Will the smaller pup catch up?

hi all. im hoping someone will be able to answer my question.
so here goes... 2 9week old puppies, litter sisters, 1 is 1 inch higher, wider and longer than the other. does this mean she will be bigger when they are full grown?
or like children could the smaller one catch up?
thanks in advance. sam x

Well, Flynn was the runt of the litter and we often see his littermate so i've been able to compare and there is nothing between them. When I picked him up at 8 weeks old he was literally half the size of the others left.

I'm not a breeder so I have very limited experience but my Gozo was a bit runty when he was a puppy and (nearly) 3 years later he still is! I've seen a couple of his litter mates at shows or in photos and they are all bigger than him!

J.

A few years ago I attended a seminar by a vet and dog breeder about how puppies grow and this was one of the questions.

The answer is yes.....and no.

The length and thickness of bone is genetically pre-determined so normally puppies grow up to that blueprint. All bones grow in a particular sequence and growth plates close in a specific sequence.

Very little will affect this growth - no matter what you feed, or what exercise is done or not done.

If I remember the only things that might affect bone growth is severe malnutrition, some illnesses and some injuries.

So the 2 puppies will grow up and become whatever they will become.

In my experience smaller puppies usually catch up by the time they are weaned and if there is a difference in size at 9 weeks, that is how it stays.

THalice's Mum