Our question this week was:

HI there,

I have a puppy and we are unsure of the gender (we are first time puppy owners), how can we distinguish between and male and female? and can you predict how big a puppy will get by the size of their paws? we have a mutt that comes from a mother that is small, the father is unknown. thanks for your time and attention,

Stacey

Answer

Thanks for your questions. First of all, male puppies will have a penis and urinate from it (on the underside of their belly). Females will urinate from their urethra which is just under their rectum. The easiest way to tell a male from a female puppy is to check their anatomy or watch where the urine comes out.

As far as predicting how big your puppy will get, that is a great question. It can be very difficult to tell when you don't know the size or breed of the parent dogs. As a rule of thumb, you can look at breed and size of the parents, paw size, loose skin, the overall growth curve, the "double-it formula" and the "height increase vs. weight gain" formula. We have a very good article that explains details of these formulas –I think it will be perfect for you. Click here.




Our question this week came from Stacey in Kitamaat, British Columbia
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