Kian's Mom Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I have went back into a lot of old post on ear set. I have found things on setting ears and whether it is hereditary or not. All of them talk about when the pup is teething that the ears go crazy. Why is this . What is it about the teething that affects the ear set to change so much? If I missed that post I'm sorry. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I don't believe they know what causes it. I have heard different speculations. Mainly, that while teething is occurring it pulls calcium out of the system or out of the cartilage and that softens the cartilage. I have also heard that what ever physiological function tells the teeth to loosen, also affects the cartilage. I'd love to hear if anyone knows what is really happening, like if a study has actually been done or if certain hormones or something affected this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptJack Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 I've also heard some theories about the chewing/not chewing and muscle tone around the jaws playing a role. But no, I've never heard anything specific about cause-effect, just a lot of anecdotal experiences and observation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 28, 2014 Report Share Posted October 28, 2014 My GSD puppies always already had upright ears before they started teething, but the tips would get floppy when they started teething. Their ears never fell the way BC ears sometimes do, but the tips looked like wet noodles, or jello, yeah jello. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMP Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 My 6 month old female's ears went crazy when she started teething in earnest - for about a week. Then they settled into a 95% upright where they stay, 95% of the time. The other 5% if the time they are trying to be cute, in trouble, stalking something or sleepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptJack Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Molly is like 23 weeks old this week and has done a lot of her teething already (she lost a bunch of teeth at once, every freaking time), though she isn't quite done. Her ears have never had a set position, at all. They can be up and tipped, air planed, or completely down. They usually don't match. I honestly have no idea what she's going to do. Most of my other dogs, by this age, had their ears pretty well in whatever position they were going to be in, even if they moved out of it again. Her? they change multiple times a day, ever day. And they're definitely... floppy/jello-y, regardless. REALLY soft cartilage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Both of my BCs have airplane ears. Both are capable of pricking either ear or both, if they are intensely interested in something. I've heard others with BCs with airplane ears say that their dogs are likewise. So I tend to expect that those puppies that have radical ear changes will be airplanes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CptJack Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I wouldn't be surprised by that, mostly because it seems to be the most 'middle' position. The weirder thing for me is they're still going fully down as often as anything else - okay no, it's just weird for me that they're still all over. Maybe I should get over that. Regardless: Ears are WEIRD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Ears are AMAZING!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kian's Mom Posted October 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Gideon's Girl, Thank you for explaining this. My girl went to prick at about 12 wks and never changed. Both of her parents had down ears. Just never know what your going to end up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Kolt's ears were also fully pricked by about 3 m/o and never changed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthfieldNick Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 This: Mainly, that while teething is occurring it pulls calcium out of the system or out of the cartilage and that softens the cartilage. makes no sense. Cartilage is composed mostly of collagen fibers. The composition and arrangement of the collagen fibers is what gives cartilage its rigidity, not minerals like calcium. Pulling Ca out of the system I could believe, but it would come from diet and bone loss, not from cartilage. Nevermind that most cartilage is avascular, so moving nutrients in to our out of it is incredibly inefficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RemsMom Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I read that the ears will change during teething but Nattie's didn't. This past weekend I was at an agility trial and saw a Border Collie puppy with moleskin in its ears to shape them. I doubt that I could shape Nattie's ears. The cartilage in her ears is really soft, not anything like my GSD when he was a puppy. Also, Nattie's ears are a lot bigger than the puppy I saw. It had really little ears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Bandit's did everything imaginable until they settled airplane at about 5 months. Shortly after he turned 6 months old, they shot up and stayed that way! Then, a few weeks ago, one flopped back down to airplane. It would stand when he was attentive or excited, but then it would flop. Now it seems to be up again. He just turned 8 months old (can you believe it?!!?). I heard they sometimes teethe some more around 7 or 8 months? Yesterday it was up and stayed up, but I'm not trusting it quite yet!! LOL!! If anything, it seems one ear is definitely up and the other might change around from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxi Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 I'd always just supposed that ear position and teething were 2 separate biological processes that just happened around the same time during a pup's development i.e one process (teething) does not cause the other ( ear position). JMOthere could of course be something else ( for example a hormone) that either directly or indirectly controls both processes, but I don't know of any scientific studies that have specifically looked at the biological causes of ear position. YMMV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kian's Mom Posted October 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 Maxi, I always they were separate also, but anytime you hear about the ears changing their set position it is also associated with teething. I was just curious of how the two were associated. Interesting to hear what peoples thoughts are on it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMP Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 This past weekend I was at an agility trial and saw a Border Collie puppy with moleskin in its ears to shape them. Grrr. Yes, that is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 29, 2014 Report Share Posted October 29, 2014 This: makes no sense. Cartilage is composed mostly of collagen fibers. The composition and arrangement of the collagen fibers is what gives cartilage its rigidity, not minerals like calcium. Pulling Ca out of the system I could believe, but it would come from diet and bone loss, not from cartilage. Nevermind that most cartilage is avascular, so moving nutrients in to our out of it is incredibly inefficient. I totally agree, it makes no sense, which is why I said I don't believe they know what causes it. But I do believe that they are somehow related, just that it isn't understood how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I have no idea what causes it, but it doesn't happen to all of them. I had one pup who's ears started coming up into a prick when she was 6 weeks old. Just steadily came up, no flopping or variations. They were fully pricked before she was 7 weeks and stayed there rock solid through teething. I guess anyone's guess is as good as another's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted October 30, 2014 Report Share Posted October 30, 2014 I guess anyone's guess is as good as another's. Boy, that's for sure!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen13 Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 I have heard that because of the teething, pups want to chew more. When you chew yourself, you can feel the muscles in your temples move. Same with pups. And with this muscle movement being more frequent, the muscles used to move the ears get more of a workout, and move the position of the earset. Who really knows. Our pup is 4 moa and his ears used to be perfect. No teeth loss yet, but one ear is really doin some funky acrobatics. He's an ASD, but same applies. I can to this board for more info as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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