If you want a way to track the health and height of your German Shepherd, then you can do so with the help of a German Shepherd growth chart. This chart will help you to track the weight, height, and development of a dog.
Apart from all this, make sure to feed them high-quality, nutritious food regularly.
With the weight chart, height chart, and development chart of the German Shepherd, you can easily track the health and height of the dog by seeing the growth chart. Still, we have come up with a detailed discussion over the growth and development that your German Shepherd and as a puppy should have.
In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about German Shepherd growth. What is the average weight and height of the German Shepherd in different stages of its growth? We cover everything in this detailed German Shepherd growth chart guide.
Written By Sergey Uhanov – Certified Veterinarian.
Sergey Uhanov is a certified veterinarian for dogs over 10 years, breeding 3 dogs. He loves dogs and has his own pet clinic in Israel. He likes to help other people with their dogs by sharing his experience and knowledge.
Phases A German Shepherd Passes Through.
When you have a German Shepherd, a few stages a German shepherd can pass through. In each phase, their requirements and growth and development change. Mentioned below is a complete chart where you can find all the stages that a German Shepherd passes through from its birth to death.
Right from Birth, Until It Grows Three Weeks
This period is more commonly known as the neonatal period. It is the time when your German Shepherd puppy is so small to walk or do other things. He is dependent on its mother milk for its survival.
In this stage, the German Shepherd puppy stays a little helpless. He has just entered this world, and in this phase, he tries to get along with everything going around him.
The few things that a German shepherd puppy achieves in the neonatal period can include crawling, his first walk, his first feed, and so on.
As soon as it grows one week older, the German Shepherd puppy tries to crawl around to reach its mother. He begins to crawl even before it opens its eyes for the first time. As soon as he becomes ten days old, he starts to open his eyes and ears. After becoming two weeks old, it can quickly open its eyes and ears and even try to walk slightly.
Then comes the time its baby teeth start showing up. As he reaches two weeks, its baby teeth will also begin to grow, and it is the time when you can start feeding the dog something substantial, apart from just its mother’s milk.
After growing from 2 to 3 weeks, there comes a time when, after practicing to walk the whole day long, it will take his first step ahead. As soon as he starts walking, it enters into the next stage of its life.
Between 3 Weeks to 12 Weeks
The period of 3 weeks to 12 weeks is more commonly known as a German shepherd puppy’s socialization period. When the German Shepherd pup starts to walk, interact with the world, and understand the basic rules of the world.
As German Shepherds are quick learners, it won’t take much time to learn the basic living rules and socialization rules they should follow in the future. As most German Shepherds have a friendly nature, they get along with other litters, animals, and humans well.
In this stage, the mother German shepherd teaches the basic rules and dog skills to the shepherd puppies. As puppies are most close to their mother till this time, there could be no best teacher than their mother itself. Thus the necessary dog skills and manners are what they get from their mother only.
Within these six weeks, it took the whole 3rd week after the German Shepherd’s birth to let them walk. At the end of 3 weeks, your German Shepherd will start to walk completely with proper balance.
As he reaches four weeks, he will start to play and interact with other litters and humans around it. Also, all its teeth will grow just in this period only.
You can teach them basic manners like how to behave like an adult or how to sit, walk, and sniff the tail as soon as it reaches six weeks. From 6 to 8 weeks, you can teach them techniques to overcome their fear, which is more commonly known as fear response training.
Till this time, they have bent ears, but as soon as it touches the 12 weeks, its ear starts to become straight, and it will start to look like an adult German Shepherd with triangular ears.
After they complete 12 weeks or three months, they start to grow and develop more extensively. It is the time when you can take the responsibility to teach the puppy. At this phase, the feed to the German shepherd puppy becomes the most crucial for the German Shepherd’s proper growth and development.
Beginning From 3 Months To 6 Months Old
Another significant period in German Shepherd growth is the juvenile period that lasts from 3 to 6 months of age. Now, they don’t tend to develop but grow. You are going to see significant German shepherd growth during this period. As soon as he reaches the 6th month, the German Shepherd puppy becomes large enough to start its training as a pet and as a great guard.
Under the juvenile phase, as they reach three months, all their teeth will grow. They will also start running a little bit, and they will learn all the essential dog skills from their mother.
As soon as he enters his 4th month, all the puppy teeth will break, and he will start to have adult teeth, after which he will be able to eat solid dog food and other food items.
In the 5th and 6th months, they will grow large to attain the adult size, and it will become the perfect time to start their basic training as a pet.
From 6 Months to 18 Months
Also known as the sexual maturity phase, in this phase, a German Shepherd dog tends to gain sexual maturity. At the end of this phase, you will get a complete adult German Shepherd dog. Although they might have some growing left by the end of this phase, yet you will find its features looking similar to that of an adult German Shepherd in this phase.
Right from the 6th month of their birth, the females will start to have their heat cycles. Their adult teeth will grow and come out ultimately. Their ears will start looking precisely similar to an adult German Shepherd dog. From 7rh month to the 18th month, they will become sexually mature. It is like a teenager for dogs. They will grow more studier and larger.
18 Months to 3 Years
This is the transition phase of all the German shepherd dogs. It is the period when your German Shepherd grows into a complete adult. They will become sexually, physically, and mentally adults. They ultimately left the puppy phase and became smart and start to look like an adult German Shepherd.
While on the one hand, a female German Shepherd takes two years or 24 months to grow into a complete adult, males can take up to 3 years to grow into an adult. Females have smaller weight and height compared to that of the male is only that female stops to develop further, as soon as it touches two years, while males keep on growing till the time they become 36 months old.
It is the most crucial period in the life of a German Shepherd dog. You might need to take care of the proper nutrient-rich feed and health of a German Shepherd while going through the transition phase.
Proper feeding in this period will also prevent hip dysplasia in the future, which is a common health problem almost all German shepherd dogs suffer from. Proper positioning of the hip in a German Shepherd nutrient-rich feed in its transition phase is a must.
Male German Shepherd Height and Weight Chart
The following is the weight and height chart for male German Shepherd dogs. As they will age, you can compare their growth with this chart.
Female German Shepherd Height and Weight Chart
This is the female German Shepherd weight and height chart. You can check your female Shepherd puppy’s progress with this growth chart.
What Is The Average Weight Of German Shepherds In Each Of The Above Phrases?
German Shepherd is a large animal, and thus it has a significant amount of weight. Although, as usual, the weight of females comes out to comparatively smaller than the males, still, both the male and female German Shepherds are heavy weight-wise.
The average weight of a male German Shepherd can become as high as 66 to 88 pounds, while that of the female will have a smaller weight ranging from 48 to 70 pounds only. To know the exact age and weight, you may prepare a German Shepherd Growth chart as well.
In different phases of a dog’s life, as mentioned above, they can have different weights. You will find a complete description of the German Shepherd’s weight that both females and male dogs will have. German Shepherd weight is also helpful in determining the growth of the dog.
· Neonatal Period
Within the neonatal period, that means the time from the birth of the German Shepherd till it reaches three months, the male German Shepherd can weigh around 5 to 9 pounds, while the females can weigh about 4 to 8 pounds.
It is the time right after the birth of a German Shepherd; thus, at this time, the German Shepherd puppy has a weight of 10% of the total weight that the German shepherd dog is going to have. It is time from which a German Shepherd weight will have significant growth.
· Socialization Period
In this period, both males and females have rapid growth. At the birth of the German Shepherd, while on the one hand while the male German Shepherd weighs around 5.5 to 9 pounds, a female has a German Shepherd weight ranges from approximately 4.5 to 8 pounds. This weight stays 10% of the adult weight of that particular German Shepherd.
But as they grow and become three months old, the weight of a male German Shepherd weight becomes 22 to 30 kgs. In contrast, a female German Shepherd at this age weighs around 17 to 26 pounds, which constitutes 40% of the total weight of that particular adult German Shepherd, which is significant growth.
· Juvenile Period
In this phase, you will see a drastic change in the weight of the Shepherd German puppy. While on the one hand, at the age of 3 months, a German Shepherd will have a weight equivalent to 40% of the total weight it will have as an adult, and it will significantly increase to 70% by the end of this phase.
Male GSD at the start of this period has a weight ranging from 22 to 30 pounds, while females will weigh around 20 to 26 pounds. But at the end of this phase, males will start weight, ranging around 49 to 55 pounds, while females will be having a weight ranging from 44 to 48 pounds.
· Sexual Maturity Phase
In this phase, as the dogs have an age ranging from 6 months to 1 and a half years, the weight of a male German shepherd will become around 71 to 79 pounds, while that of a female German Shepherd will have a weight ranging from 60 to 66 pounds.
Again in this phase, you will see a drastic growth in the health and height of a German Shepherd. Until the end of their sexual maturity phase, their weight will become as high as 98% of the total weight of an adult.
· Transition Phase
In the transition phase, a German Shepherd attains its fully grown adult weight as soon as he reaches three years. An adult male German Shepherd weighs from 79 to 88 pounds, while that of a female lies around 66 to 70 pounds only. Shepherd should have in all the above phases.
What Is The Average Height Of A German Shepherd?
The average height of a German Shepherd lies between 22 to 26 inches. While on the one hand, the males have a size ranging from 24 to 26 inches. Females have smaller heights and can grow up to 22 to 24 inches. Height is another factor that helps to determine the growth of the dog.
To precisely know about exact height at their age, you may refer to a German Shepherd growth chart as well. To give you a gist about the German Shepherd’s height in different phases, we have come up with detailed information on German Shepherd size.
· Neonatal Period
It is the period right from its birth till the time it reaches three weeks. You are not going to see much difference in its height within this period. While the average size of a male will be 4 to 6 inches, females will have height varying from 3 to 6 inches.
At the time of their birth, German Shepherds’ height is 23% of their actual size, which they are going to attain.
· Socialization Period
In this phase, German Shepherds grow up to 3 months. Here you will see a significant change in its height. German Shepherds become 40% of their original adult height in this phase.
In this phase, the height of German Shepherds becomes 9 to 11 inches in males, while 8 to 10 inches in females.
· Juvenile Period
The juvenile phase is the time when the German Shepherds become six months old. It is the time when German Shepherds start to attain maturity and adultness. In this phase, you are going to find males as high as 16 to 18 inches. On the other hand, females in the German Shepherds are slightly smaller in height and can vary from 15 to 17 inches tall.
In this phase, German Shepherds become 70% high when compared with the original height they are going to attain as an adult.
· Sexual Maturity Phase
As soon as your puppy achieves sexual maturity, that means the time of German Shepherds grows from 6 months to 11/2 years. In this time, German Shepherds attains their almost maximum average height. He will start to appear like adult German Shepherds. You are going to see significant height growth during this period.
German Shepherds get a size up to 98% percent of what their actual height is going to be. In this phase, Male Shepherds become up to 23 to 25 inches, while the females become up to 23 inches tall.
· Transition Phase
The transition phase is the one where your German Shepherd will attain its maximum possible height. It is a significant time when the growth of a German Shepherd stops, and he becomes an adult.
On the one hand, the females’ height stops to grow in 2 years, and it attains its maximum possible height of 22 to 24 inches. On the other hand, male dogs take full 36 months of growth and become 24 to 26 inches tall at that period.
How to Determine Your German Shepherds Are Underweight or Overweight?
The average ratio of length to the height of a German Shepherd remains 10:8.5. if your GSD has a similar rate, then he is growing naturally. But he is suffering from some growth issues if this is not the case.
If you don’t see significant growth in your Shepherd German puppy or dog, as mentioned in the growth chart of German Shepherd, then he is either underweight or overweight.
For an underweight German Shepherd, it is time to feed them more and make sure to improvise the quality of feed you are feeding them with. If you don’t see the significant weight of a German Shepherd as mentioned in the chart, it is time to take them to the veteran.
If you find the weight of German Shepherd dogs higher than that mentioned in the German Shepherd growth chart, then you should reduce the feed of your German Shepherd dog and take him out for some physical activities to reduce the weight of your dog.
Conclusion
Now that you have studied the German Shepherd growth chart and know what all stages your Shepherd German dog will pass through and what will be its weight and height at different phases seeing the chart. It will become more straightforward for you to track the health of your German Shepherd as well.
Start tracking your dog’s health and height from its puppyhood. If it has some health concerns, it will start flashing out right from when it is a puppy.
In the end, tracking the health of your Shepherd German puppy and dog is pretty crucial.
