RE: [pyrnet] size/age

[Sherri Artz <SArtz@wiche.edu>]

Cindy,
I didn't see them on the scale, however, they were definitely much much
larger than she is.  I hope she (the breeder) didn't feel the need to
embellish because I requested the smallest dog in the litter and made it
very clear I wasn't looking for a big girl.  Unfortunately, that one had
something wrong with it's leg and had to be put down.  I was devastated and
I had to wait for another litter.  This time I didn't pick the smallest, but
average.  Dumpling was almost 20 lbs when I got her at 8 weeks.  My vet
thought she would get much bigger, but she never experienced a big growth
spurt, which made him happy, he feels that it is during the spurt that a lot
of problems develop sometimes.  I thought maybe the trauma of fixing her
hernia, slowed her growth. 

I don't know, she certainly looks big enough, someone at PetSmart the other
day thought we weighed the same!  Excellent for me, 75 lbs! She was only off
50 pounds.  Tons of fur.
Thanks,
Sherri

-----Original Message-----
From: clhenke@juno.com [mailto:clhenke@juno.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 11:27 AM
To: pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org
Subject: Re: [pyrnet] size/age


Sherri, May I ask about the weight of your dogs parents?  Did the people
just tell you the weights of their dogs, or did you actually see and
confirm this on a scale that you then weighed yourself on to confirm
accuracy?

It has been my experience that  people tend to over indulge themselves
when describing weights in a dog.  We used to show English Mastiffs, and
when you read in Dog World or Dog Fancy they claim incredible weights for
that breed.  Now it would seem that Pyrs. are getting the same treatment.
 On an average male Pyrs. are said to weigh up to 125 lbs. on a good tall
dog.  Certainly there will be males that go over that.  But I really
don't believe that many really do.  People constantly walk up and guess
that my dogs weigh way in excess of what they actually do.  I've had
guesses of up to 160 lbs. fairly often.  In truth he will hit 121 lbs.,
and I try to keep him down lower than that.  Coats certainly play a part
in people over estimating legit weights, plus the human tendency to over
embellish.  Unless you weigh a dog on a scale you see, and then weigh
yourself to be comfortable with it's accuracy I would doubt 140 lb.
claims.

I think you will see your girl add some weight slowly up to two years. 
Height till about 18 mo., also slowly.  I would guess that she will hit
85-95 lbs.  Fairly average range.
But I wouldn't try to compare her to her parents unless you are
absolutely sure they are the weight that was claimed for them.  I have
not seen any Pyrs. which I would guess to be in that range for real, and
when someone tells me their dogs way that much I have taken to saying
"prove it".  I don't know why so many feel the need to embellish.  In the
Mastiffs the only 300 plus pound Mastiff was an English dog named Zorba,
and he may still be in the Guinness Book of World records ( 8' from nose
to tail tip ), yet every one is claiming 285- 300 lb, Mastiffs.  185-200
lb. Mastiff is a good sized, functional dog.  Beyond the reasonable
ranges set by dog standards, there will be loss of function beyond some
point.

I am in no way am criticizing your description of what you thought to be
true, just curious if you can really verify it, or if that was the way it
was described.  Enjoy your girl!   :-)  Cindy

clhenke@Juno
Ennis, Texas

"All knowledge, the totality of all questions and answers, is contained
in the dog."  ~ Franz Kafka

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