German Shepherd Growth Chart: Weight by Age (Male and Female)
A male German Shepherd typically finishes at 65-90 lb29-41 kg and a female at 50-70 lb23-32 kg. Bodyweight growth is essentially done by around 11 months, earlier than most charts suggest. The tables below give the expected weight at every age for each sex, in pounds and kilograms, alongside the percentage of adult weight reached at that point.
German Shepherd adult size: what the breed standards actually say
Almost every German Shepherd growth chart online tells you "the AKC standard says 65 to 90 pounds". The AKC breed standard says nothing at all about weight. It specifies height, proportion, gait and temperament, and it has done since 1978. The weight figures circulating as "the standard" actually come from two different places, and it is worth knowing which is which.
| Source | What it specifies |
|---|---|
| AKC breed standard | Height only: 24 to 26 inches (61 to 66 cm) for males, 22 to 24 inches (56 to 61 cm) for females. The standard specifies no weight whatsoever. Approved 11 February 1978. |
| FCI Standard 166 | Males 60 to 65 cm and 30 to 40 kg (66 to 88 lb). Females 55 to 60 cm and 22 to 32 kg (49 to 71 lb). Written by the SV, the breed's founding club. Published 11 August 2010. This is the standard that does give weights. |
| AKC breed page | Males 65 to 90 lb, females 50 to 70 lb. These are the figures used for the tables above. Editorial content on akc.org, distinct from the breed standard. |
German Shepherd growth chart by age
Weekly rows through 16 weeks, then monthly. Male and female bands are built from the sex-specific adult ranges above, scaled by the share of adult weight a large breed has typically reached at each age. These are bands, not targets: a healthy puppy tracking consistently near the bottom of its band is doing fine.
| Age | Male | Female | % of adult weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 weeks | 9.9-14 lb4.5-6.2 kg | 7.7-11 lb3.5-4.9 kg | 15% |
| 9 weeks | 12-16 lb5.4-7.5 kg | 9.2-13 lb4.2-5.8 kg | 18% |
| 10 weeks | 14-19 lb6.3-8.7 kg | 11-15 lb4.8-6.8 kg | 21% |
| 11 weeks | 16-22 lb7.2-9.9 kg | 12-17 lb5.5-7.7 kg | 24% |
| 12 weeks | 18-25 lb8-11 kg | 14-19 lb6.2-8.7 kg | 27% |
| 13 weeks | 20-28 lb9-13 kg | 15-21 lb7-9.7 kg | 31% |
| 14 weeks | 22-31 lb10-14 kg | 17-24 lb7.7-11 kg | 34% |
| 15 weeks | 24-34 lb11-15 kg | 19-26 lb8.5-12 kg | 37% |
| 16 weeks | 26-37 lb12-17 kg | 20-28 lb9.2-13 kg | 41% |
| 5 months | 37-51 lb17-23 kg | 28-40 lb13-18 kg | 57% |
| 6 months | 44-61 lb20-28 kg | 34-48 lb15-22 kg | 68% |
| 7 months | 49-67 lb22-30 kg | 37-52 lb17-24 kg | 75% |
| 8 months | 53-73 lb24-33 kg | 40-57 lb18-26 kg | 81% |
| 9 months | 55-77 lb25-35 kg | 43-60 lb19-27 kg | 85% |
| 10 months | 57-78 lb26-36 kg | 43-61 lb20-28 kg | 87% |
| 12 months | 58-81 lb26-37 kg | 45-63 lb20-28 kg | 89% |
| 15 months | 63-87 lb29-40 kg | 48-68 lb22-31 kg | 97% |
| 18 months | 65-90 lb29-41 kg | 50-70 lb23-32 kg | 100% |
The shaded final row is the age at which the large size class is treated as full grown. Percentages are shared across the size class; the pounds and kilograms are specific to this breed's male and female adult ranges.
Male German Shepherd growth chart
Males run heavier throughout, finishing at 65-90 lb29-41 kg. The male and female bands on this page differ by about 29% at the midpoint. That figure comes from this breed's own sourced adult ranges rather than a size-class average, which matters because breeds in the same size class vary widely on it.
Female German Shepherd growth chart
Females finish at 50-70 lb23-32 kg and follow the same curve shape, reaching the same percentage of their own adult weight at the same ages. A female tracking below the male column is not behind; she is on a different scale.
When is a German Shepherd fully grown?
German Shepherds reach most of their adult weight much earlier than the internet suggests. Peer-reviewed growth modelling puts the end of measurable bodyweight growth at roughly 319 to 327 days, around 11 months, and found German Shepherds statistically indistinguishable from Labradors on this. Height finishes earlier still: in dogs of this size the last long-bone growth plate closes at about 12 months, with most longitudinal bone growth happening between 12 and 26 weeks. What continues after that is filling out, chest depth and muscle, which is real but is not the same thing as growing.
This is one of the places where this page disagrees with most of the internet. The claim that large-breed growth plates stay open until 18 to 24 months appears on many German Shepherd pages. The only published closure table for dogs of this size puts the last physis at about 12 months. We have left the claim out rather than repeat it.
Growth and joint health in German Shepherds
This breed has a real orthopedic burden and it is the main reason to care about growth rate rather than growth speed. Screening data from the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals records 20.4% dysplastic across 146,526 evaluations and 18.7% abnormal across 68,011 evaluations. Labrador Retrievers, a breed of similar adult size, run 11.3% and 9.9%.
Faster is not better. Growing quickly puts load on joints that are still forming, and in a breed with these dysplasia rates that matters more than it does in most. A large-breed puppy food and a body condition you can feel the ribs through will do more for a German Shepherd's joints than any target on a chart.
Neutering age and joint disorders
Timing of neutering is associated with joint disease in this breed, and the effect is among the strongest recorded for any breed. In a study of 1,257 German Shepherds, joint disorders affected 6% of intact males and 5% of intact females. For males neutered before 6 months the rate was 19%, and 18% at 6 to 11 months. For females spayed before 6 months it was 20%, and 15% at 6 to 11 months. The authors suggest delaying beyond two years where it is practical. This is a conversation to have with your vet, not a decision to take from a growth chart.
Working lines, show lines and size
Size varies noticeably by bloodline. West German show lines, working lines, American show lines and Eastern European lines are all German Shepherds, and they are not all the same size or shape, so a working-line puppy tracking below a generic chart may be entirely normal for its parents. This is widely reported by breeders and appears in Google's own summary for this query, but we have found no peer-reviewed quantification of the differences, so treat it as a reason to weigh your expectations toward the parents rather than as a number you can look up.
German Shepherd growth FAQ
How can I tell how big my German Shepherd will get?
Weight now plus age is the strongest signal you have, and the parents' adult weights are stronger still. A German Shepherd is roughly halfway to its adult weight at about 19 weeks, so doubling the weight at that point is a reasonable first approximation. Past that, compare against the table above rather than a single rule: the same puppy that looks small at four months can be squarely mid-range by nine. Entering your puppy's actual age and weight into the calculator narrows the range further.
At what age do German Shepherds grow the most?
In absolute pounds gained per week, the fastest stretch runs from roughly 8 to 26 weeks. That is when the majority of longitudinal bone growth happens and when weekly weighing is genuinely informative. In percentage terms the very earliest weeks are faster still, but the puppy is small enough that the change is less visible.
How big should my German Shepherd be at 6 months?
At six months a German Shepherd has typically reached about 68% of its adult weight, which works out at roughly 44-61 lb (20-28 kg) for a male and 34-48 lb (15-22 kg) for a female. Sitting outside that band is not automatically a problem, particularly for working-line dogs. A puppy that has stopped gaining, or that you cannot feel the ribs on, is worth a vet visit; one that is simply at the light end of the range usually is not.
At what age is a German Shepherd fully grown?
Bodyweight growth is essentially finished at around 11 months, and our model treats the large size class as fully grown by about 18 months to allow for the slow final filling out. Height finishes earlier, at roughly 12 months, when the last long-bone growth plate closes. Claims that the growth plates of large breeds stay open until 18 to 24 months are widespread online and are not supported by the published closure data.
How big is an 8 week old German Shepherd puppy?
About 9.9-14 lb (4.5-6.2 kg) for a male and 7.7-11 lb (3.5-4.9 kg) for a female, which is roughly 15% of adult weight. Eight-week figures vary a lot with litter size and how recently the puppy was weaned, so treat this as the widest band on the whole chart.
Does the AKC standard say how much a German Shepherd should weigh?
No. The AKC breed standard for the German Shepherd Dog specifies height, 24 to 26 inches for males and 22 to 24 inches for females, and gives no weight at all. The commonly quoted 65 to 90 pound range comes from AKC's breed page rather than the standard, and FCI Standard 166 separately gives 30 to 40 kg for males and 22 to 32 kg for females. Any page telling you "the AKC standard says 65 to 90 pounds" is citing something that does not exist.
Sources
- Official AKC breed standard for the German Shepherd Dog, approved 11 February 1978. Height only; no weight clause.
- FCI Standard 166 (German Shepherd Dog), published 11 August 2010.
- American Kennel Club breed page, used for the male and female adult weight ranges in the tables.
- Orthopedic Foundation for Animals, hip and elbow dysplasia statistics, retrieved 28 July 2026.
- Hart BL, et al. (2020). "Assisting Decision-Making on Age of Neutering for 35 Breeds of Dogs." Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7:388.
- Helmink SK, et al. (2000). "Investigation of breed and sex differences in the growth of dogs." Journal of Animal Science 78(1):27-32.
- Balsa IM, Robinson DA (2016). Growth plate closure timing, Today's Veterinary Practice, May/June 2016.
- Salt C, et al. (2017). "Growth standard charts for monitoring bodyweight in dogs of different sizes." PLOS ONE 12(9): e0182064.
These are estimates for healthy puppies and are not veterinary advice. The growth percentages come from our size-class model, which is fitted to roughly 9.8 million veterinary weight records. The methodology page publishes the full curve, the dataset behind it and what remains unmeasured.
Estimate your German Shepherd's adult weight
See also the full puppy growth chart covering all five size classes from toy to giant.