Poodle sizes: There are three sizes of poodle which are recognised by the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC), standard, miniature and toy. Teacup and tiny toy poodles are still toy poodles, only smaller. There is no separate classification for them.
The national standard size for toy poodles in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand is up to 28cm (11″) in height. However, in America and Canada, the national standard size is up to 25cm (10″) in height. Therefore, we have divided the Australian toy poodle into three catagories:
Toy Poodle: 24cm to 28cm in height (9 1/2″ to 11″) and 3kg to 5kg in weight
Tiny Toy Poodle: 21cm to 24cm in height (8 1/2″ to 9 1/2″) and 2kg to 3kg in weight
Teacup Poodle: up to 21cm in height (up to 8 1/2″) and up to 2kg in weight
Predicting a puppy’s adult height and weight is not an exact science. This chart, developed over many years of experience by long-time poodle breeders and experts, is a helpful guideline for predicting a puppy’s adult size.
Height: A puppy will grow at least 8cm more from the 8 week stage until maturity. Meaning a puppy that is 13cm tall at 8 weeks will be at least 21cm at adulthood. If you want a small (not so tall) teacup, make sure the puppy you are thinking of buying is no taller than 13cm at 8 weeks.Puppies may or may not grow very much between 8 and 12 weeks, depending on if they are in the teacup range or not. This is why we choose to keep our puppies until they are 10 to 12 weeks of age so we can better judge an approximate adult size.
Weight: Teacup poodle puppies are born very small, they usually weigh between 70g and 100g at birth. Most puppies in a litter are born about the same size, give or take a bit. They may even grow and gain weight at the same rate as each other. As they begin to wean from their mother, usually between 6 and 8 weeks, they are not getting the ‘fat’ from the milk and this is when the size difference begins to show.
It is impossible to tell what the adult size of a 2 to 3 week puppy will be. Parental genetics are a good indicator but not an absolute. We cannot be sure what its adult size will be until the puppy is at least 6 weeks of age and even then it is a guesstimate. We will have a much more accurate estimation when the puppy reaches 12 weeks of age. Teacups and tiny toy poodles are usually finished growing in height by 6 to 8 months but will still fill out a little more.
Estimating adult size: To estimate the size range of our babies, we use the parents’ lineage and past experience to estimate adult sizes. We do our very best to estimate the adult size of our puppies based on previous litters (if applicable), sizes of parents and their ancestors as well as the toy poodle growth chart shown above.
No one can predict the adult size of a puppy with 100% accuracy. Genetics is very complicated and recessive genes can come into play. Like humans, female puppies tend to be a similar size to their mother, whereas male puppies tend to be the same size as their father or grandfather.
To help ensure that a poodle puppy will be teacup size, use this helpful guide:
– At 5 weeks, double the puppy’s height to get its adult height
– At 8 weeks, pup should be under 13cm in height, will grow a further 8cm
– At 10 weeks, pup should be under 14.5cm in height, will grow a further 6.5cm
– At 12 weeks, pup should be under 16cm in height, will grow a further 5cm
For an approximate adult weight for a true teacup poodle puppy, use this helpful guide:
– At 8 weeks of age, times pups’ weight by 3 to get its adult weight
– At 10 weeks of age, times the pups’ weight by 2.5 to get its adult weight
– At 12 weeks of age, times the pups’ weight by 2 to get its adult weight