Planning to adopt a mixed breed puppy or a mutt? Be it a stray puppy or from the animal shelter, most of the variables are unknown. It is mainly due to the fact that their parents are not from the same breed. Their parents might be either 2 hybrid dogs or 2 purebred different dogs. It may even be a combination of 1 purebred and 1 hybrid variety. Hence you may be curious about their growth.

Mixed puppies have more benefits compared to purebreds. The genetic base for purebreds is limited. Even the risky genes are transferred causing medical issues. As for mutts, they do encounter injuries but the risk of inherited illness is low. The main concern regarding mixed breed puppies is uncertainty. That is, they might have inherited either the good or the bad genes from their parents. It’s quite difficult to figure out how they will look or behave as they grow.

As for the question: how big will my mixed puppy get? It mainly depends on the breed from which it came. This question is something that concerns most dog parents. For those living in small flats or houses without yards, not knowing how big the puppy will become can be an issue. However, that doesn’t mean they are not suitable as family dogs. They are great companions and the best pet choice across the globe. In this post, we offer some signs that can give a rough estimation of how big the mutt pup might grow.

Guessing your mutt puppy’s Adult size:

This might be tricky! Experienced caregivers or vet doctors are good at predicting how much they will grow. However, getting the correct figures and size is quite complicated and hard. Even for purebreds, it’s not easy to find out how tall they will become or how much they may weigh. Though it appears hard, it’s not completely impossible to find out. There are certain guidelines that help. Let’s check out the factors on how big a small pup will grow.

Height, weight and age.

Mutt puppies who are below 20 lbs are the small breed dogs. Ones that range from 20 to 60 lbs belong to the medium breed category. As for the mixed puppies between 65 to 120 lbs are the large breed dogs. Any mutt that is beyond 120 lbs is the giant breed dogs. Up to 1 year of age, a mutt is considered to be a pup. Most of the smaller breeds reach complete growth by 6 months. The larger breeds need up to 14 months to be completely developed.

Physical appearances.

The physical trait of a mutt puppy plays a role in guessing which breeds they came from. Based on the skin color, shape, spots, etc you may get a clue. This way you can at least determine if they will grow to be big or small.

Size of the puppy paws.

Most of the dog experts can determine the size of an adult dog based on the puppy paws. Big paws show your pup will grow into a huge adult dog. The big paws are part of the large breed dogs genetics. It helps to support the weight of their body as they grow. When small, the big paws may seem awkward. With time, the pup will grow in proportion to their huge paws.

For example: let’s look at a purebred German Shepherd pup. This pup will have huge paws to explore and run about. As years pass by, its body will grow out to match the size of the paws. It is necessary to support the heavy body frame.

However, this may or may not differ! There are times when pups with large paws reached only medium size. Also, mutt puppies whose paws didn’t have much size developed into huge dogs later. For instance: an expert once adopted a mutt pup from a well-known shelter. The experienced staff guessed the mixed puppy as a terrier mix. They said it might grow to be 30-40 pounds adult. The small pup eventually grew up to be a huge adult of 90 pounds. Nothing is foolproof!

Saggy and loose skin.

The next factor is the skin. Most of the time, mutt pups with loose or saggy skin grow to be huge in size. As they grow older, they tend to fill into their skin. The saggier the skin is, the chances are high to be large breed dogs. Similar to the paws, they have to fill up the extra skin. This factor is easy to figure out. Mixed puppies that have saggy and loose skin usually have wrinkled up bodies and face. So the more wrinkles it has, be prepared to handle a huge dog in the future.

Ask a Vet to check the mutt pup.

Vets do have lots of expertise as they handle many sorts of dogs breeds in their career. The vet can look at the mutt pup and figure out the size of the adult dog. The general thumb rule to know the adult size is:

The adult size dog will be about 4 times the weight and height of the pup at 4 months.

Other aspects.

The other aspects that will help you guess how huge your pup will become are:

Health condition.

Certain health issues might hinder the growth of your mixed pup. Dwarfism among dogs is seen commonly. Joint and bone illnesses also result in stunted growth.

The sex of the mixed pup is a great indicator. Male pups become like their dads and grow to be huge. The female pups become like their mothers and are smaller in size.

Using maths to determine the pup’s growth.

You can calculate the height and weight of your pup’s adult size using maths. This method doesn’t give an accurate figure. However, it will provide a rough estimation.

For this, take the pup’s weight in pounds at a particular age and divide that figure with his age in weeks. The number obtained can be multiplied by 52 (total weeks in a year). The final result will be the rough weight of your pup when it becomes an adult.

Conclusion.

Are you still wondering about the adult size of your mixed pup? The best solution is a genetic test, which is rare. It helps to know exactly how big your pup will become. Don’t worry! The above factors mentioned will also not let you down.

Related Topic: How To Treat Pitbull Skin Problems