How Much Weight Should A Puppy Gain Per Week?

After long months of looking for a pet, you have finally brought home a brand-new puppy.

What an exciting time! Life with your tiny ball of fur will never be the same again.

Sure, raising him is frustrating at times but it is rewarding in the end.

Every pet owner dreams of having a puppy that gains weight as he should. Yet, it doesn’t happen for everyone.

Some of these little creatures gain too fast and others too slow enough to worry you out of your mind.

How, then, do you go about making sure that your puppy is gaining weight appropriately?

Well, we’ll find out shortly…

Growth of a Puppy

If you’ve had the golden opportunity of watching a puppy grow from a small ball of fur to a beautiful adult dog, you can attest that it is an amazing experience.

At birth, puppies cannot see and hear. They pretty much have no idea of their surroundings. They rely on their owners and mothers to guide them.

Over the next few weeks, the newborn will grow rapidly. His eyes will open and his earing will develop. 

By week three, the little pooch will already be boasting puppy teeth.

At eight weeks, he will have a personality of his own and at 12 weeks he will be an adolescent and then an adult doggie a little later on.

Different puppies have different birth weights depending on the breed among other things.

A newborn Mastiff puppy will weigh more than a Shih Tzu and so on.

Typically, newborn puppies weigh anything from 2.6 oz (7g) for toy breeds to 28 oz (800g) for a giant breed.

Medium breeds fall somewhere in the middle at about 8.8 oz (250g).

Daily Weight Gain

There is no standard figure when it comes to the daily weight gain of a newborn puppy.

However, PetMD suggests that puppies gain 10-15% of their birth weight every day.

So, a dog that is born at 1.1 lbs will be 1.21 lbs within one day of being outside his mother’s womb. In just one week, he will have doubled in size and attained 7.7 lbs.

While this is the average for all dog breeds, bear in mind that not all dogs sizes grow at the same rate.

Toy breeds such as Chinese Crested, Chihuahua, Yorkshire Terrier, Papillon, Maltese gain 5-10% of their week per week. This is approximately 1-5 oz per week. These breeds grow faster reaching the age of maturity and 8-9 months old.

Small breeds also gain 5-10% of weight per day just like toy breeds. Examples are French Bulldog, Jack Russel Terrier, Shetland Sheepdog, and Pug.

Medium breeds of 25-50 lbs at adulthood stage grow moderately reaching adulthood at 9-10 months while large and giant breeds grow at a much slower rate than all the rest.

Here’s a quick guideline that shows the weight gain of different dog breeds.

• Toy breeds – approximately 5 ounces per week

• Small breeds – approximately 10 ounces per week

• Medium breeds – 1-1.5 pounds per week

• Large breeds – approximately 2 pounds per week

• Giant breeds – 3-5 pounds per week

As usual, the above guideline only gives estimates. Not all puppies will match the figures to the latter.

Just like siblings from the same human mother and father differ in their growth, don’t expect all canines to fall in this range.

If yours isn’t growing at the rate he should, let the vet have a look at him. If they determine that nothing is wrong with him, sit back and relax.

Does Weight Gain Matter at All?

The weight of a puppy at all stages of growth determines his health and wellbeing.

If yours is gaining weight at a faster rate than this, there’s a problem.

If he’s already weaned, chances are the dog is being overfed.

An obese dog has a high risk for medical complications such as arthritis, heart disease, kidney problems, diabetes, and a shortened lifespan.

In such a case, you need to check the dog’s diet and his portions. In addition, exercise the dog as much as possible.

Likewise, if the pup doesn’t seem to gain as much weight, it indicates a problem with his gut, diet, and parasitic infestations.

Also, the puppy will need help to attain his required weight once more.

How Can You Tell Your Dog Is Gaining Weight Right?

Checking the weight and height of your dog against charts is the most efficient way of determining whether your puppy is healthy or not.

However, there are other strategies you can use as suggested by AKC. These include the following:

• Examine The Dog’s Side: The belly should not be suspended lower than the chest.

• Check the Ribs: A healthy puppy doesn’t have visible ribs as this means he is underweight. On the other hand, the ribs should feel just padded and not hidden under layers of fat that you cannot feel them.

• Take an Aerial View: From a top position, check if the puppy has a waistline that would indicate he is healthy. The hips should not stick out. A barrel or sausage-shaped body is a no-no as well.

How Much Should An 8-Week Old Puppy Weigh?

It depends on the birth weight which is a result of the breed and other factors like diet, environmental factors, health, and more.

According to our guiudline above, toy breeds born at 3 ounces should weigh 43 ounces at 8 weeks, give or take while giant breeds of 1.5 pounds at birth will weigh approximately 43 pounds after 8 weeks.

How much should a 10-week-old puppy weigh?

Again, this is dependent on the breed of the dog.

If you have a medium breed like a Collie with a birth weight of 10 ounces, expect him to be around 15 pounds at 8 weeks.

A Great Dane of 0.6 pounds at birth should weigh approximately 36 pounds at the same time.

How much weight should a 3-week-old puppy gain?

A three-week-old puppy is barely out of the newborn stage. However, he is rapidly growing at a high rate at this stage.

If he is a lap dog, he should have gained approximately 5 ounces.

Small breeds should add 30 ounces; medium breeds – 3lbs to 4.5 lbs.; large breeds- 6 pounds and finally giant breeds – 9 lbs. to 15 lbs.

What months do puppies grow the most?

As soon as they are out of the womb, puppies will grow rapidly.

The first week is when you will notice the highest weight gain. Here, he will double in size.

For the next 6-8 weeks, you will also experience rapid growth before things slow down a little.

How big will a 10-pound 8-week-old puppy get?

A 10-pound 8-week-old puppy is no doubt a large breed.

If he gains 2 pounds every week until he matures at 18 months, he will be approximately 154 pounds give or take.

According to this chart by Dog Care Knowledge, he will be 143.6 pounds at 18 months. That’s the range of a healthy large adult dog.

Parting Thoughts

Whether you are a breeder or a parent of a puppy, the knowledge of the weight gain of puppies is invaluable.

No one should have to deal with underweight and overweight puppies. The best way is to keep tabs on her and do the needful should there be a need for it.

While at it, ensure that you always write down as much potentially useful information about her as possible. This added to attention to detail will come in handy some day, especially when you visit the vet.

By the way, you can easily do this using a Dog Printable Planner.

With a planner, you can gather all information about your puppy and put it in a binder. This way, you can reach out for it anytime you want.

There are also situations when you will need a sitter, a friend, a relative, or a neighbor to watch over your dog. When that happens, the person can use the information on the planner to best take care of the dog in your absence.

Check out the printable here.