weight question..

How is it you figure the approx. weight as a mature adult? Is it at age 12 weeks you x2 and add 2? ..this is to figure adult weight in guessing.

I'd always heard double the weight at 12 weeks plus one pound. I had intended to check that with my litter, but somehow I managed to throw away the paper that had their weights after 6 weeks. I'm still upset with myself about that.

These puppies of Libby's felt awfully heavy today, which is ok with me, I had initially hoped* for a small standard cream..anyway, I weighed them and they are 12 weeks and the red girls are just a little shy of 5 lbs...Chloe is 6 lbs and Quinn is a tad over 6 lbs..they have really picked up weight a lot the past two weeks, a whole lot. They are not fat or chubby in the least, very stocky and thick..I wouldn't mind at all if they got to 16 lbs as adults...eally don't want 13lber's. I was thinking with the weigh gaining so fast, that maybe they were going to end up small standards like Libby? Erik has thrown large puppies a lot.

yes its supposed to be double weight at 1 weeks and add a lb BUT I have been keeping track of all my puppies for the last 4 yrs and their weights are all over the place ... Some has to do with all outcrosses - no set type, some has to do with different feeding schedules/types of feedings - different kibbles and some raw and some over/under feeding or better yet not meeting nutritional needs despite way of feeding.....

1) No set type - whether tweenies, minis or a mix of the two this alone can make a small standard from 2 mini's
2) Types of feeding - seeing for my own eyes, kibble fed puppies grow in spurts whereas raw fed puppies grow slower and more even like Merck Vet Manual recommends...the slower the better
3) Nutritional needs - no matter what you feed, there are minimum requirements that need to be met - studies are needed which are unlikely because our pets "seem" fine and ailments that do come about are "just" breed dispositions but breaking down "most" high value (5 star) kibbles one can still find loads of preservatives and supplements that wouldn't be otherwise needed to make the food. I am not saying raw is the way to go either (although I am strongly for it) what I am saying is we do have to do our homework about what our dogs are taking in most of which is equivalent to eating Mc Donalds every day...... With raw, we can break down all the nutrients/minerals/vitamins needed based on human studies but with kibble we have to rely on the manufacturers statement and determine what the scientific names for fat, supplements etc are and they do vary depending on region (meaning one brand one in California is different than the same brand in Idaho and even more different than the same brand in Florida) so they can provide "value" to consumers for low cost to them. We also need to keep track of recalls, formula changes etc. but with raw, we don't need to worry about such things except for if its spoiled or not. BTW, if you think about it both types of feeding rely on "nutrition over time" - don't think for one moment everything your dog needs is in each feeding but rather over a period of time - with kibble its more "iffy" because "they say" its there doesn't mean it actually is and the sheen you see could be just due to a supplement.

Being breeders, we need to keep track of so much, nutrition shouldn't be one of them. However, this is such a controversial subject that all we can do is do our research, pass it along and hope for the best.