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16 weeks (and question about size)


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Cricket is finally 16 weeks! He had his final series of puppy shots this past Friday. I was disappointed to find that he weighed in at 13.7 pounds at 16 weeks, which seems to me to be on the small side. He's a shelter puppy, but I'd been hoping that the border collie genes would result in a larger dog to match his border collie personality :) Any guesses on how big he'll be? I'm hoping he'll be at least 25 lbs, but now I'm worried he might end up significantly smaller. Is it normal for there to be a growth slowdown during teething (he's in the thick of it). How much more active growth will he go through?

 

After 8 weeks of "look at me" training and redirection, and clicker-rewarding, he FINALLY seems to be making some progress in the not-chasing-cats department. He has been rough housing with our boy cat for weeks by pouncing on him - Benny doesn't help by lying down right in front of Cricket, rolling over, and inviting play. Cricket's showing some real signs of self control and impulse control! This morning Benny was by kitchen door leading to the screened porch and I didn't notice. Cricket could have cornered him to "play", but instead he stopped, looked at Benny, looked at me, and came over to me to sit and get a treat.

 

We're working on "down" and mouthiness. I have to say this puppy is exhausting at times, and it hasn't been all roses and sunshine. Moments like this morning though give me hope that with persistence and consistency we'll move through these puppy days and out the other side!

 

Here he is at 16 weeks:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxZFpMZG1CY284S3c/view?usp=sharing

 

His ears are normally tipped (I think they are likely to stay tipped since they haven't changed by 4 months) but they stand up when he's super-alert:

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8XMeMYzWMjxSU5TTllsUXFrd2M/view?usp=sharing

 

He looks worried because we're at the vet, waiting for his 16-week check-up. :)

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Good looking dog!

 

No Idea how big he'll end up getting, its tough when you don't know what the parents look like. I think he'll at least double his weight by the time he is fully grown so 25 lbs definitely seems possible.

 

Here's a link that charts dog growth. http://www.puppychart.com/

 

What do you do with him for exercise and play? The most important thing I think when raising a dog is that it receives adequate exercise. Everything else seems easier when they are able to use all that energy they have in a positive way.

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My husband and I are both college professors and we have flexible schedules, so he gets quite a bit of exercise. He loves walks, playing in the backyard, pushing around his puzzle ball, working on a kong - these are all things we do with him daily. I think the toughest part is trying to gauge whether any poor behavior is due to pent up energy or being tired!

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No Idea how big he'll end up getting, its tough when you don't know what the parents look like.

 

It can be hard even when you do know what the parents look like. Many years ago a bred a litter. 48 lb. sire and 35 lb. dam. One pup at one year old had hit a very adolescent skinny 70 lbs.! I'm sure he went over that when he'd matured. :rolleyes:

 

Here's a link that charts dog growth. http://www.puppychart.com/

 

I used that chart last year with a puppy and found it very unreliable. Every week as he'd grow it adjusted to a higher weight and when I had to return him to the rescue for aggression at 10 months he was already well over their original calculation. It was fun, but I'd never bank on it.

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My boy Oscar weighed about 12 kg at 12 weeks (26.5 lbs approx for the non-metric). I did not weigh him at 16 weeks as he had just experienced green potato poisoning and had lost significant weight. He is now a tall dog, lean at around 23 kg (50lbs).

 

However there is a wide variation in body size for BCs from the quite petite to the stocky large dog. I would not be too worried about what size Cricket will be - he may just end up a pocket rocket, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

By the way, feel free to post as many photos of him as you like. He is one seriously cute puppy!

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It does seem on the light side to me, but I'll hope he does some more growing. He's been in the throes of teething and hasn't been the best or most voracious eater these past couple of weeks, so he may pack on some more growth once he's through the worst of it.

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Because my Peli just turned 16 weeks like yours, I decided I'd weigh him too, turned out he is 11.4 kg, for you non metric primitives ;), that is about 25.1 pounds. Looks like he is going to be quite a big boy.

 

My Kite weighed in at 30 lbs at 5 months. I think he's going to be a big one too. I understand his sire is good sized.

 

J.

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