How big will my puppy get?
An estimate of your puppy's adult weight from published puppy growth charts. It is a range, not a promise: breed, parents and plain individual variation all play a part.
Centile lines (0.4th to 99.6th) Your puppy, followed to 2 years
How the estimate works
The calculator uses the puppy growth standard charts published in 2017 by Carina Salt and colleagues in the journal PLoS ONE. There is a chart for each of five sizes of dog, grouped by adult weight, and for each sex. Each chart has nine centile lines running from 12 weeks to 2 years, like the growth charts used for children.
We find where your puppy sits between those lines today and follow that position to the end of the chart at 2 years. Puppies do not always stay on the same line, so the result is the range one line either side. Picking the right size group matters most: if you are not sure, choose "Not sure" to see what each chart says.
The charts start at 12 weeks and do not include giant breeds expected to weigh over 40 kg, so neither does this calculator. Weighing your puppy every week or two gives you, and your vet, a much better picture than any single estimate.
Sources
- Salt C, Morris PJ, German AJ, et al. Growth standard charts for monitoring bodyweight in dogs of different sizes. PLoS ONE 2017;12(9):e0182064. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0182064. The centile values in this calculator were read from the paper's Figures 7–11 (published under CC BY 4.0), so they carry a small reading error.
Questions
How accurate is the estimate?
Treat it as a sensible range, not a forecast. Some dogs will end up outside it, especially mixed breeds whose size group is a guess. The older your puppy, the less growing is left and the closer the estimate tends to be, so it is worth checking again every month or so.
Why does the estimate stop at 2 years?
The growth charts end at 2 years. Small dogs usually reach their adult weight well before then, while the authors note that larger breeds can take up to 24 months.
My puppy is off the chart. Should I worry?
Not necessarily. The usual reason is that the puppy belongs to a different size group, so try "Not sure" first. If the size, weight and age are all right, mention it at your next vet visit: your vet can check body condition and growth properly.