White German Shepherd

Question
How big should a white shepherd be at 4.5 months? And should his ears be up by now? I know about teething how that can effect the ears,but we just pick-up the puppies and I am not sure if he still has his puppies teeth our his big teeth because they are still so small. He was the last of the bunch sold and I am sure he was the runt of the litter.  I am guessing but I think he weighs around 17bls. is that too little for a shepherd?

Answer
Hi Judi,

A good general rule is the puppy  will be a little less than half his adult weight at 4 months. The average weight for a Shepherd puppy at 4 months is 19 pounds, some weigh more, some may weigh less.  If your puppy weighs 17 pounds now, he may be rather small for a pure bred Shepherd, or he may have a growth spirt.  Male Shepherds usually weigh in at between 60-85 pounds when fully grown.
Being on the small size is not uncommon in "runts".  As is the case with so many things, size really doesn't matter. Your dog is the perfect size, for him. If he was larger could you love him any more? Probably not.

Ears can come up anywhere between 8 weeks and 6 months of age. Although most Shepherd's ears are standing by 4 months, and stay standing,  some aren't yet, or flop down again.  Nearly all their ears are erect by a year old, even the ones that don't stand up at 4 months.

When you're sitting with your puppy, gently stroke his ears in an upright direction, to help train the ears into a standing position. I honestly don't think you need to worry about this, every dog is different and every dog matures at their own rate. However, if you are concerned, talk to your vet about  taping the ears. If you were going to resort to taping, now would be the time to do it. If taped too late, there is very little chance of it working.

Most puppies begin losing their baby teeth or "deciduous teeth" at 3 to 4 months of age and they have generally lost all of them by the time they're 6 months.

Best of luck,

Patti