You got your Golden puppy, it’s cuteness itself, and you feed it just the best. Whoa – it seems to eat more every day and grows as if it’s got fertilizer under its little paws. Is it growing too fast? Will it ever stop? You know it can’t keep on forever but now you’re beginning to wonder – at what age does a Golden Retriever stop growing? How long before you can bargain on a constant amount of food to buy every month? There are stages of development that all puppies go through and you need to know about them in order to determine if yours is growing at the optimal rate and when it should be reaching the adult stage.
At what age does a Golden Retriever stop growing? In general, a Golden Retriever will stop growing at around 18 months of age. At this age, they should reach their final height and weight. There is always individual variation but both too fast and too slow growth in a puppy should be investigated by your vet.
Bear in mind that there is a difference between male and female dogs regarding their growth rate as well as their final weight and height.
Male Goldens will usually grow faster and keep on growing longer than females, but it is a generalization.
You may find that your Golden Retriever falls on either side of the average figures but it should not deviate too much.
While females tend to be lower in final weight than males it is also subject to individual circumstances. It is not abnormal if you happen to have a female Golden Retriever that is larger and/or heavier than a male. Just a thought – if she seems to get heavy and round without any increase in food and she is not spayed, you may need to start buying doggie booties. Pinks as well as blues. Just joking.
The easiest way to track your puppy’s growth is to compare it to a growth chart. These kinds of charts are compiled for the same purpose as those you get for human babies. It is a guide to what is considered a normal growth curve for a dog. But the same chart does not work for all breeds. It is common sense that you can not use a small breed chart for a big breed puppy, but the safest is to use a breed-specific chart.
Golden Retriever Growth Chart for Puppies
You should not, under any circumstances except death, take a puppy away from its mother before it is weaned, at no earlier than seven weeks. The nutrition it gets from its mother’s milk is exceedingly important for the pup’s growth and development.
In particular, the immune system needs the colostrum that is present in the mother’s milk to help it survive the first three weeks of life.
After that time, it will depend on you for food so the chart below will help you judge if it is growing at an optimal rate. This translates as are you giving it the right food! The charts below come from this source.
Female Golden Retriever Growth Chart
| Age | Smallest | Largest | Average |
| 7 weeks | 5 lb | 17 lb | 9 lb |
| 8 weeks | 5 lb | 17 lb | 10 lb |
| 9 weeks | 8 lb | 17 lb | 12 lb |
| 10 weeks | 13 lb | 22 lb | 15 lb |
| 11 weeks | 12 lb | 22 lb | 17 lb |
| 3 months | 16 lb | 43 lb | 22 lb |
| 4 months | 25 lb | 44 lb | 30 lb |
| 5 months | 25 lb | 57 lb | 40 lb |
| 6 months | 27 lb | 72 lb | 44 lb |
| 7 months | 27 lb | 67 lb | 45 lb |
| 8 months | 40 lb | 67 lb | 52 lb |
| 9 months | 44 lb | 68 lb | 52 lb |
| 10 months | 50 lb | 68 lb | 60 lb |
| 11 months | 52 lb | 80 lb | 65 lb |
| 1 year | 55 lb | 90 lb | 70 lb |
| 2 years | 55 lb | 90 lb | 70 lb |
Male Golden Retriever Growth Chart
| Age | Smallest | Largest | Average |
| 7 weeks | 3 lb | 25 lb | 9 lb |
| 8 weeks | 3 lb | 27 lb | 11 lb |
| 9 weeks | 7 lb | 27 lb | 13 lb |
| 10 weeks | 10 lb | 28 lb | 17 lb |
| 11 weeks | 6 lb | 24 lb | 17 lb |
| 3 months | 9 lb | 34 lb | 23 lb |
| 4 months | 15 lb | 55 lb | 33 lb |
| 5 months | 20 lb | 67 lb | 42 lb |
| 6 months | 38 lb | 75 lb | 52 lb |
| 7 months | 35 lb | 75 lb | 59 lb |
| 8 months | 40 lb | 77 lb | 61 lb |
| 9 months | 45 lb | 77 lb | 61 lb |
| 10 months | 50 lb | 77 lb | 63 lb |
| 11 months | 55 lb | 77 lb | 66 lb |
| 1 year | 65 lb | 77 lb | 68 lb |
| 2 years | 65 lb | 80 lb | 73 lb |
Growing too Fast
It may not be your imagination that your pup is growing at an alarming rate. If you have any doubt that it is too far off the guideline weight in the chart above, take action!
Growing too fast can have serious consequences for your dog. If the bones grow too fast the cartilage may not be able to attach properly, leading to torn ligaments and painful joint problems.
Most of the time growth that is too fast is caused by overfeeding your puppy. Giving it too much food! It looks adorable with a stomach as big as a balloon, but that is not a good measure of the amount of food you should be giving it!
Growing too Slow
It is possible that your puppy may be growing too slowly and that you may end up with a stunted dog. You most certainly don’t want that. There could be several causes of stunted growth besides inherited genetic conditions.
- Intestinal worms (hookworm, ringworm, whipworm, tapeworm). This is a very common kind of infestation. Do not feel guilty about it. It is easily treatable by deworming tablets that you can get from the vet. Once your puppy is clear, it will start to grow at a normal pace again. The puppy will be given deworming meds when it goes for its first inoculations. Just keep to the schedule that the vet gives you and do not stop before all the tablets have been taken.
- Malnutrition. This is severe. A puppy that is starved or gets food with very little nutrition will not grow normally. No need to expand upon this, do not get a puppy if you can not feed it.
- Insufficient minerals or incorrect mineral balance. Golden Retrievers are large dogs and to maintain optimal growth the puppy must get specific minerals in the right proportions. The most important are calcium, vitamin D, and phosphorus, in addition to sufficient protein. There are ways to work out how much your puppy needs but the easiest is to buy a reputable brand of food. Check with your vet for recommendations that will suit your puppy and your pocket.
Growing After Adulthood
Your Golden Retriever is 2 years old and it is still growing. Is it normal? What could be the reason? Before you start worrying, make sure that it is real growth and not just muscles that are filling out. Or that the dog may be getting fat.
Real growth means that its height will increase – not only its girth and weight. You measure a dog’s height from the floor to the highest point of its shoulder blades (known as the withers).
Take a number of measurements to even out the variations in your own method (a little shaky there, perhaps?) to ensure that there is a real increase in height.
Another possibility is, ahem, having been conned by the breeder. Perhaps your pup is not as purebred as you thought…if your dog has genes coming from any of the giant breeds like Great Dane, Mastiff, or Saint Bernard, it may continue to grow beyond two years and even up to three years.
Related Questions
It could if it is done too early. Larger breed dogs, like the Golden Retriever, may grow unusually long bones if they are “fixed” at too young an age, which increases their risk for orthopedic problems. A survey by the Golden Retriever Club of America found that dogs spayed or neutered at less than one year of age were significantly taller than those done after one year.
Puppies should not be exercised too hard or too long. Neither lungs nor skeleton is sufficiently developed to handle going for a jog with you, for example. To prevent injuries now or joint and neck problems later is more important.
