home Adviсe Outbred puppies and dogs for home and family. How many months do dogs grow, at what age do they become adults? How to determine what size a dog will be

Outbred puppies and dogs for home and family. How many months do dogs grow, at what age do they become adults? How to determine what size a dog will be

In some people they evoke pity and guilt, in others - contempt and disgust. They are rarely lucky, only a few of them are lucky enough to meet “their” person and find a family. Not everyone decides to take a mongrel puppy into their home, because such a dog will not become the subject of admiration and envy of friends, and it is unclear what will grow out of it... And this is a really big risk, because it is truly difficult to determine what the baby will become when will grow up. What if the touching puppy turns into a huge angry dog? It is hardly wise to be led by pity alone. First, it’s worth figuring out who mongrels are, how they get along with us, and how to choose from the mass of options for a future family member.

Myths about mongrels

Mutts are healthier than purebred dogs

Mutts are smarter than purebred dogs

Street dogs are more cunning, not smarter, than domestic animals. They have to survive in terrible conditions, where without resourcefulness and ingenuity they cannot last a day. Mongrels are not at all stupid, but it is hardly correct to consider them smarter than purebred dogs.

Mongrels learn faster

The ability to learn, like intelligence, is an individual indicator of each individual dog. However, if we compare mongrels with representatives of service breeds, the latter clearly win in all respects.

Mongrels are the best guards

The mongrel guards, but does not protect. She will scare off an intruder by barking, but is unlikely to be able to provide him with worthy resistance. Most mongrels will run away squealing when faced with a determined person, while trained servants will fight to the end.

Mutts are much more loyal than purebred dogs

By devotion, owners understand attachment to the family, an obsequious desire to please. However, in fact, this is just the fear of being excluded from the pack. Mutts have a very developed pack instinct; they understand that without a pack they are in danger of death. But purebred dogs, accustomed to good conditions, do not know the fear of cold, hunger and evil people.

Of course, there are exceptions to any rule. Many mongrels are excellent guards and protectors; they are easy to train, perform in the circus, and act in films. And certainly a mongrel as a pet is in no way inferior to a purebred dog. Based on the above, we can conclude: if you need a dog for work (protection, guarding, hunting, sports), it is better to give preference to service breeds, but if you just want to take a mongrel puppy into your home so that it becomes your friend and family member – you can adopt a dog from a shelter by doing a truly kind deed.

Where to find a suitable puppy?

There are many options: the street, animal shelters, online and media advertisements, bird market. Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Pick up a puppy on the street

Noble act. However, you need to make sure that the baby really needs you. Many dogs, living for generations without human intervention (except for bullying and beatings), return to a wild state. The mother raises such puppies like wolf cubs - they are resourceful, cowardly, aggressive and are not capable of becoming domestic dogs at the genetic level. A wild puppy will not lick your hand or wag its tail in response to your words. He will lower his head, flatten his ears, growl, take an attacking position, and perhaps even try to bite the intruder. Such dogs can only be taken into the home by people who are well versed in animal psychology and know the basics of training!

Other puppies are born from human-friendly mothers. Their recent ancestors are “lost” or abandoned dogs. Puppies, at the genetic level, want to be close to a person: they look pleadingly into the eyes, lick hands, wag their tails, trail behind for a long time in the hope that the person will turn his gaze to the unfortunate creature. Mongrel puppies who make contact on their own can become wonderful, loving friends. This is exactly the kind of baby that a person who decides to adopt a dog can take into their home.

Animal shelters

Adopting a puppy from a shelter is not a bad idea. As a rule, in such places, volunteers not only care for the dogs, but also carry out some preventive measures. In addition, volunteers usually honestly talk about all the “pitfalls” - the puppy’s illnesses, behavioral problems - because they are afraid that the baby will end up on the street again if some of the “highlights” turn out to be an unpleasant surprise for the owner.

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Some owners of non-pedigreed dogs obtain offspring from their animals for falsely humane reasons. Such puppies, as a rule, are raised in normal conditions, with love and care. Perhaps even among your friends there are those who like to tinker with furry balls. Buying a mongrel puppy raised in an apartment or house is the best option for inexperienced dog breeders. Since childhood, such babies are accustomed to people, to certain rules of behavior, they are completely domestic and easily get used to a new owner.

"Bird Market

Places where animals gather are always saturated with pathogens of various infections. However, when it comes to a mongrel puppy, this is a completely acceptable option, because the chance of finding a completely healthy puppy in a shelter or on the street is also not very high.

How can you tell if your puppy is healthy?

How to understand what a puppy's character will be?

It's quite simple:

if a puppy whines, runs away and hides, shakes in horror at the sight of a stranger, most likely he will grow up to be a cowardly-aggressive dog, yapping indiscriminately at all external stimuli (strangers, other animals, a doorbell, the sound of a car passing outside the window, etc.) .P.);
if a puppy, at the sight of a stranger, boldly rushes at him, barks, tries to bite, serious problems with obedience and aggressive (including biting) behavior in the future are possible;
if the baby comes up to you (even if hesitantly, but comes up when called), licks his hands, wags his tail, he is probably all right mentally and does not expect any special problems with obedience (of course, with proper upbringing).

How to determine what a puppy will become when it grows up?

Even an experienced dog handler is unlikely to be able to accurately determine the future size and weight of a mongrel puppy without seeing its parents. However, knowing the age of the baby, you can compare its weight with the weight of purebred puppies at the same age, that is, draw an analogy. You will have to delve thoroughly into specialized literature or visit several canine forums, but if the weight and height of the dog are fundamentally important, this is a good option.

In addition, you should pay attention to the puppy’s paws - large dogs have massive paws in childhood, disproportionately large compared to the body. Pay attention to the muzzle - a heavy, massive muzzle also means that the puppy is unlikely to grow up to be a small dog.

Coat type and constitution are usually visible already at the age of two to three months. Wire-haired dogs do not grow from short-haired puppies, and heavy, big-boned babies are unlikely to turn into slender, lean dogs.

What should you do first when bringing a puppy home from the street?

If your puppy is running from his eyes and nose, has crusts around his nose, is sneezing or coughing, is suffering from vomiting and/or diarrhea, the baby is most likely suffering from an infectious disease. Such puppies should not be bathed and under no circumstances should you try to treat them yourself! First of all, you need to warm the baby and feed him (not by force). Food should be semi-liquid and lukewarm. Then you need to immediately contact a veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.

However, it is better to contact the veterinarian in advance - the doctor will examine the baby, take blood, urine and feces for tests and, possibly, prescribe treatment (after all, some diseases can occur in a latent form, unnoticed by the owner).

People who just want to save money on their purchase should not get a mongrel puppy. Outbred dogs require no less financial expenses than purebred pets. They also need to be vaccinated regularly, fed quality food, and treated if they get sick. In some cases, if a puppy suffered serious psychological trauma in childhood, it will take incomparably more effort to adapt the baby than raising a purebred dog. However, even the most hereditary court terrier will love you no less than a purebred dog with a pedigree of four generations.

All dogs grow quickly, but they mature in different ways, since this process is influenced by many factors, some of which depend on the owner’s correct attitude towards feeding and raising the pet. Genetically determined characteristics are also of great importance, so the duration of the puppy period is also determined by the breed of the dog. Large, medium and small dogs develop at different rates, which must be taken into account to monitor the animal's condition.

Puppy Development Phases

The beginning of the formation of a dog’s body is considered to be the stage of embryo formation in the womb of a bitch. From this moment until birth, the puppy's growth occurs at a very rapid pace - from a few grams to 300-600, depending on the breed. The period of fetal formation in the womb is called the embryonic phase of dog development.

From birth to adulthood, the animal goes through several stages:

from birth to one and a half months - suckling puppy;
from 1.5 months to six months - puppy;
6-12 months - teenager;
1-2.5 years - young dog.

The most intensive growth of a puppy lasts up to six months, during which time the animals grow in height, gain weight, and their appearance takes shape. In a large breed, this stage lasts another 2-3 months. With normal development, the puppy’s weight increases by 3 times and its height by 2 times.

Puppyhood is a very important period in a dog’s life, since at this time the active formation of the bone frame is underway. In order for a pet to develop fully, it needs proper balanced nutrition with a full range of proteins, fats, vitamins and microelements.

After six months of age, rapid growth stops, the dog begins to take shape as an adult animal: the chest becomes wider, the neck and head become larger, and the exterior is finally formed. By the age of one, the owner can see in appearance, behavior and habits how his pet has matured.

After a year, the animal’s development continues, but not as intensively. Bone formation finally stops until 1.5-3 years of age, depending on the breed; after this age the dog is considered an adult.

Factors influencing growth

The main factor that determines at what age a dog will mature is its breed.. Puppies of small dogs become adults faster than medium and large ones. The growth of a large pet, for example, a German shepherd, stops only at the end of one year of age, then over the course of 12 months the muscles increase and become stronger.

Another important factor in the first year of a puppy’s life is nutrition. To avoid growth retardation, it is necessary to carefully select foods to feed your pet. It is prohibited to give dogs of any age food from the human diet: sweets, baked goods, sausages, spices, pasta, potato and legume dishes. Raw sea and river fish, fatty meat, lard, and tubular bones of poultry and rabbit are not recommended.

It is important that the diet contains the right amount of minerals, since their deficiency negatively affects the formation of bone tissue. Some large dog breeds are prone to developing skeletal and joint pathologies, including:

When feeding on industrially produced food, especially dry food, it is important that the animal receives a sufficient amount of liquid in the form of clean water, broth, milk, and dairy drinks. Vitamins and mineral supplements are given only on the advice of a veterinarian, since an excess of these substances will not be beneficial, and in some cases can harm the dog’s health.

Peculiarities of maturation of some breeds

Small breeds of dogs become adults first. Small pets already stop growing at 6-8 months of life. The fastest growing breed, whose development stops at 6 months, is the Toy Terrier.

Medium dogs grow more slowly, up to 1.5 years, the slowest growing dogs are large dogs that become adults at 3 years.

The most difficult thing to determine is the development of a mongrel, since it is impossible to know exactly what genes were passed on to it by its parents. It is possible to establish that a mongrel pet has already grown up, guided by the indicators for an average breed.

Chihuahua

The Chihuahua is one of the smallest dogs, a favorite of children, and an excellent option for indoor keeping. The baby's growth continues up to 7 months, and it takes another 3 months to gain weight.

Pomeranian Spitz

From 4-5 months, the Spitz begins to grow more slowly, and the first molt occurs. The coat changes from that of a puppy to that of an adult dog after a year. Spitz dogs are dogs that have individual maturational characteristics, so it is not always possible to determine exactly what size an individual will be.

Toy Terrier

This terrier grows very quickly; at 4-5 months you can already see how tall the dog will be. Over the course of several more months, the baby continues to grow stronger and build muscles; at one year of age, the puppy becomes an adult.

Yorkshire Terrier

Yorkies actively grow for up to six months; in some animals, growth continues for another 1-2 months. These small dogs have such a toy appearance that even in old age they look like cute puppies. Yorkies are popular indoor dogs due to their hypoallergenic coat and lack of shedding.

Beagle

The Beagle is a medium breed dog whose active growth continues until six months of age, then gains muscle mass. By the age of one and a half they become adults, but for a long time they retain the character of a small puppy.

Spaniel

Russian, English and American spaniels have different growth standards, but develop according to the same pattern - the active phase for up to 6 months with further weight gain until one year of age. All representatives of the breed are hunters; the hunting instinct awakens in them from early childhood.

Boxer

The Boxer shows the first signs of independence from 6-8 months, grows quickly, becoming an adult dog by 2 years. Despite the widespread stereotype about the pugnacity and aggressiveness of this breed, the dog gets along well with children and at any age is characterized as a reliable guard and watchman.

Laika

All huskies, regardless of type, are medium breed dogs. They grow up to 18 months, but from the age of four months the puppies can take long walks with their owner. These are excellent hunters, with whom they hunt large animals, including bears.

How to determine what size a puppy will grow?

The weight of an adult dog of a particular breed is not difficult to find out. Females tend to weigh less than males. Most likely, the puppy will be about the same size as its parents when it grows up. If you know his parents, then with a high degree of probability you can predict the future size of the puppy.

It is more difficult to find out what size a mongrel dog puppy will grow up without seeing its parents. Most often, the owners of a mongrel dog determine how the puppy will grow up by its paws, chest and head size.

You can also compare the weight and height of a purebred puppy with the same indicators of purebred puppies of its age and draw an analogy, but for this you need to know the exact age of the puppy. However, this method is not always reliable. A stray puppy's weight may be low due to malnutrition and will only return to normal after living with its owner for a long time.

The best way is to show the puppy to a veterinarian; he will be able to more accurately predict the weight and height of the puppy as an adult.

How do you know what kind of dog will grow out of a miniature breed puppy?

Newborn miniature breed puppies weigh approximately 6–8 times less than large breed puppies, but as adults, a miniature dog will weigh 100 times less than a large dog. In small breeds, growth occurs much faster and more intensely than in large breeds.

A newborn small breed puppy's weight is about 5% of its mother's body weight. Such a puppy grows most actively in the first 6 months of life. By about 3 months, the puppy reaches half the body weight of an adult, and by 8–10 months it turns into an adult dog.

The maximum growth rate of a small breed puppy is the period of weaning from the mother, then fat begins to be deposited. At this point, it is important not to overfeed the dog, otherwise the tendency to obesity will remain throughout its life.

How do you know how a medium breed puppy will grow up?

The growth of medium breed dogs is similar to that of miniature breed dogs, with puppies reaching adult body weight by 9–10 months. From birth to 6 months, the weight of a medium breed puppy increases approximately three times, and the animal doubles in size at the withers.

How big will a large and giant breed puppy grow?

The growth rates of large and giant breed dogs are very different from small and medium breeds. Large puppies continue to grow up to 8 months - their daily weight gain remains very large. You need to monitor the rate of weight gain yourself by weighing the dog once a week or at an appointment at the veterinary clinic. During this period, puppies are very susceptible to diseases of the musculoskeletal system: hip dysplasia, osteochondrosis and others.

The most intensive growth period for dogs whose adult weight exceeds 25 kg is from 3 to 5 months. At 5 months, puppies already reach half the weight of an adult. They continue to grow until they are 18–24 months old. In dogs of large and giant breeds, sexual dimorphism is more pronounced than in small and medium-sized ones, that is, females mature earlier than males.

How to feed small, medium, large and giant breed puppies?

The portion of food should be measured so that it corresponds to the body weight of an adult dog, and not to the current weight of the puppy, but at the same time corresponds to the age of the puppy. Your veterinarian will help you determine the estimated weight of an adult dog based on the puppy if you find it difficult to do this or have not found the right breed in the table. It is important not to overfeed the puppy, otherwise the fragile skeleton will not be able to carry too much weight - the risk of dysplasia, skeletal deformation, and intervertebral hernia increases. It is best to regularly weigh puppies of all breeds every week to determine if they are gaining too much weight.

Every owner wants to know what his puppy will look like when he grows up. Many people often measure the size and weight of their pet and worry whether these indicators correspond to the norms. Is it worth worrying if you notice a slowdown in growth, and whether the puppy can stop growing? These questions will be discussed in this article.

Stages of dog development and growth

The duration of the puppy's growing up period can be divided into the following stages:

Important! Each stage is important for the formation of a dog, so the owner must provide proper care to the pregnant bitch, and to the puppies- games, balanced nutrition, physical activity (according to age), training (for any breed), protect from injuries and diseases.

Intensive growth in dogs is observed until 6 months of age, then the rate decreases. The further development of healthy dogs kept in appropriate conditions depends on the breed and size. Let's look at the growth characteristics of small, medium and large dogs.

Small breeds

These dog breeds include:

Did you know? The smallest height in the world (18 cm)- Chihuahua Dianko.

Medium breeds

They grow until about 12 months of age; in terms of breeds it looks like this:

- about 8 months, matures up to 1.5 years.
Cocker Spaniel
- up to 8–9 months, then grows in breadth.
- up to 8–10 months, until about 15 months gains muscle mass.
- up to approximately 9–10 months.
- up to 11 months.
- grows in height up to 1 year, in muscles - up to 1.5–2 years.
- up to 9 months, growth ends up to 1.5 years.
Cocker Spaniel- up to 8 months in height, fully formed at a little over 12 months of age.
- up to 10 months they grow in height, up to 1.5 years the appearance of an adult animal is formed.
- grows by 1 year, bones and muscle mass gain shape by 1.5 years.

Did you know? The biggest dog- a blue Great Dane named George, whose length is 213 cm and weight- 100 kg.

Large (large) breeds

Large breeds take the longest to grow and by the age of 3 years they take on the appearance of an adult dog. The growth of large breed dogs is as follows:

How to determine a dog's age

There are cases when the owner does not know the date of birth and age of his pet, and this indicator is important from the point of view of the start and frequency of vaccinations, sterilization, castration, training, care and feeding.

In order to approximately determine the age of an animal, there are the following methods:

Look at the teeth. A young animal 1 year old has white, clean, healthy teeth, a 2-year-old has yellow teeth, a 3-5-year-old has tartar, a 6-year-old has worn fangs, concave incisors, and over 8 years old has blunt fangs. Old dogs' teeth begin to fall out. Teeth change between the ages of 2 and 6 months.
Inspect the wool. The older the animal, the harder it feels to the touch. As you get older, your fur begins to turn grey.
Touch and examine the muscles. Flaccid muscles are a sign of an aging animal. The older the dog gets, the less he moves and the more he sleeps.
Look into your eyes. With age, the eyes begin to water and become dull, while the gaze of young dogs becomes clear.

Video: how to find out the age of a dog

Dog owners are often mistaken about their pets, and this also applies to their size. In this regard, they begin to look on forums for an answer to the question of why the dog is not growing, forgetting that this is impossible.

Owners often fall into misconceptions about the size of puppies:

The puppy has stopped growing and will be a dwarf. This is not true: puppies grow actively until they are 6 months old, then growth and weight gain occur less actively and unevenly. The indicator can also be affected by illness, lack of physical activity, and lack of vitamins.
A small animal cannot protect me. This is not true: height and defensive ability are in no way dependent on each other. A dog trainer is able to train any animal to resist attacks on you.

Owners should understand that a puppy cannot stop growing, they just don’t notice it. If you show a puppy to someone who hasn't seen it for a while, they will definitely notice a change in appearance.

Important! At a certain age, all puppies will grow to the sizes provided by nature, but this process can take up to 3 years.

Even if you regularly take measurements and write down readings, it may turn out that the dog has relaxed his muscles a little, twisted, the ruler has moved out of place, etc.

In order for your dog to be physically developed, he needs to be fed properly and actively walked, and in order to protect you, he needs to be trained and be a friend to the dog.
Thus, the growth process of a dog goes through several stages. It is important that puppies can grow at the withers up to 1.5 years of age, and the larger the breed, the longer growth will continue. By the age of 3 years, the puppy will acquire the appearance of an adult animal.

Don’t worry too much about your pet’s growth - everything has its time, and a dog of any size will be able to protect you.

The height of dogs depends largely on their diet and other external influences, it changes with age and differs among dogs of different breeds. With significant variability in body weight (BW) depending on the breed - from 1 kg in a Chihuahua to 80 kg and higher in a St. Bernard - the dog is strikingly different from other animal species. The higher the BW of an adult dog, the proportionally lower the body weight at the time of birth of the animal.

Although differences in the body weight of adult dogs of small and large breeds can be expressed by a factor of 100, their BW at birth differs by no more than 6-8 times.

For example: The BW of a newborn Yorkshire Terrier puppy is about 140 g, which corresponds to 5% of the BW of its mother. Let's compare: the BW of a newborn Great Dane puppy is 600-700 g, which is about 1% of the BW of its mother. Thus, large breed puppies undergo a longer period of growth before reaching the BW of an adult dog, in other words, the intensity of the dogs' growth rate is proportional to their BW at maturity. It is important that a dog owner carefully monitors changes in their pet's BW. To do this, the animal is weighed once a week and the obtained indicators are compared with the growth curve of the given breed, which can be provided by a veterinarian. Using this method, it is possible to check whether the dog’s growth rate is too high.

Growth of small breeds of dogs, whose adult BW is less than 10 kg, mainly occurs in the first 6 months of life; their chips reach half the body weight of adult dogs at approximately three months of age and are fully grown by 8-10 months. Their growth rate is maximum during the weaning period, when fat deposition begins. In a puppy with such rapid growth, excess caloric intake causes adipocyte proliferation and a predisposition to obesity persists throughout life. Large breed puppies. The body weight of which in adulthood exceeds 25 kg continues to grow rapidly even after weaning; their daily weight gain remains high until 8 months of age. Due to these growth characteristics, dietary errors are much more serious for them than for puppies of small breeds, in which the period of feeding on mother's milk is the most critical phase of growth. Large dogs are more susceptible to skeletal diseases during this period. Therefore, the dog owner must carefully plan the daily diet to prevent the pet from gaining too much weight. This is again helped by regularly weighing the animal and comparing changes in its body weight with the growth curve. It has been proven that excessive energy consumption by a dog increases the risk of developing musculoskeletal diseases, incl. hip dysplasia and osteochondrosis.

Large and giant dog breeds have two stages of growth:
- Intensive growth phase, when the skeleton is mainly formed
- A phase of significant growth slowdown, during which muscle mass builds up

The growth rate of a puppy of large and very large dogs is maximum in the period from 3 to 5 months of life - at 5 months of age it reaches half the body weight of an adult dog of its breed. The body weight of large breed dogs continues to increase until 18-24 months of age, when their body weight becomes 80-100 times greater than at birth (for comparison, in small breed dogs during this period the difference in body weight is only 20-30 times greater).

A puppy’s diet during the growing period is mainly determined based on an estimate of its “adult” weight. Comparing this calculated indicator with the animal’s actual body weight makes it possible to determine whether there is a tendency for it to overfeed, which is indicated by too much BW during weighing periods. A dog's growth rate is directly affected by the calorie content of his diet - excess energy consumption accelerates the growth process and physical maturation. In short, a large increase in BW with an incomplete process of joint formation increases the risk of musculoskeletal diseases.

When calculating the “adult” BW of a dog, it is necessary to take into account the breed and gender: females usually mature earlier than males. However, sexual dimorphism is more pronounced in large and very large dogs.

The tables below (Tables 1,2,3 and 4) show reference parameters characterizing the BW of adult dogs of several breeds that differ in size. These data were obtained based on the results of weighing dogs during the exhibition period (