Saint Bernard Growth Chart

Hi Kevin

I will inbox you as well. I am going to burst your bubble: More often then not Saint owners are over guessing the weight (and height) of there SAint. Depending on who your breeder is, you might get wrong info. There is only about 5 reliable Saint breeders in the country (if you are from SA that is). The other ‘fly by night’ breeders mostly don’t have the correct information, or might be ‘over selling’.
The rule of thumb are: Saint males weigh 1kg for every 1cm in height, and the ‘norm’ for males is around 76-78cm (measured to the top of the shoulder, standing on a flat surface). Average male weight thus around 77kg. Bitches is 0.9kg for every 1cm. Bitches are seldom taller then 70-74 cm (but 74 and above would be the exception). This means bitches weighing around 64kg on average.
You will often hear someone tell you of bitches of 80kg and males of 90+ kg. They are either guessing (very wrong) or flat out lying. The last alternative is MASSIVELY overweight dogs.
The problem with Saints is that people normally think ‘bigger is better’, and I suppose talking ‘saints’ this is a valid ‘hope’. So each person ‘guess’ the weight, and the next one will built up on that ‘guess’. If this is the actual weight, it’s a problem… But people do forget that an obese dog have a huge number of health issues as well. Hip dysplasia and heart disease but two of them.
So firstly: I seriously doubt that your dog’s sire weight 90kg’s to begin with. The average S.A saints do not nearly have the massive bone structure european dogs have, and the SA dogs that does, you will only find in the top kennels in the country. The ‘fly by night’ breeders have average (actually more often then not; ‘below avarage’ dogs), and I seriously doubt they will go to that weight. If they do, they are overweight.
I am also not sure why your ‘breeder’ will think your dog will grow beond that? Think logic. A dog is the sum of the genetic material of the parents. You can never create something from nothing. If the dam and sire (and great dam and sire) did not reach that, it’s impossible the puppy will. You cannot ‘fuse’ genetics. It will always be the one or the other. Most fly by night breeders are only on the first generation of dogs, so it’s impossible for them to know the sizes that lies further behind in a dog’s pedigree. But around 80 % of actuall inheritance are directly from mom and dad. So breeders who are owning 3rd or 4th generation dogs, can make a better estimate as to the outcome of a litter. Also only if line breeding is used. (More about that later). Also, breeders will have to be in touch with all litters to make this estimate. So they need to follow up on the total previoius litters that were bred. WAs ANY of them bigger then avarage??? etc. There is really not many breeders who keeps rekord beond 8 weeks of a pups life. THis cannot help them to make valid breeding choices for future breedings.

This brings in another point: Reputable breeders don’t often repeat breedings. You know you are dealing with an ‘amature’ if someone owns one dog, and one bitch, and breed litter after litter of the same combination.

Some so called ‘breeders’ also think to correct height, you simply put a very tall dog with a very short one, and the result will be in the middle:
Not true. Genes doesn’t fuse. You will simple get very tall and very small pups in the litter.

Lastly, only your top breeders make use of line breedings, which is truly the only way to ‘set’ size, bone mass and type etc. By doing ‘out breedings’ (breeding two totally unrelated dogs) you will never set certain aspects of the dogs. It will always be a smarty box litters. If dogs are line bred you can do an informed guess as to the outcome of the litter.Also because the breeder will have details of previous litters of said bitch, and stud. E.g they will know this bitch breeds great heads, this stud breeds tallness etc. By using two unrelated dogs calculated guesses as to the outcome of a litter is not possible. (most fly by night breeders use this method).
So your breeders telling you your dog will be bigger shows ignorance… On what grounds are this statement made? Did he produce previous Giant Saints from Same combination?
If breeder is guessing the outcome due to particular puppy’s birth size in relation with the others, it’s also very wrong.

Birth weight and size has everything to do with favorable position in the uterus. If one pup is so much bigger then the rest, it means he had a very good position in-utera. He had optimal feeding etc. This makes him the biggest at birth when they were born, and depending on how much bigger mostly they keep the position as ‘biggest’ from a litter.
This does not translate ‘bigger then avarage’ as an adult. The genetics prescribe final size. Position in uterus prescribe birth size.

Your dog might end up right in the middle like any other Saint. Around 72-78kg. If he’s more then this, he is overweight.

Once your boy is mature (only around 3-4 years) you can weigh and measure him. I can sent you photo’s of how to correctly measure your boy, as this is often also done incorrectly.

Hope this answers your question?

Doline