Dog Weight Calculator: What Should My Dog Weigh?

How to read your result

The calculator does one thing: it takes the range the breed standard publishes and tells you where your dog’s weight falls against it. It does not tell you what your dog “should” weigh, because no organization publishes that number for an individual dog.

Three possible answers

• Inside the range. Your dog’s weight falls within the published spread. That is a starting point, not a clean bill of health — a dog inside the range can still be carrying too much fat for its frame.
• Below the range. Either your dog is a smaller individual than the standard describes, or it is underweight. Body condition and recent trends separate those two cases.
• Above the range. Either your dog is a larger individual, or it is carrying extra weight. Again, the hands-on check decides which.

Mixed breeds, working lines and dogs bred outside the show standard often sit outside the published range while being perfectly healthy. The range describes a breed, not your dog.

How to weigh a dog at home

A vet clinic scale is the most accurate option, but for most dogs an ordinary bathroom scale is close enough to track a trend, which is what matters.

Small and medium dogs

1. Weigh yourself holding the dog, standing still on the same spot.
2. Put the dog down and weigh yourself alone.
3. Subtract the second number from the first.

For dogs under about 15 lb, a kitchen scale works better: put the dog in a carrier or a box, weigh both, then weigh the empty carrier and subtract.

Large and giant breeds

Bathroom scales are awkward at 100 lb and above, and lifting a heavy dog is a two-person job. Use a vet or pet-shop scale if you can, or weigh in a car harness on a platform scale. Weigh at the same time of day, before feeding, so the numbers are comparable.

Weigh a growing puppy weekly and an adult monthly. A single number tells you little; the direction over four weeks tells you a lot.

Body condition: the check that beats the scale

Body condition is a hands-on assessment of fat cover, and it is what veterinary guidance uses to decide whether a dog is underweight, ideal or overweight — because the right weight depends on the frame underneath it.

Three checks, in this order

1. Ribs. Run your hands along the chest. You should feel the ribs easily under a thin layer of fat, like the back of your hand. If you have to press to find them, there is extra fat; if they feel sharp with no cover, the dog is thin.
2. Waist, from above. Stand over the dog and look down: there should be a visible inward curve behind the ribs.
3. Belly, from the side. The line from the chest to the hind legs should tuck upward, not run flat or sag.

These three signs are the standard shorthand used in veterinary practice. We describe them because they are widely published; we cannot score your dog from a web page, and a vet can.

Why the scale alone misleads

A dog can stay the same weight while losing muscle and gaining fat. Older dogs and dogs that have been neutered are the usual cases. That is why the scale gives you the trend and the hands-on check gives you the verdict.

Puppies: why we do not predict adult weight

People often search for a “puppy weight calculator” expecting a multiplier: double the weight at four months, and so on. We do not publish one, because the published growth tools are charts you read against age — and they differ by adult size.

What we do instead: show you which growth chart fits your puppy, and how often to weigh. That is the puppy growth chart selector. For meal frequency by age, use the puppy feeding chart.

Two things worth knowing: large and giant breeds keep growing well past a year, and growing too fast is a known concern for them. If you are unsure whether your puppy is on track, that is a question for your vet rather than a calculator.

Dog weight chart by breed

Each row quotes the range exactly as the American Kennel Club publishes it for that breed, plus the same range written as numbers for comparison. Where a breed standard gives separate male and female ranges, the numeric column shows the span that covers both.

Source: American Kennel Club breed standards, American Kennel Club breed standards, checked breed by breed in October 2026. The numeric column is our mechanical reading of the published text, not an AKC figure.

Scales and carriers

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Weighing a small dog or a puppy

Your result above is the comparison — these are the tools that give you a number you can trust.

• Digital pet scale for small animals on Amazon
• Kitchen scale that reads in grams on Amazon
• Carrier for weighing a small puppy on Amazon

FAQ

Where these numbers come from

The weight ranges on this page are not ours. Each one is the adult weight text published in that breed’s standard by the American Kennel Club, quoted as written and linked from the table. The numeric column is a mechanical reading of that text: a single number stays a single number, a range stays a range, and wording such as “not exceeding” becomes a maximum.

We do not publish an “ideal weight” for a breed, a puppy growth multiplier, or a formula that invents a target. Where a judgment is ours — such as how a numeric range was read from the text — the page says so.

Body condition guidance is described because it is widely published in veterinary practice; it is not a diagnosis. Anything about your dog’s health, diet or a sudden weight change belongs with your vet.