I bought an akita puppy last year and one of her ears has not gone up.Breeders have told me to use stiffening felt{whatever that is}.It doesnt really matter to us that much as we bought her for a pet,but if we ever wanted to breed from her in the future would this affect us using a good stud dog as she has a really good pedigree herself,and would her pups be born with a floppy ear. Is this hereditry.

I don't know about Akitas, but with prick eared breeds the time it takes to have fully erect ears can vary greatly. In mine it is usual to have them up between 5 and 14 weeks. I have been chatting with some US breeders, and was surprised to be told that one lady had known one to take nearly 8 months to be up fully!!!!

Certainly in GSD a lot of pups have wayward ears up to a year!

How old is your Akita? Have you asked the breeder?

Agree with Brainless, ears do take their own time to get to their finished carriage.
As you say if your dog is a household friend, it will not matter to you as you will lover her anyway, but if you want to breed her you will also want to prove her by showing her at least at a few shows so you can attract a suitable stud and also suitable puppy buyers. As you know Akitas do need to be carefully homed, else you will finnish up with some of them back. Jackie H

Hi,
Akitas are one of my loves,Although i am now a Malamute lover, I still have an old Akita bitch who is my Baby.
To be honest I have never seen an adult Akita with a floppy ear , I am guessing if you say you bought her last year then she must be at least 6mths old . I would say by now they should be up or at least on their way to being errect ( although there is always exeptions )
If you bought her for a pet then enjoy this special breed , as i think It takes a special kind of person to truly enjoy the total devotion and love that an Akita can give.
One last note , if and when you decide to breed from her be very aware of the people that enquire about puppies , I felt as if i had every Thug in the N/East asking to buy a puppy at one point, Thankfully I did find excellent homes for my puppies
Best of luck
Paul

Have to agree with Paul, we had some very strange people enquiring about our last litter, if ears are not up by now, would imagine thats it, don't know whether its hereditary or not though. Please be very careful about a stud dog, temperament is so important with Akitas

good luck, Lorraine

Thanks for your post.Kumo is 12months old and the one ear is half way up which it has been since she was about 10 weeks old but it just stopped there.We have resigned ourselves to the fact that its staying like that but my breeder told us she had known a bitch whos ears didint go up until she was 18months old.We also have Kumos brother who is 5 years old.We dont intend to breed from her it was just a hyperthetical question really.But i agree about the enqiries from thugs as every time i take them out young lads stop us to ask if we are going to breed them.Must be a north east thing...........Its just the breeder has another litter from Kumos parents and I wondered if it would happen again?

I don't know, but it would be interesting to find out. Quess that it may miss a generation and re-appear at some time in the future. JH

Andrea I don't think it is just a North East thing :D I get stopped with my elkhounds all the time and am asked about my Akita pups. they are gobsmacked when they are told the oldest is 10 years old. Then I tell them that they are NORWEGIAN ELKHOUNDS!