cute as a button. Coat looks good, if parents did not have an abundant coat I doubt she will either. I have one that looks like a Yettie and one that looks more like your girl. Trust me, the lighter coat is so much easier to take care of!


We haven't dewormed her since getting her (came dewormed already), but have tested her fecal samples twice now and they haven't caught anything. Will be submitting another one for testing this week since she's having digestive issues for a while now! Thank you for the warning... kind of have been forgetting about that.. and thanks for the little note about the lighter coat!! :laugh:


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

sumter said:


> ... We try to take Mochi out for her daily short walks (~30 min per day total) and take her to all kinds of places like puppy socials, dog-friendly parks, stores, etc. An hour or two of this seems to wipe her out!...


That sounds like a wonderful schedule for her, and perfect for socializing with different kinds of people. Just keep up the good work, they go through different growth periods mentally and can have phases of being fearful so don't back off on continuing with this. Don't forget that as she grows she will need more outlet for physical energy and will need aerobic exercise (leash walks do not count for this) most days of the week, a good 20 minutes at a minimum each day. It will help her continue to be a good girl


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## sumter (Jun 10, 2019)

*Update!*

Hi all!

I just wanted to post an update here for those who may have similar size concerns with their new golden puppy. I stumbled on a lot of "weight concern" posts and they never have updates after, I always wanted to know how they ended up!

Mochi is not exactly fully grown yet but she's now 6.5 months old!

I am sad to say that her diarrhea problem is still there despite all the efforts. She switched to Royal Canin hypoallergenic diet after no medication worked and tests all came back negative multiple times, which really helped her but she started having diarrhea again recently. Ugh!

Now onto the main point - her weight as of yesterday is 38 pounds. Her height (floor to shoulder) is 18.5 ~ 19 inches. She is getting fluffier so it is hard to tell exactly. Her feathering is growing - her tail feathering is coming in first! It's so cute!

Her growth rate is pretty much 2 lbs per week, even to this day. I'm thinking her body is trying to catch up to what her real weight should be because I don't think they usually grow at this rate at this age. She was something like 30-33 lbs only 3 weeks ago!! 

In summary, as far as Mochi's weight & size is concerned, she seems to be catching up. People still comment on how "small" she is when they hear her age but for English cream variant (I hate to use this term because all goldens are goldens, but there are slight physical differences) of golden retrievers, I'm seeing that females are supposed to reach only 20-22 inch height so Mochi's almost already there in terms of height. 

I'm attaching her recent pictures so you guys can see how she looks now! She's turning into a beautiful lady


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## robertsonse11 (Sep 6, 2018)

I'm not a vet, but she looks healthy to me. She may be petite, but she definitely doesn't look too skinny. When her coat fills out, she will appear thicker. 

She is a really pretty dog. You can tell from the racing stripe down her back that her adult coat is about to start coming in. She is going to have a beautiful coat color as an adult.


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## sumter (Jun 10, 2019)

robertsonse11 said:


> I'm not a vet, but she looks healthy to me. She may be petite, but she definitely doesn't look too skinny. When her coat fills out, she will appear thicker.
> 
> She is a really pretty dog. You can tell from the racing stripe down her back that her adult coat is about to start coming in. She is going to have a beautiful coat color as an adult.


Thank you!! Yes I am very much looking forward to when her adult fur grows in more... I thought she'd be whiter but she's not! I love it :laugh:

She does look healthy to my untrained eyes as well, just small. I don't care if she's destined to be a petite girl forever but I would be bothered if something is impeding her growth (like... her current stomach issues I am strongly suspecting is affecting her) and she ends up not reaching her full potential. She's a very energetic and loving girl otherwise, she loves to give kisses to every dog she sees and wants to be petted by every stranger she sees (luckily, she stopped bothering people on walks, but she does this in off-leash parks). She's such a silly girl. I hope to have many years together with her as she grows and figures out the world around her  

If no one minds, I'll probably revisit this post again maybe once she's a year old, maybe a bit older. If not I'll make a new post that shows her weight journey over the year :smile2:


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## diane0905 (Aug 20, 2010)

sumter said:


> Thank you!! Yes I am very much looking forward to when her adult fur grows in more... I thought she'd be whiter but she's not! I love it :laugh:
> 
> She does look healthy to my untrained eyes as well, just small. I don't care if she's destined to be a petite girl forever but I would be bothered if something is impeding her growth (like... her current stomach issues I am strongly suspecting is affecting her) and she ends up not reaching her full potential. She's a very energetic and loving girl otherwise, she loves to give kisses to every dog she sees and wants to be petted by every stranger she sees (luckily, she stopped bothering people on walks, but she does this in off-leash parks). She's such a silly girl. I hope to have many years together with her as she grows and figures out the world around her
> 
> If no one minds, I'll probably revisit this post again maybe once she's a year old, maybe a bit older. If not I'll make a new post that shows her weight journey over the year :smile2:


Looking forward to seeing her future photos. She's precious!

As to her diarrhea issues, my Luke had issues like that for his first three years. What worked like a charm for us is Propectalin. It's probiotics. You can get it at Chewy -- I noticed a Chewy box in one of your photos. Don't buy it from the vet as they will sell you a small amount for a ridiculous amount -- like 15 tablets for $30 -- when you can get it on Chewy for something like $55 for 250 tablets. 

This is the description on Chewy:

"Pro-Pectalin contains kaolin, pectin and Enterococcus faecium, a beneficial bacteria to help resolve diarrhea caused by stress, antibiotic administration, change in diet or other simple, non-life threatening forms of diarrhea. Its unique combination of ingredients helps safely stop diarrhea, soothe irritated intestines and restore the normal balance of intestinal bacteria."

Ask your vet about it. It works. My vet said I could give it to Luke each time he got runny or mushy poop and it would firm it back up. He liked the taste of it. It's one tablet for every 20lbs of dog and we'd give it a couple of times a day. It would start firming up the poop like a charm in a day or two. As Luke got older, he needed it much less, but I always have it on hand.


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## sophieanne (Feb 4, 2014)

Mochi is beautiful! She's definately grown since your first post. Don't worry about her growth..she's doing great. I worried about my first boy golden and then suddenly he grew and was a large boy. Enjoy her while she's little...she'll be grown up before you know it.


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## eeerrrmmm1 (Apr 15, 2018)

She's very pretty. 

We had trouble with reoccurring diarrhea too and after trying meds/pumpkin/probiotics we recently switched to Hills Prescription Diet GI Biome. It's too soon to say if it will work consistently going forward but so far she's had the best formed stools I've ever seen from her. It's expensive and requires a prescription from the vet but if it works and she's healthy, it's worth it.


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## sumter (Jun 10, 2019)

Hello,

I know I am "reviving" an old thread but since I promised to deliver her 1 year old pictures, here I am. Mochi is now 1 year 1.5 months old. She had her first heat which came and went. We will be spaying her soon in the next few months. 

Unfortunately she is still on medication for her digestive issues. This one works. Whenever she gets taken off it the loose stools start coming back, so she's probably going to be on it a long time if not forever. Otherwise she is a happy little girl.

She now weighs about 55 lbs. Have not properly weighed her in a while. Her coat is longer. She is still small-framed for a golden retriever I think, but she is now within normal weight range, and we love her the way she is. Her personality started to really show and she is the sweetest, gentlest dog I've ever seen. She is naturally very timid (very afraid of new things and very careful around them), even though we tried to socialize her as much as possible at a young age - we think it's just her nature at this point. She loves new HUMANS and DOGS though, just things.

Anyway, here she is, and thank you all for giving me much appreciated replies when I initially posted this thread!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Great pictures, she has grown into a beautiful girl.


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## Emmdenn (Jun 5, 2018)

Pretty girl!! Glad you are enjoying her


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## Dunmar (Apr 15, 2020)

Could she be any prettier?? No! What a gorgeous girl.

My girl is petite but I never thought anything about it. She was 10# at 10 weeks. 18.5 at 14 weeks. She seems to be growing well. Her sisters were also petite but her brothers were almost twice her size.


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## eeerrrmmm1 (Apr 15, 2018)

She's absolutely precious.


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## Ffcmm (May 4, 2016)

what a nice update, she has grown up and is lovely!


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