Whether you are considering adopting a beagle or maybe you already have a puppy at home, you might be wondering when they will reach maturity. Beagles are small to medium-sized dogs with an abundance of energy. They are among the more popular dog breeds due to their happy-go-lucky nature and friendly personalities.
By 18 months, beagles have reached their full growth maturity and will stop growing. Their maximum height is often achieved by eight months, with fractional changes occurring after this time. Their weight will have stabilized by 18 months, and this is when you can consider them fully grown.
Most pet owners like to clearly understand when they can expect their pets to stop growing. This knowledge allows you to track any problems associated with incorrect growth, including height and weight. Add this to a knowledge of what might affect these two growth patterns, and you will better understand your beagle’s overall growth patterns.
When Can You Expect Your Beagle To Stop Growing?
Beagles are small to medium-sized dogs. There are two recognized sizes in beagle breeds. The smaller beagle grows to a height of 13’ and under, and the larger grows to a height of 13’ – 15’. Regarding different sizes between males and females, there is not such a big difference in height and a slight difference in weight.
Regardless, most beagles follow a similar growth pattern, reaching maturity at 18 months. This growth maturity means they will no longer grow any taller as their ligaments, cartilage, and bone have finished growing. All other essential tissues that hold these together will also have finished growing.
Regarding their weight, at 18 months, your beagles’ weight should stabilize. Weight, as with most species of animals, is never wholly static, and there will be fractional increases or decreases over your beagle’s lifetime.
Beagles are voracious eaters, which can often translate into a weight problem if you do not monitor their food and weigh it out correctly, and if they are not receiving the proper exercise levels for their breed. Knowing that weight can be an issue is why beagle owners must understand at around what time in their beagles’ life their weight should be stabilizing to prevent any future problems.
What Are Some Key Stages Of Your Beagles Growth?
As your beagle grows, there will be stages where the growth rate is fast and stages where it slows down before stopping. Let’s look at some of these crucial stages.
Beagle Puppy: Birth To 3 Weeks
After being born, your beagle puppy will go through an exponential growth rate where his body weight will double. You can expect your puppy to weigh approximately 2 – 3lb for the smaller beagle breed and 3 – 4lb for the larger one once they hit the three-month mark.
Beagle Puppy: 4 Weeks To 8 Weeks
Your beagle puppy will almost double its weight again during this time and will have doubled its size. You can expect by the eight-week mark that your smaller breed beagle should weigh approximately 3 – 5lb, and the larger breed puppies should weigh around 4 – 7 lb.
Beagle Puppy: 9 To 12 Weeks (3 Months)
Growth should be increasing well with your puppy getting both taller and weighing more. Around this time, you should expect your puppy to weigh approximately 7 – 10lb for the smaller beagle breed and 8 – 11lb for the larger.
Beagle Puppy: 4 To 6 Months
Your beagle puppy should follow a similar growth pattern that it did during its third month. By the time your beagle reaches the six-month mark, it will almost be at its maximum height, with the final height depending on which sized beagle you own. At six months, you can expect your beagle puppy to weigh around 12 – 17lb for the smaller and about 14 18lb for the bigger beagle.
Beagle Puppy: 7 To 8 Months
At eight months, you can expect your pup to have reached its approximate height, there might be some fractional changes in size, but mostly, that part of its growth cycle will be complete.
Now it’s time for your beagle to fill out, and this is what you can expect will occur over the next few months. At this stage, you should expect your beagle to weigh about 16 – 20lb if they measure up to 13’ tall and around 18 – 22lb between 13’ and 15’ tall.
Beagle Puppy: 9 – 18 Months
This stage in your puppy’s growth cycle is about gaining weight in a regulated and healthy way. If you find that your puppy is putting on weight very quickly, it might be cause for alarm as beagles do tend to obesity.
Suppose you own one of the smaller beagle breeds. In that case, you can expect their weight to range between 16 – 20lb, stabilizing at around 20lb, bearing in mind that all beagles are different. Yours might be on the heavier size. As long as they don’t look overweight and you can feel their ribs and spine without too much cushioning, then it should be fine.
If you own one of the larger beagle breeds, you can expect their weight to range from about 20 – 30lb, stabilizing at 30lb or below. Again this is just an average. Keep your eye on your pup to ensure you do not overfeed them.
What Can Affect The Growth Of A Beagle?
Typical growth rates can be affected by a couple of things. The main one concerns your beagles’ weight growth, and this is overfeeding. All beagles have a shared love of food; you might find that your furry companion asks you for extra food even though they don’t necessarily need it. I say necessarily because, of course, they think that they need it.
Another thing that can cause excessive weight gain is an overindulgence in puppy or doggy treats. When giving your beagle treats, you need to ensure that their treats never make up more than 10% of their calorie intake, and if you give them a few extra doggy treats, then you should feed them a bit less of their dry food.
Keep your eye on their weight growth, and if you feel they are getting on the heavier side, you can rectify this by feeding them a little less or exercising them a bit more to help burn off some of those calories.
Another thing that can adversely affect your beagles’ growth rate is having them spayed too early. Sex hormones are directly related to your beagle’s growth as they tell its body when it must stop growing. If you fix or neuter your dog too early, this can cause it to become taller and larger than it might have, affecting the growth plates and leading to several joint and health concerns.
Always keep an eye your puppy’s overall health. A continuously sick puppy will negatively affect growth rates causing them to grow slower than average.
Conclusion
You can expect that around 18 months, your beagle should finally stop growing as it will have reached its maximum height, and its weight should have stabilized. Your furry friend’s final size and weight will depend on whether they are male or female and whether they belong to the smaller beagle breed or, the larger.
References
https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/beagle/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle#Appearance
https://www.hepper.com/beagle-weight-chart/
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/how-big-do-beagles-get/
https://www.petmd.com/dog/care/what-age-do-dogs-stop-growing
