# Natural Ears Uneven



## dobermandude (Apr 5, 2008)

Hello all, I am a new dog owner. I waited until I graduated from college so I could raise my first dog properly, and I just graduated last term! I got a purebred male Doberman Pinscher named Calvin, who is now 11 weeks, from great American bloodlines. After much debate, I decided to keep his ears natural for a number of different reasons.

One of his ears has flopped naturally forward and looks like a "healthy" ear to me. However, his right ear has a fold in the middle and sort of crinkles back to where you can see inside the ear. 

My question is, will his ear grow out of this and develop the natural flop? or should i attempt to tape or glue it? I would rather not do anything drastic, but because so many people ask me why I didnt crop his ears, I want him to have nice natural and symmetrical ears. I massage his ears regularly to promote bloodflow, is this enough? am I just over analyzing? I tried to find material on puppy ears developing a natural fold, but couldnt find any definitive answers! Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!!!

-dobermandude


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## Orange County Ca (Apr 6, 2007)

*DOUBLE CONGRATULATIONS:*

First and most important for not mutilating your dog.

Second on your graduation from college.

Personally I think the lopsided (in college thats asymmetrical ;-) ears would be a great conversation piece. Opps wait a minute. It already is. But they're trying to get you to maim him.

I'd leave the ears alone. But one idea would be to use something like a sweat band around his head holding the ears down. If he'll leave it alone that is.

I'd leave it myself.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

I've heard that pups go through an awkward, floppy-eared stage while they're teething----something to do with the cartilage not setting yet. Like if you've ever seen a GSD pup with his ears flying in all directions. They almost always straighten out eventually, I wouldn't worry too much. I've never seen a grown Lab with funny ears, but Lab pups always have some weird ear thing going on.


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## dobermandude (Apr 5, 2008)

Thanks for the replies!

Yeah, I figured he would just grow out of it eventually, but wanted to make sure I wasnt missing something common which could be prevented. I have also read about strange things going on with ears during teething, but none ever said it passes and the ears turn out normal! 

I know I will love him no matter what his ears look like, but I can just see people who swear by ear cropping, saying "see you should have cropped his ear, look how awkward they look". I want him to be a good example why dobies look awesome with their natural ears!


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## cshellenberger (Dec 2, 2006)

I think Dobies look good with or without cropping, my girls ears were cropped when I got her and it was a chop job!!!  Her right ear has developed a pocket that causes it to flop over her head AND the cut was done incorrectly and has a large chunk taken out of the top. Yes, I'd rather she were natural than have this bad job. She was 6 months old and the prior owners had their vet do the job.

BTW, a properly done crop causes little pain if well taken care of, it takes place under general anesthesia, and takes 10 days for the stitches to come out and posting to begin (we used neosporin with lidocaine to help the healing). There are posting techniques that can be used that virtually eliminate the risk of ear infection. However it should be done young (under 16 weeks) and ONLY by a vet that is EXPERIANCED with the breed! MOST experianced show/working breeders havethe crop done (if the puppy owner to be wishes) by there vet BEFORE the pup goes home to be sure the best job possible is done and give support to the new puppy owner when it comes to showing how to post. 

I don't advise people to go out and have the ears cropped themselves because it does take alot to maintain them and it's hard to find a vet that knows what they're doing. 

If you're concerned with the 'wrinkle' (probably a pocket) you can have a vet look at it and possibly give you advice on how to remedy it. I don't know how it would be done on natuaral ears, but if the ears were cropped it would need to be properly stretched out to get rid of it.


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