When will my puppy stop growing?

[Gab Galizio]

I have a Petite/Mini goldendoodle and she was supposed to be anywhere from 12-15 lbs. She is about 5 months now and is almost 15 lbs and looks as if she will keep growing! Does anyone know about when goldendoodles stop growing i have heard anywhere from 4 to 8 months???

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

They tend to slow down near 9 months of age but will grow more around 16-18 months of age and then usually fills out around 2 years of age.

[Jennifer and Jack]

That is a pretty narrow range that they gave you, I have a toy golden doodle which is supposed to be the smallest they come, The range I have always seen and been told is anywhere around 10 to 20 pounds, Jack fell into the low end of that scale and didn't reach 10 pounds until he was well over a year.

 

No breeder can tell you that small of an amount of a weight range, The truth is they don't know, If the same parents of a dog consistently put out around the same size they can give you a better idea but still you can get a really big one or small one in there.

 

Jack stopped growing at six months and started again around one and half years, I believe he is full grown now at two years old and weighs around 13 pounds give or take.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's so silly that breeders persist in giving weight and size estimates for mixed breed dogs. Every time I see something like "The mother is X lbs and the father is Y lbs so the puppies should end up around Z lbs, I laugh out loud.

They seem to think it's like mixing paint; mix half black and half white and you'll get grey. They don't even account for the fact that males of almost every species of mammal are larger than their female counterparts. If genetics worked that way, every person you know would be mid-way between their mother and their father. Nobody would ever be taller than a parent, or heavier. We know that isn't true.

Perhaps for ALDs, you can make a size estimate, but for earlier generation dogs, where there is a full-size retriever not too many generations back, all bets are off.

If a very specific size is a requirement, people really need to only consider purebred dogs.

When a dog stops getting bigger involves two separate factors. Skeletal growth (overall height & size) will end around 8-10 months for most dogs, sometimes earlier for small breeds and later for very large breeds. But the dog will continue to gain weight as they gain muscle mass and bone density. How long that takes also depends on the general size of the breed...in Giant breeds, it can take two years, for most dogs, it's finished by 18 months or earlier.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I have found the little guys growth stops sooner than the bigger ones.  Ned was done growing at 8-9 months for example - he is a small medium by height - 17" tall. He is a bit bigger than his parents.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin started growing at about 1 year...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think maybe you mean he stopped growing at about 1 year, lol.

[Camilla and Darwin]

ROFL. Yes, that is what I meant. :-)

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

I hope KoKo stops growing soon.  She will be a year old in September and is already 35 pounds and a mini dood.  The community that I live in restricts the size dog we can have to 40 pounds.  Maggie has completed her growth at two years old and she is only 20 pounds.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Unless someone makes KoKo get on a scale, no one will know if she is somewhat heavier than 40 pounds.  It really is hard to guess doodles' weights - if they are fluffy, if they are poodle-like in build they are tall and thin ....

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

We thought Myla was done growing around 12 months and then she had another spurt later, she's a mini goldendoodle and about 18lbs.