WEIGHT is Unpredictable!
 

I have proof that their "Size and Weight" is UN-Predictable!
When I purchased my first male Yorkie, Artie 3 1/2yrs. ago.......his Breeder lied about his age and weight, she even garaunteed that he would not be over 4 and a half pounds full grown! Well he was 5 months old not 12 weeks, and he is 8 lbs. during the Summer and 10 lbs. during the Winter. Depending on the weather that dictates the amount of exercise they get? My 2 1/2 yr. old female Abigail, I was told by her Breeder would be between 8-10 lbs. and now she is a whopping 12 lbs. in the Summer and 8 lbs. in the Winter.
Now I bought both specifically to Breed and so far their Litter produced; 1 male full grown at 7 1/2 lb.s, 1 female full grown at 5 lbs. and the one I kept, a female full grown at 4 lbs. So now I have a small, medium and large!
While screening "Potential Buyers", I was asked a million times how big or small are they going to be? NOT important questions like; Do they have straight Backs, straight Teeth/bite, small erect ears, short noses, hair quality,
Health History or Champion Pedigree's in their Bloodlines, What Color?
Now all they ask me is "How did that tiny one come out of those Big ones"?
I just laugh and say "I don't know"? But I do......Both Parents have a
"Recessive Gene" to produce a smaller offspring, since both Parents had smaller "Parents", both Artie & Abigail were the biggest in their Litter, which
I purposely chose for their "Alpha" attitude over the rest of their Litter mates.
So Size doesn't matter and it is UNPREDICTABLE! My 4 lb. Tiffany Aloha, has the attitude and is as tough as her so called "Over weight Parents"!
I'm just venting because we just got back from "Petsmart" which should be called "PetsDumb" since they have the most "Ignorant" customers and Employees working there. I normally go to a smaller exclusive Pet Store that caters to Lap dogs, but I didn't feel like driving since Petsmart was closer.
Thanks for listening to my "Size" issues......I still love them to death even though they're not "Teacups" which don't exist?:confused:

size
 

Of course, size is not a science...but the breeder merely telling you what the size would be does not make it so...how does a breeder get away with passing off a 5 month old as 12 weeks? Did the breeder have no clue you would give this pups more shots when not needed..it's puppy teeth would be falling out in a few weeks..???
What were you Yorkies 12 week weights?

Thanks for clearning that up for me. Both of ours were from 7 - 8 lb parents and they are 12 & 13 lbs. Although I didn't mind that they got so big (they are still much smaller than my previous dogs), I wondered why they got so big and their littermates were all 6 - 8 lbs.

Someone told me it was the food I was feeding them but I just didn't really believe that the food could make that much diff since they weren't overweight, they just grew large.

I also agree that you really don't know how big they are going to be till they stop growing. My Brownie was the biggest of her litter and she topped off at 3.5 lbs at 4.5 years old before her spay, now she's about 4 lbs at 5 years old. Pepper's breeder told me he would be very small, probably top off at 3 lbs full grown, he's 9 months now and weighs about 4.5 lbs.

I agree. Size is very unpredictable. Buttercup's parents were teapots. They (parents) were 9lbs and 8lbs. His littermates ranged from 2-3lbs at 12-13 weeks of age and he was only 1.5lbs His breed said that she estimates his weight to be 7lbs full grown, 9lbs the most. He is now a little over 17 months and weighs only 4.5 lbs

When do our babies stop growing in size? I think Chloe is pretty much done already, right? She is 10 months old now and weight about 6 to 6 1/2 lbs.

I don't think size is unpredictable if you know your lines. I'm not talking about only parents and grandparents of the puppy - I'm talking about several generations. If a breeder knows the size of all the dogs in a puppy's pedigree for several generations and all the dogs are a similar size (say 4-6lbs for instance) then the puppy is 99% sure to stay between 4-6lbs. The reason size is often so unpredictable is because most breeders don't know their lines. They know the parents weight (ex. mom is 6lbs and dad is 4lbs) and possibly the grandparents (lets say 4lbs, 6lbs, 5lbs, and 3lbs). Okay so you'd think the puppy would most likely be between 4-6lbs but there could have been a great grandparents that was 7lbs and maybe a great great grandparent that was 9pounds...but the breeder didn't know about those bigger ones and since the parents are 4 and 6lbs says the puppy will be 5lbs full grown. Well the puppy ends up being 8lbs. Not unpredictable if the breeder had known their lines...they would have known that it was possible to end up with a bigger puppy. If you breed several generations of dogs with similar sizes, then size would not be unpredictable.