Okay, when I got my dog at 5 months he was a horribly stunted puppy. I was told his mother was a cattle dog (I assumed dad was one as well at the time)...I expected a cattle dog that would mature at 35lbs, maybe 40 tops since he was so emaciated and stunted at the time I figured he'd never mature and grow up to be a larger dog....

then I started feeding him....cool thing happens when you do that....we reached our 40lb "max" at10 months and kept going. At this point I tracked down his original "breeders" and learned he was part something-larger-and-shepherdy....He hit 50lbs at 13 months.....at about 1.5 years he was about 54lbs and he seemed to stop growing up and started muscling out. I figured he was done....allll set.


Until today, when I found him calmly playing with my sculptures the shelf he before couldn't reach without going up on his hind legs....

at the moment he's 60lbs at 20 months....am I going to be getting more height? His mother was about...oh, 35lbs and a bit round (she was pregnant again -_- this time by a chihuahua)....I saw photos of his father's body next to a large lamb he killed, he only looked about 50lbs (he was the slightest bit skinny but quite muscled)....

logically that would have been a 40lb dog right? to puppies normally outgrow their parents? He's a bit fluffy right now but I do keep him leaner (last two ribs would be visible if he didn't have the fluffy, all ribs can be found with a bit of pressure) He's "free fed" by which I mean his tug-a-jug is always full, it's up to him if he's hungry enough to get the food. He eats about 1.5 large tug-a-jugs full a day and two additional small handfuls which he gets in a bowl so he gets his supplements.

Genetics for size (along with diet) can totally mess with your theory. Great examples of this are often seen in toy breeds. I have seen 5 lb 8" daddy and 7 lb 9"mommy produce 15 lb lean pups 13" tall. amazingly this is 1" outside of breed standard in this country.

Most dogs are done with height at 18 months for larger dogs although I've seen giant dogs keep going up to 26 months. My toys are usually done with height by 8-9 months.

Some of them will surprise you!

My dog is going to be a big female for her breeding. According to the breeder there is a male she kept from the same dogs/different litter that also turned out to be bigger than expected. It happens.

I have a friend with a freakishly large shih tzu. The little bugger is like 25 pounds!

I'm thinking I somehow miscalculated the size of the father. I'm going to see if I can find the pictures again. The only ref I have of him was him dead beside a 2 month old lamb....he just didn't look that big O_O


I'm sick of having to buy equipment for this dog every time i think he's done growing.....that stuff's expensive lol....

2 month old lambs can be 60-75# Add in some wool and they can look really good sized.

To bad they don't have dog equipment resale shops. That would be perfect. Sell your gently used stuff and get the right size or the cash to
Buy new.

they do have pet consignment shops here. Usually it's for exotic animal stuff like aquariums and parrot cages but I have seen some dog stuff there like crates and the like.

I think it's a great idea to resell gently used training equipment.
I have 'smallish' dogs (at least according to the sizes offered here at Leerburg). It's almost embarrassing to order small dog stuff for my Kelpies. I need GSD sized Kelpies. Maybe I could purchase other people's puppy stuff for my grown dogs. lol
I thought most dogs were finished growing at approx. 3 yo. as far as bulking/weighing up.

I can totally sympathize. My dog is bigger than his parents AND grandparents. He was the biggest Dobe puppy I had ever seen. I thought that things would level off and he would end up being a more standard size in the end...it happens. Huge puppies don't always mean big dogs.

But nope. He just kept on growing. He didn't stop really until he was around three and weighed 95 pounds or so. He's four now, but I swear he's still filling out a bit. For awhile there I was buying things like coats and collars about every six months or so. I had several dog crates, but of course none of them were tall enough for his adult body so I didn't even catch a break there.

I feel your pain Jamie, and I know my dog's genetic history in some depth

Some ACDs are big. My female was over 80 lbs, solid muscle. Well, maybe not TOTALLY solid....