hi, I have a 14 week old terrier that the breed is supposed to have erect ears. my problem is that one has been stood erect for 5 weeks or so now but the other doesn't seem to have the strength in the last 1/3 to stay up. Occassionally it will go up but when she runs its very flappy.

I will need to start putting in entry forms soon for shows from mid july onwards but obviously need to be fairly reassured that this ear will stay up otherwise i guess no point entering.

any ideas please and thought of taping it up for a few days to get strength.

Lorri

I shouldn't worry too much at this moment as pup is teething and their ears can be all over the place.  Speak to his breeder and find out what their experience is with ear's in their line.

thanks for quick response.
what is it about teething and ears then?

I bred her myself and both mums and stud dog (champ) ears fine. Just couldn't remember how long they can take from when I got my bitch. A couple of the pups that went at 8 weeks had ears well and truly up so i was getting concerned esp as I want to adventure into showing.

The muscles that make the ears go up can be affected by teething as the puppy gets it's teeth through so the ears can go up & down. It is quite normal in breeds like GSDs & BSD I wouldn't worry too much yet

My Myka's ears were like that for ages.  From baby they looked like they would be up quickly as they were not large heavy ears, but they were up and down all the time.  they finally stopped flopping at the tips at 16 weeks.  I would normally have expected them fully erect at 6 to 12 weeks.

My Dobes ears made her look like a 747 until she finished teething. Infections can do the same.

Whispering so as not to be accused of hijacking the post..

pssst...

Barbara your post made me check your website for updated pics - Myka is looking fabulous :)

Just this minute updated the page for Jozi's pups, the male I liked least, centre pic of B Limeryk at 4 months, he is the boy who the trainer in Great Yarmouth thinks needs dominating and a muzzle.

:rolleyes: muzzling a 4 month old pup!

He looks lovely :)

you can buy a homeopathic supplement which will stiffen floppy ears if they are reluctant to stay up themselves - it's called osteocynesine - but as folk have said - mostly it's teeth and they do eventually come up themselves.

Yvonne

where do you get that stuff from please? health food shop?

at ring craft last night someone suggested taping ear up or buying 'an insert' the shape of the ear to keep it up whilst teething before its too late - anyone got thoughts on this

thanks

Lorri

ps Little mabel was fab at ringcraft compred to last week so big improvement on that side of things - she did go to bite though when having her teeth checked which took me by surprise as well as the'petend' judge!

I would not tape ears because as a breeder I want to know what is in the genes and not what I can make happen.  After all if the ears didn't go up on their own you might be breeding in a trait like this into your line.

Dito.  My breed has it's ear problems as well. In our case the ears can look like two propellers sticking out from the head, when the pup is teething. In rare cases the ears don't right themselfves. Usually they do. If "tampered" with, you will risk breeding this problem into a line, and it is heredetary.
Brainless, had a little look at Myka too, she's keeping every promise she was showing as a pup, and more :p Bet you are very pleased with her She looks absolutely gorgeous!
Karen

you can get it from Chemists.

Yvonne

Thanks all for the advice but good news  - the ear is up!! and stayed up for 2 days now. fingers crossed it will remain that way.

show entries here we come, talking of which is it best just to enter one group with the first couple of shows til i get the hang of things? Dont want to end up in a muddle or enter Mabel for something that might  be too ambitious.

Lorri

Depends on how big the classes for pups are in your breed (check the results for the shows you are entering for last year).  If like in mine classes are often small, then I would enter a stakes class also, or another breed class, so the pup gets more ring time.  I prefer puppy stakes as pup gets to meet and greet with lots of other pups of different breeds, and for me it isn't as nerve wracking as being compared with my own breed, and means we can both relax.