How big is a "big" dog?

[Gempress]

I've always called Voodoo my "little boy". I can actually pick him up off the ground. He's the smallest dog I've ever owned, just a cute little cuddle bug.

But on a couple of my walks, some people have commented "Look at the big doggies!", "You keep two big dogs indoors?", etc. Every time I hear that, it surprises me. Voodoo isn't big!

Voodoo is 49.8 lbs, probably about 20" at the shoulder (Dunno exactly, haven't measured). The vet estimates he'll be 55-60 lbs once he matures and fills out, since he's a bit on the thin side right now. But to me, he'll always be a cute little dog.

What's your definition of "big" and "little"? To me, Zeus is large. Anything bigger is extra large. Voodoo is medium-small. And anything smaller is a lap dog.

But ironically, sometimes even my leggy Zeus seems small to me. It's like the longer I live with him, the smaller he seems.

 

[jess2416]

I consider Chloe a medium sized dog...I dont know how tall she is but she weighs about 40 pounds and the vet said she would be anywhere from 40-50 pounds as a adult...

So I would probably think that voodoo is going to be medium sized while zeus is large

 

[Amstaffer]

To me your dog is "Big" when it is over 80lbs. I have no idea why or how I came up with 80lbs as my cut off for Big but thats the minimum for Big to me

 

[Gempress]

LoL, to me, it's all about height. Zeus is only 65 lbs, but is 25-26" at the shoulder. Yet I think of boxers, who are usually shorter than Zeus but weigh a bit more, as medium-sized.

 

[smkie]

I would think around 75 and up. dEpends on hight too..Vic is taller then Mary but almost 30lbs lighter. That great dane i took his pic was allllll legs and i doubt that much weight when compared to a big boned heavier breed like a St. Benard that could be sooo much shorter.

 

[Red_ACD_for_me]

To me, big is a GREAT Dane, Irish wolfhound, or an English mastiff. But I have people say to me that 65lbs is big when my ACD is only a medium sized dog and 21 inches tall. Go figure

 

[rottiegirl]

I think.

Big is anything 60 pounds and up... from 25 inches.

Extra large is 100 pounds and up... from 28 inches.

Medium is 25 pounds to 55 pounds.

Small is 3 pounds to 20 pounds.

I dont like dogs under 3 pounds, I think its disgusting.

 

[2pups622]

i get told my 10 pounds chihuahua is huge ! lol

to me anything over 60 pounds is a big dog

 

[Renee750il]

You should see the looks I get when I say the German Shepherd is the little dog

Kharma and Shiva don't really seem all that large to me most of the time, although every now and then I'll happen to notice one of them stretched out or standing a certain way and it will hit me that they really are BIG GRRRRLS!

 

[RD]

To me, big is over 75lbs or 24-28"


I love Dakota's size as far as convenience goes. He's big enough to be quite sturdy, but I can still pick him up and carry him with one arm if necessary. I can easily haul him onto my lap for a cuddle. He's not super expensive to feed, not difficult to transport (he can sit on the floor at my feet, when we're traveling in a car) and not too invasive when I bring him places.

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

I view my dogs as big, as do the majority of people we meet. They weigh in at 50 to 65 lbs (my Lab is in between there). I don't know if I'm measuring them correctly, but if I am, the shortest dog is 18" at the shoulder. I think I measured her wrong though.

Edit: I just measured her again. I think I did it correctly this time. I got 21" at the shoulder.

 

[Southpaw]

Molly is a 65 pound boxer and I don't consider her "big" at all. She's actually only medium size in my eyes...lol.

I don't know what I would consider big, never really been around dogs bigger than Molly...maybe about 80 pounds?

 

[Kase]

To me, big is a GREAT Dane, Irish wolfhound, or an English mastiff.

Yeah, same here.

 

[Toller_08]

I don't go by just weight simply because, for example, a Basset hound is what I'd consider a medium sized dog but yet, they weigh about as much as what I'd consider most large dogs to be. My classification of sizes are:

Small: 4-15lbs, 5-12 inches
Medium: 16-50lbs, 14-23 inches
Big: 51-90lbs, 25-30 inches
Large: 90+lbs, 30+ inches

Of course, this varies depending on breeds. I wouldn't call a Boxer a big dog, they're medium sized to me and I wouldn't call a female Doberman a big dog, they're also medium. There are others that wouldn't fall under this either, but this is generally how I'd classify a dog.

 

[Ash47]

I think Precious is small-medium at about 24-29in at the shoulders and around 55lbs. Spud is small at around 11-14in at the shoulders and 16lbs. Roxy is x-small to me at 6in from the floor to shoulder and 7lbs. I think Harley is going to be huge. He is nearly as heavy as Precious and is taller than her. And he is only 7months old!!

 

[bubbatd]

I'm with Kase.... I go by height rather than weight. Chip is actually the smallest Golden I've own.... yet people call him a big dog. I consider a Boxer a medium size dog ... Spaniels small .... anything under that tiny .

 

[AusCatDogs_4Ever]

I consider Charlie a pretty small dog and he is about 20 inches high at the shoulder and 55 pounds. Big for me would probably be around Great Dane size and up.

 

[jess2416]

Well, if I measured correctly Chloe is about 19 - 20 inches

 

[Dani]

Hmmm.... a big(ger) dog to me is over 23" and exceeds 75 lbs. Approx.

Bear is about 100 lbs, probably 25".

 

[Verminator]

I read somewhere online that:

Small is up to 20 pounds

Medium is 20-50 pounds

Large is 50-100 pounds

X-Large is anything over 100 pounds