My puppy Zeek is 13weeks. As of yesterday he only weighs 13.5lbs and is 14 inches. When i first got him at 8 weeks he was 6lbs. He's been gaining weight especially here in the last week or two. I've been keeping in contact with his breeder through emails and she said she's thinking he may be a dwarf now? I couldnt find much info about dwarfs when i tried searching. How old does a puppy have to be before you can tell?

heres some pics of my little guy....
8weeks






11weeks



13weeks

Have you had him at the vet? I assume so.
His joints look overly large compared to his legs. I would think he does have some skeletal issues.
What are you feeding him?
He is adorable and not sure about the dwarfism, going back in his pedigree are all the dogs normal sized?

One of our old members from another board had a dwarf but I can`t remember who. Maybe Wolfstraum??

He might be! Awww, he is sooo adorable! You should ask the vet if he may be a dwarf.

he's eating royal canin maxi puppy, he's been doing good on it, eating more and gaining weight.

I would maybe switch his food to one that has the proper ratio of calcium:phosphorus. If you can find Orijen, that would be ideal or I also would feed Wellness Super5mix large breed puppy, it has the right amounts for proper growth. His joints look overlarge, and I know you started another thread, so hopefully you'll get some good advice.

I noticed the same thing Hundegirl did about the joints. You might have to get some xrays done just to make sure that there is nothing really serious going on with his growth plates. That would be my fear.

He does seem small for his age, but he is really, really cute

I am glad your breeder is still in touch with you through all this.

hello! i have a dwarf gsd named bullet... he is 3... i made him a facebook page... please join and post pics and share your stories to educate others

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gi ... 249&ref=ts

or if u rather not copy and paste... go to facebook... in the top left corner search dwarf german shepherd

We bought our pup from what we though was a reputal breeder. When we finally noticed that he wasnt growing I had made multiple calls to Shepherds of the Mount (breeder) asking if this was normal giving her height and weight measurements. Which she told us he was fine. Then we went to the pet store the one day and saw a gsd that was younger then bullet and almost twice his size.

We began to worry and continued to call the breeder to see if there was a problem. I did my own research and found that he was a dwarf. Emailed her and she gave 2 options to get our monies back. Put him down and show her the vet note saying he was terminated or give him back (which then she would have prob put him down). So we went with niether option.

Bullet is a full of life dog that has an awesome personality. He keeps up with our full grown gsd Mele and our wheaten terrier Sassy just fine.

He is now going on 3 and we can start to see things really progessing now. The typical life span is 2-5 years. He has lost most of his fur. He has a bald rat like tail. His back only has a few patches of fur left. His head and paws both have hair. But, I can see he is starting to lose little bits on his head also.

Now when I watch him relaxing his breathing is starting to look labored. GSD have high tolerances for pain, so we arent sure if he is in any. But, if he is he isnt showing it as of yet.

I am hoping this little page will help anyone that might find themselves in this situation. If we would have known when he was a pup or vet said we might have been able to help him a bit more. If we would have known we could have given him a certian kind of steriods when he was 5 or so months old before all of his growth plates started to close. They arent sure it would have worked but thought it would have helped him with a few inches.

As of now his back stands at 15 inches high and weighs 19 lbs.


OK now the medical stuff on pituitary dwarfism.
Pituitary dwarfism is a rare congenital birth defect resulting in the malfunction of the pituitary gland situated at the base of the brain, often combined with malfunction of the thyroid gland.

In dogs with pituitary problems the dog will develop into a near-ly perfectly proportioned but considerably downsized version. In cases where there is an associated problem with the thyroid gland due to lack of proper direction from the pituitary, muscular weakness and skin/hair problems will occur.

It is a genetic disorder but because it is a recessive gene it requires male and female both with the recessive gene to produce dwarf puppies. Unless a breeder is deliberately mating male and females with this gene to produce dwarf puppies, pituitary dwarfism is not common in the GSD. However, when it does occur it can be quite distressing for the owner because of the associated medical problems and the look of the dog because of hair loss. Dwarf German Shepherds usually have fertility problems.

As a puppy the dog will have a fine coat of secondary hair but no primary hair so hair loss begins usually at the age of 6 months when puppies normally use their puppy coat. In some cases the dog will retain tufts of hair around the ears and the feet which does look rather comical. The hair on the tail usually disappears leaving it looking like a rats tail.

As hair loss progresses the skin can sometimes become very itchy, very sore and become scaly and wrinkled with some areas becoming quite black. Some areas will stay smooth.

The life expectancy of a dwarf shepherd is much shorter than a GSD of normal size. Some say 2 years at best although there are others that dispute this and quote ages of up to 13.

DwarfGSD, welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your story, it is very inspirational. I checked out his facebook page and I must say that he is sooo cute. Thank you for keeping him despite the breeders advice and taking care of him.

thanks for the welcome!!! hes is awesome i hope to help or educate anyone that may have a pup like ours