As you’re enjoying your new rottweiler puppy, you may wonder how big your rottweiler puppy will grow, and if your puppy is too small for their breed. After all, we want our puppies to grow up healthy!

In this article, we will look at how to tell if your rottweiler puppy is underweight, as well as looking at growth trends for rottweilers in general. This will help you determine if your rottweiler puppy is at a healthy weight, or if you need to see a veterinarian regarding their growth.

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Rottweiler Puppy Growth Chart

Your rottweiler’s weight will vary by age, as well as their sex and the size of their parents. If you’re looking for an accurate adult size, take a look at the size of your puppy’s parents for a helpful range of sizes.

However, there are still some averages for rottweiler puppies in general. If your puppy doesn’t match this chart, it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t at the right weight or size for your individual puppy.

Female rottweilers will likely be smaller than male rottweilers, especially when you compare litter mates. If you know the siblings of your dog, you can also check in with those owners to see how big their puppies are for additional insight into the size of your rottweiler puppy.

Age (Months) Weight (Lbs)
2 12
3 35
4 45
5 55
6 65
8 80
10 90
18 80-135 (depending on sex)

It’s very typical with rottweilers to see an awkward and skinny puppy that fills out later as an adult.

One important thing to keep in mind is that as a large breed, rottweilers are not done growing until they are 18-24 months old. They may be much skinnier as a puppy until they grow out into their adult-sized body.

When in doubt, it’s best to visit your puppy’s veterinarian for a professional assessment on your puppy’s weight. They will also be able to help you determine if they just need more food, or if there’s another underlying reason why your rottweiler puppy is small.

Is my rottweiler puppy underweight?

There are many reasons a rottweiler puppy may be underweight, including medical problems, or too much exercise.

As a breed, rottweilers tend to be very sturdy and solid dogs, and should not appear to be too skinny. However, there are many changes that your dog goes through as a puppy that can affect their appearance.

If you’re wondering if your rottweiler puppy is too small, it’s important to first check if your puppy is underweight. A growing puppy needs plenty of calories to be healthy and strong, and growth can be stunted otherwise.

Checking your Rottweiler’s ribs are a great place to start when determining if your Rottweiler is underweight.

A good way to determine what your Rottweiler puppy’s ribs should feel like is to make a fist with one hand. With your other hand, feel across the back of your fingers, just above your knuckles. This is what healthy ribs feel like – you can feel the indents but also the padding.

In contrast, your knuckles are what your dog’s ribs will feel like if they are too skinny, with lots of depth between each rib. Finally, the back of your hand is what your Rottweilers’s ribs will feel like if they are overweight – you can barely feel the bones, it’s mostly just a padding of fat!

Other places to check are their spine and hips. In general, Rottweilers are not a breed that should have their spine or hip bones protruding. If this is the case in your puppy, it is likely that they could use more of a fat covering to be healthy.

Why is my rottweiler small?

In some cases, the smaller size may simply be due to your dog’s breeding and genetics. However, if you find out that your dog is too small due to being underweight, there are several reasons why this might be the case.

In the majority of cases, your dog simply needs more calories. Increasing your Rottweiler’s food, or feeding a higher calorie food, are two easy ways to try and keep them from being underweight.

Other times, the problem may be due to a health problem. Internal parasites, often referred to as worms, may be taking the majority of the nutrition that reaches your rottweiler’s stomach.

There are also a variety of other health problems that can lead to your dog not absorbing their nutrition very well, or not being able to eat as much as they should.

If you notice a sudden weight decline in your rottweiler puppy, or if you notice any signs or symptoms of illness other than weight loss, you should visit your dog’s veterinarian right away.

Otherwise, you can simply try increasing their food for a few days to see if you are able to help them gain some of the weight they need to grow.

Your Rottweiler puppy may also be on the skinny side of things if you’ve increased their exercise lately, or if they are going through a growth spurt. As they grow, it’s common for dogs to need more calories, so it’s important to adjust the amount you feed along the way.

If you think exercise may be playing a role in why your rottweiler is too skinny, it will be important to feed your rottweiler more calories. However, it’s also important to consider the type of exercise they are doing.

In young dogs – up until about 18 months for rottweilers – they are still growing. During this time of growth, the soft “growth plates” can be damaged by too much exercise.

These growth plates are areas of cartilage in the long bones from which the bones grow. Damage to these bones can be especially damaging to your puppy’s growth.

It’s not recommended to take your dog running or jumping until they are fully grown for this reason. If you’ve recently started running with your rottweiler or adding other more physical exercise to their routine, you should take a step back and consider if the exercise is more harmful than helpful at their age.

Instead, ideal exercise for puppies include short walks, and free range running and playing where your puppy is more in control of the exercise.

Is my dog a miniature rottweiler?

While your dog might seem on the small size for a rottweiler, they officially only come in one size. There is no recognized breed of miniature rottweiler.

According to the American Kennel Club, male rottweilers should be 24-27 inches tall and female rottweilers should be 22-25 inches tall. In dogs, the measurement is taken at their shoulders, also known as the withers.

In addition, a male rottweiler should weigh 95-135 pounds, while a female rottweiler should weigh 80-100 pounds.

You may find a breeder who breeds small sized rottweilers, but they are still not miniature rottweilers. Many dogs being sold as miniature rottweilers are actually a mix of breeds, in order to get the smaller size.

A mixed breed dog or a rottweiler from an unreputable breeder may have a range of adult sizes, and it’s more difficult to predict their adult size.

If you aren’t sure of your dog’s heritage, but they have rottweiler coloring, you can have a breed DNA test performed on your dog to determine the component breeds in their mix.

One of the most accurate DNA tests at the time of this writing is Embark. This brand also offers a variety of health testing that can be useful.

On the other hand, if you purchased your rottweiler puppy from a reputable breeder, they can also be a great resource if you have questions regarding your rottweiler puppy’s growth.

They will know their puppies and their growth habits better than almost anyone, and will also likely know trends for their age.

Hope this helped!