Puppy size

SharkJet

 Is it common for a female puppy to be (by far) the largest puppy in the litter? Also, is there anything you can do to help the runt? Her belly is always full and I make sure she gets as much (or more) nursing than the others. Oh and mom is eating properly and often.

BulliesofNC

It's not uncommon. Right now you can't make good judgment on how they will grow and progress. They aren't even weaned yet and once they start eating mush you'll see a change in sizes.
We've had litters where a female was the biggest even at 8 weeks of age when they went to their new homes. that puppy grew to be a big beautiful Bullie but the other males past her in weight and size soon after 8 weeks old.
Most of the time you'll see the males start packing on weight once they start eating solid foods. At birth there really isn't any statistics showing males to be bigger than the females. This is the same during the nursing stage and often throughout their early puppy stages. I consider it to be like people where babies vary in size between both male and female. It isn't until puberty where you'd begin to see that the males will on average become taller and heavier.

Zerlett

Sometimes the runt outgrows the rest! With my litter of seven puppies I had an obvious runt, who grew bigger by 6 weeks he was not the runt the other puppy was. Also had a male that far surpassed the size of the other puppies, and to this day he is massive compared to his siblings. Sometimes if breeding's occurred with large gaps you can have a puppy 5-7 days older than some of the others!

SharkJet

Thanks for all your experienced advice, I appreciate it. This forum has made all the difference with the litter. I send people here every day.