Does puppy paw size really tell how large it will grow?

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    • Gold Top Dog

    Does puppy paw size really tell how large it will grow?

    I#%92ve heard this over and over that if the puppy has big paws it will grow into a large dog, small paws-small dog. How true is that?

    When I first got Giz the first vet I took her to (and will never go to again) told me she was a chihuahua mix because of how tiny her paws looked, well she is obviously not a ch. After that I never believed the small paw/big paw theory but have always wondered if there is a way it can be used effectively?
    • Gold Top Dog
    [:D] The dog I had before Max (lab/cocker X) stayed the size of a cocker.  He topped out at about 33 lbs. but he had huge, enormous hairy feet.  Anybody judging his adult weight by the size of his puppy paws would have figured him to end up at least as big as a large male lab. Even his vet thought he was going to be huge.  Not.
     
    Joyce
    • Gold Top Dog
    Here is Gizmo's puppy pic, 6 weeks old she only weighed about 3lbs and look at thoes tiny paws. I still can't see any chi in her...
    • Gold Top Dog
    Cocker Spaniels are definately an exception.  I don't know if there are other small dogs like them but Cockers have huge paws and they are considered small dogs.  Mine was just under a year when I got him so I don't know if they always have huge paws but as adults they do for being small dogs.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Border Collies range from cat feet to huge paddle paws, so no, I wouldn't say there's a failsafe method for identifying adult size based on puppy feet.
    • Gold Top Dog
    How much does Giz weigh as an adult? She looks a LOT like Simon, size-wise and we're expecting him to be around 30-40 pounds. (That's what we're telling adopters with the caveat that we have NO clue what dad is and could well be wrong, LOL)
    • Gold Top Dog
    She is at 45lbs right now but on the slim side, she could be 50 really easy. First vet told me there was no way she was boder collie becuase she was going to be too small to be one...ha! If anything she is more border collie than anthing else. I've always thought herding breeds seem to be really small as puppies.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Shippo had huge paws too, but he's a year old now and weighs 29 lbs lmao...
    • Gold Top Dog
    People still tell me that Conrad must be a youngster (he's almost 6 and has grey hair on his muzzle) because he has pretty darn big feet. It's not a guarentee of the size of the grown dog. But it really knocks me out when people insist he must be young because his feet are disproportionate because he's is quite clearly an adult dog.
    • Gold Top Dog
    GSDs usually have big feet.
    • Gold Top Dog
    my experience is that their feet hit approximate adult size around 3 months of age. So if you have a tiny puppy clomping around on giant feet he's probably going to end up larger than a tiny puppy with tiny feet.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Hmm... Well, Pepsi (was Simon, his adopters have already picked out a name and I have to train myself to call him that :P) is now 5 pounds @ approximately 3 months of age. His brother Wash is 9 pounds. Both have nearly doubled their weight in a week. (Pepsi was 3.8 pounds when I picked him up and Wash was 5.4) Pepsi is very fineboned; Wash is built like the corgi babies I'm used to with longer legs.

    Oh, and I just noticed that pic of Giz was at SIX WEEKS. Nevermind. I'm a dork.
    • Gold Top Dog
    When Slick was a baby, he had GINORMOUS paws - but it's just as mudpuppy said, they were his adult sized paws on his puppy  body.  He is average size for a male Lab, although his puppy paws would have predicted him to be a small horse.

    • Gold Top Dog
    adult sized paws on his puppy body.

     
    Yep, I agree. Kato's paws aren't much bigger than they were when we got him.  Only his body is!   Here his is at 16 weeks and at 5 years.
     

    • Gold Top Dog
    Awww, baby Slick is so adorable! 
     
    My dog is almost 3 and he still has giant puppy paddle paws, even though he's a just meduim size dog and he's definetely not growing anymore.  I wish I'd gotten to see him as a baby, I bet his paws would have seemed even bigger then and people would have predicted he'd be gigantic! 
     
    I guess it's just one of those old wives' tails.  Next up:  How to look at a man's feet and tell the size of his . . . well, maybe this isn't the place for that one.  [;)]