Hello Everyone!

I've been lurking through the threads here for months since we brought our Toccoa home. Long story short, she's been quite the handful. We adopted her from a family that bred their Huskys and then neglected the puppies. They were physically taken care of, but had no human interaction. Additionally, she had an infection in her tail at 2 weeks and was very delayed size wise. It's take us 3 months of intense socialization, hand feeding, classes, etc just to get her to be comfortable with us and our two teens. Through that process, we kept mentioning to one another how small she was, just time flew by and we were working on her social skills.

Yesterday, she was scheduled to be fixed and when we picked her up, the vet was waiting for us. For the next hour, our vet (who we've been with for years with our three other pups) expressed A LOT of concern about Toccoa's size. She is 6 months old and 17 lbs. Dr. Craig described her as a dwarf, mentioned pituitary dwarf (which I can't find a documented case for huskys) and congenital hyperthyroid. I've spent all day researching both and she doesn't have any symptoms of either....just her size.

So here I am for help/opinions. She is our first husky. We've been a golden retriever family until Toccoa joined us. I know her size is very small, but does anyone know of others that are just small/delayed in growth. She's very active, fun, plays well, now eats well, etc. No problems, just her size. She's gained weight since we brought her home but nothing to write home about.

Any thoughts?

We have a few members with small females. Since she's just 6 months old, at this point I wouldn't worry too much. If everything else about looks/seems just fine, you may just have a very small female Husky. The standard for females (for properly bred dogs) dips as low as 35lbs as an adult.

Other will chime in, but my thought is at this point don't worry too much.

I really don't have any experience with this, but we do have a member (Heather) with a very small female Husky. Hopefully she'll chime in, her girl Rogue is a year old and only weighs I think 27 lbs. Rogue is happy and healthy though, just small.

On a side note, we actually talked briefly in my abnormal psychology class last night about a type of dwarfism that they sometimes see in children who have been emotionally neglected. I wonder if that might be possible in dogs too...

My female is a year old and 27lbs and 19" tall. When we got her spayed at 5 months, she was 13lbs. She didn't reach 20lbs until about 8 months. She's not skinny at all either.



Not sure how tall Claudia's husband is, but he's not very tall. There's a pic of her next to someone.

If she is healthy, if she is not stick thin, then don't worry about it. It's not super common to see small females, but one of the first huskies I met when we got Koda was a 2 year old who weighed 25lbs.
It's probably just a result of bad breeding. But if her health is all in check, don't worry about it. She isn't a dwarf.

However, I will say they grow a lot between 7-10 months in my experience. My girl grew I think about 4 inches and 10lbs between then, though she mostly just gained leg and still had the little petite short body.

Oh, Heather...thank you so much! I've been searching the web all day and haven't found anyone with a female that small. If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions!

One of the vets concerns with her size was her head. She said she still had the "puppy" shape and not the adult shape. I assumed that went along with her size, but would you say Rogue was similar? She also mentioned that she should have her adult "guard hair" and I'm not even sure what that is. Toccoa has definitely changed fur color and has new longer, coarser hair.

Your dogs are beautiful! Thank you so much for the help, I'll sleep much better tonight

She's only 6 months old... I'm more concerned that your vet seems this concerned about her size at that age. Koda was only 35-40 lbs (he's 60 lbs now and technially oversized for a husky) when we got him at 7 months old and he still had his "puppy face".... dunno, but it doesn't sound like your vet knows much about huskies.

As others have said, the female standard is as low as 35 lbs. I think she's probably just fine. Most people don't realize that huskies are not as big as malamutes. Then again, most people don't realize that malamutes aren't huskies Huskies are a medium sized breed... not large.

Rogue has a small head and a very short body (as in from her chest to her bottom). Her face is still VERY puppylike as is her body. The only thing that makes her look a bit more adultlike is she has long legs- for her body size, at least. She is still pretty short.
Huskies have puppy coats til about 10 months from my experience. That's when Koda started losing puppy fat and his big, puffy puppy coat and same with Rogue. She was SUPER fluffy as a pup once I got her on a good food. Her fur is now a lot shorter than it was (though still fluffy and her tail is a fox tail!) and I started noticing that about 2 months ago.
I agree that your vet sounds sort of uneducated, at least about this breed. I DO think she will be smaller, definitely 35 or under- but it's not like she has dwarfism at all. There's huskies that are 75-80lbs, that's huge- but it's just due to the genetics and breeding dogs that shouldn't be bred or matching pairs that should not have been put together.

I get comments all the time on Delilah, she is usually about 37 lbs. people are always saying "you're husky is so small" when in reality, she is perfect. Most people think Huskies are supposed to be huge. Not the case. Cato is almost 20lbs and 5 mos, but he is male. I think she seems to be on the right track! Don't worry too much as long as she is healthy

I wouldn't worry too much. My friends Husky Sakari is only 32lbs at a year and a half.

this is her next to my 50lb female Zoey


and her next to my 55lb male Embry

I agree it seems a bit early for your vet to be so worried, she has a lot of growing to do. And agree also that people think husky's are supposed to be big, they really aren't if you look at the AKC standards for the breed females are anywhere from 35-50 lbs, and males from 45-60 lbs. Of course there will be some larger or smaller then standard, same as in any breed of dog. Right now Balon is 20 lbs at a tad over 3 months, he is not fat!, my vet just shook her head and said "wow judging by his weight this young and his huge feet he's gonna be huge! (Mom is only 45 lbs, and Dad is 55!) Of course time will tell how big Balon will get, my guess he won't be over 60.

Whatever size your little one reaches, the important thing is that she is healthy and happy, and of course you will adore her no matter what!

One other thing you might consider.... how old was she when you adopted her? And are you SURE she was that old? All her socialization problems could also be explained by your puppy being taken from her litter too young. If she came to you at 5 weeks instead of 8, her size and shape would make more sense to your vet.

@Heather Rogue's face is adorable, just wish I could look younger then I was lol

Asia is going to be small too! She weighs 24lbs at 7 months and is only 17" tall.

Thanks everyone for the information...I feel much better! We brought her home at 12 weeks. One of her litter mates is with another family we're friends with and she's developed quite normally. She's at least twice Toccoas size. When we saw the conditions they were living in, we tried to get them all out. They were locked in a covered patio room, with a bowl of food and a door open to the outside. The only time a human entered the room was to fill the food/water bowls. I think the infection made a huge difference too.

Jeff and I discussed finding a new vet for Toccoa, ours just doesn't seem to know a lot about her and with her social issues, I want to make sure that we are doing everything possible. I'm learning as we go, so I would prefer someone with some experience at this point

Thank you everyone for your feedback, it's certainly put my mind at ease!

If you don't mind me asking, what part of Ohio are you from?

We live just north of Cincinnati, near Kings Island. I was born and raised in Michigan though, up in the tip of the thumb

We had just moved here when we got Rogue and went to a recommended vet by another military spouse because she kept reverse sneezing and the vet told me she would be at least 50lbs. LOLK

Thanks everyone! We've decided to skip the "dwarf" testing and look for recommendations for a new vet for Toccoa. Our vet does great with the two goldens, but I don't think she has a clue when it comes to our little one.

And I think she's growing. I'll be anxious to take her to get her weighted again. Slowly, but surely, we'll get there!

I would try a holistic vet if you can find one in your area.mill call my vet and see f she recommends anyone

I just wanted to share that we took Toccoa this morning for her follow up on her spay and she gained 3 lbs in 10 days!!!! She's at just 20 lbs, but it's very exciting!

My Rio Girl is barely 28 lbs, and is TINY. People ask me if she is a mini husky hahaha. I wouldn't worry about it, like others said.

That's awesome that she has gained weight!

I thought Luna was a little on the small side also, She was just about 18lbs at 6-7 months then went up to 35lbs between 7-12months. She's now about 38-39lbs at 1 year and 2 months. Happy and Healthy husky. I wouldn't worry about it just give her love and food she'll be happy! haha

This is Luna today at about 38-39lbs.

Sounds like...to me... she might have been the runt of the litter. Bandicoot was the runt of her litter and came in at a whopping 33 lbs lean at 5 years old. she packed on the pounds after retirement at the age of 15 and stayed at 45 lbs until she passed at the age of 17.9 years.

My current puppy at the age of 18 months is 32 lbs but has a stomach bug and is on a special diet to get her weight back on. my vet is in disbelief at D/C's height... she is the height of a male of that same age and is still growing!

I woulnt worry so much about your baby girl there... Bandicoot lived a VERY LONG life and was very small. *Hugs*

How old is Rio??

I when I first saw Kerian I thought she was real small for two years old. But from some of the feed back I have gotten here she really isn't may need some muscle and her fur is really bad right now.

Here is picture of Kerian and Blaze ( I thought he was a small male now I realized he is normal size)

Trillion is 6 months and weighs 30-40 pounds...

D:
but shes part mal... but still o.o
she is muscler though and doesn't look overweight.